Macro-Focused Social Work Dissertations: A Preliminary Look at the Numbers

Dissertation research is an important indicator of practice trends and emerging issues. The social work profession relies on this scholarship to build its knowledge base thus reducing reliance on cognate fields. It is worthwhile to note how many dissertations are being completed and to review the categories being pursued in dissertation products to see if there are trends or questions that are dominating or masking larger issues in the field. Social work dissertations focused on macro scholarship efforts are of particular interest for the purpose of this article. This research investigates two simple, yet important, questions: How many macro-focused social work dissertations have been awarded in the past 10 years? and What was the content area of these works