Munich Center of the Learning Sciences
print

Links and Functions

Breadcrumb Navigation


Content
Christian Ghanem

Christian Ghanem, M.A.

PhD Candidate

Contact

Further Information

Curriculum Vitae:

  • M.A., Applied Science in Social Work (KSFH Munich), 2012
  • Probation Officer (County Court Munich), since 2010
  • B.A., Social Work (University of Applied Sciences Regensburg), 2010
  • Social Work Internship in Kathmandu, Nepal, 2008
  • Qualification as Media Educator, 2008
  • Supplementary Training in Intercultural Competencies, 2008 - 2009
  • Educator for people with special needs, 2000 - 2010
  • Apprenticeship as Curative Teacher, 2002 - 2006

Research Interests

  • Analysis and Facilitation of Scientific Reasoning in Social Work
  • Social Work Expertise
  • Social Rehabilitation and Probation Service
  • Evidence-based Practice in Social Work

Current Research Topic

  • Initial Problem                                                                                                                                   

     Social workers are increasingly confronted with demands to ground their practice in scientific knowledge. However, we know suprisingly little about how they actually engage in professional problem solving and about the knowledge base of those processes. The related topics are largely discussed within the debates about 'Evidence-Based Practice' (EBP). Although in many countries EBP is part of social work practice and education, in German speaking countries the concept of EBP is not very influential. This might be one indicator of the need to clarify the role of scientific knowledge in practical social work, as well as the different perceptions of EBP.

  • Research Questions                                                                                                                                        

         Study 1
         a.  How do social work novices and experts engage in epistemic activities and use evidence in their problem-solving process?
         b.  Is it possible to identify different types of problem-solving strategies used by social work novices and experts?

         Study 2: How has the knowledge about 'Evidence-Based Practice' been diffused in disciplinary discourses?

  • First Results (Study 1)
  1. Social work novices differ from experts in terms of specific epistemic activities as well as in the evidence base of their problem-solving.
  2. Social work experts follow a client-centred approach in terms of considering the client's needs and engage more in the epistemic activity of 'Communicating and Scrutinizing'.
  3. Experts tend to solve problems by 'forward-reasoning' and novices tend to apply an hypothetico-deductive approach.
  4. We identified differernt problem-solving strategies: evidence-based solution seeking, shared problem solving and explanation seeking.
  5. A certain subgroup of students seems to be overwhelmed as they are confronted with a authentic social work problem; this implies the need to foster related skills how to deal with such social work problems.
  6. Most participants were able to include scientific evidence into their reasoning which we provided through a research abstract.
  7. Theoretical concepts from other domains might be useful (e.g., theory of knowledge encapsulation from medical education; cf. Schmidt & Rikers, 2007) to explain and study social work practice. 

Journal Publications

Book Chapters

  • Ghanem, C. & Pankofer, S. (in press). Promotion als psychosoziale Krise – Ethnografische Beschreibungen eines Doktoranden und seiner Betreuerin. In G. Ehlert, S. B. Gahleitner, M. Köttig, S. Sauer, G. Riemann, R. Schmitt & B. Völter (Eds.). Forschen und Promovieren in der Sozialen Arbeit. Opladen: Barbara Budrich Verlag.
  • Daxenberger, J., Csanadi, A., Ghanem, C., Kollar, I. & Gurevych, I. (forthcoming). Domain-Specific Aspects of Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation: Insights from Automatic Coding. In F. Fischer, C. Chinn, K. Engelmann, & J. Osborne (Eds.). Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation: Domain-Specific and Domain-General Aspects. London: Taylor & Francis.
  • Ghanem, C., Schwegele, A., Pankofer, S., Kollar, I., & Fischer, F. (2016). Bewährungshilfe und Wissenschaft - eine Annäherung (?). Bedingungen für eine evidenzbasierte Sozialarbeitspraxis aus Sicht von Bewährungshelfer_innen. In S. Borrman & B. Thiessen (Eds.). Wirkungen Sozialer Arbeit. Potentiale und Grenzen der Evidenzbasierung für Profession und Disziplin (pp. 374-394). Opladen: Barbara Budrich Verlag.

Conference Contributions

  • Ghanem, C., Csanadi, A., Kollar, I., & Fischer, F. (2017). Wissenschaftliches Denken in Professionen. Ein Vergleich des Problemlösens bei angehenden Lehrkräften und SozialarbeiterInnen. In F. Vogel, S. Ufer, & F. Fischer, Domänenspezifische und domänenübergreifende Konzeptualisierungen zur Erfassung von wissenschaftlichem Denken und Argumentieren. Symposium conducted at the 5. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung, Heidelberg, Germany.
  • Lenzer, B., Ghanem, C., Weidenbusch, M., Fischer, M. R. & Zottmann, J. (2017). Scientific Reasoning in Medical Education: A Novel Approach for the Analysis of Epistemic Activities in Clinical Case Discussions. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference for Research in Medical Education "Workplace based Learning, Teaching and Assessment throughout the lifelong professional Carrer, Düsseldorf, Germany.
  • Köttig, M., Unterkofler, U., Ghanem, C., Kasten, A. (2016). Inklusion und Forschung in der Sozialen Arbeit. Workshop held at the 'DGSA Tagung "Inklusion ist... - Perspektiven und Positionen der Sozialen Arbeit"', Düsseldorf, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C. (2016). Wissenschaftliches Wissen als Voraussetzung professioneller Identität in der Bewährungshilfe. Invited talk at the 'ADB Tagung 2016', Hamburg, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C., & Pankofer, S. (2016). 'So geht das hier also...' - Promotion als ethnographische Erfahrung. Paper presented at the 'DGSA-Tagung - Forschen und Promovieren in der Sozialen Arbeit', Berlin, Germany.
  • Lerner, P., Csanadi, A., Daxenberger, J., Flekova, L., Ghanem, C., Kollar, I., Fischer, F., & Gurevych, I. (2016). A User Interface for the Exploration of Manually and Automatically Coded Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation. In C. K. Looi, J. L. Polman, U. Cress, & Reimann, P. (Eds.) Transforming Learning, Empowering Learners. Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Vol. 2., 938-941.
  • Ghanem, C. (2016). About the Need of Intercultural Sensitivity. Paper presented at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Seoul, South Korea.
  • Ghanem, C., Kollar, I., Fischer, F., & Pankofer S. (2016). Analysis of the ‘EBP Problem’–A Systematic Review of the Conceptualizations of Evidence-Based Practice in the USA compared to German speaking countries. Paper presented at the 6th European Conference for Social Work Research, Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Ghanem, C., Schwegel, A., Pankofer, S., Kollar, I., & Fischer, F. (2016). Social Worker's View on Science. An Empirical Study about Probation Officer's Perception on Scientific Knowledge. Paper presented at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Seoul, South Korea.
  • Csanadi, A., Daxenberger, J., Ghanem, C., Kollar, I., Fischer, F., & Gurevych, I. (2016). Automated Text Classification to Capture Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation Processes in Different Professional Problem Solving Contexts. Paper presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Society for Text & Discourse, Kassel, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C. (2016). Die Relevanz von wissenschaftlich generiertem Wissen für die Praxis der Bewährungshilfe. Invited talk at the 'VERDI Tagung "Blick über den Tellerrand der Praxis deutscher Bewährungshilfe"', Kochel, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C., Kollar, I., Pankofer, S., & Fischer, F. (2016). Evidence Use and Professional Problem Solving of Social Work Novices and Experts. Poster presented at the International Workshop Interplay of Domain-Specific and Domain-General Aspects of Scientific Reasoning and Argumentation, Munich, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C., Pankofer, S., Fischer, F., Kollar, I., & Lawson, T.R. (2015). „Bewährungshelfer*innen auf Bewährung“ Ein ‚anderer´ Blick auf Evidenzbasierte Sozialarbeitspraxis am Beispiel einer Mixed-Methods-Studie. Paper presented at DGSA Conference, Würzburg, Germany.
  • Ghanem, C., Pankofer, S., Fischer, F., Kollar, I. & Lawson, T. R. (2015). The Relation between Social Work Practice and Science - Analysis of Scientific Reasoning of Probation Officers and Social Work Students. Paper presented at the European Conference for Social Work Research, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  • Ghanem, C., Pankofer, S., Fischer, F., Kollar, I., & Lawson, T. R. (2014). Bewährungshelfer*innen auf Bewährung. Analyse und Förderung Wissenschaftlichen Denkens in der Bewährungshilfe. Poster presented at 'Nachwuchsworkshop zur Methodentriangulation in der empirischen Bildungsforschung', Berlin, GER.

Technical Reports