Social Work Research

REQUIRED TEXTS

Rubin, A. & Babbie, E. (2005) Research methods for social work (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students are expected to:

1. Arrive on time and attend all class sessions,

2. Participate in class discussion and exercises,

3. Complete all assignments on time,

4. Complete all examinations.

EVALUATION

ASSIGNMENT PERCENT OF GRADE DUE DATE

Research Paper
Draft (Optional) April 13th
Final 16.67 April 27th

Computer Assignments(4) 16.67 See Course Outline

Four Exams 16.67

Total 100

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

GROUP RESEARCH PAPER

For this assignment, you will form a research team with two or three of your classmates. Research teams should be no larger than four people. As a team you will design, carry out, and report on your research project. Data for the study can be drawn from a team member's field placement or from a survey conducted with classmates. If you elect to use data from a field placement, you must have written permission from your field supervisor and use no patient identifying information. Class surveys must have an attached research consent form and must not request any participant identifying information.

LENGTH: 15-20 pages (excluding references, of which there should be 12-15), typed and double-spaced.

TOPIC: Choose a research question related to social work practice which is narrow in focus; one which the literature indicates is in need of further study.

GRADING: The research team paper will be graded on the basis of clarity, specificity, quality of writing, and the demonstration and integration of sound research knowledge.

ORGANIZATION: The paper should include at least six sections.

1. INTRODUCTION

Introduce the reader to the research topic assuming he/she knows nothing about the topic. Explain what you hope to accomplish in this paper and why. Finally, state why this endeavor is an important contribution to the literature of social work practice.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Briefly summarize the findings and the implications of relevant research found in the literature.

3. STATEMENT PROBLEM

Discuss how this research relates to the literature. State the research question(s). List all relevant hypotheses.

4. METHODOLOGY

Introduce the methodology used to investigate this research question and statistical techniques the team selected to analyze the data. Include: research design, sampling technique, population characteristics, data collection methods, validity, reliability, etc.

5. RESULTS

Present the results of the team's statistical analysis of the research findings.

6. DISCUSSION

Discuss the findings as they relate to the social work literature, social work practice/education, and the field placement setting from which the data were drawn.

7. LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY

Discuss the limitations of the study that result from the limitations of the research design and the restrictions associated with social work research.

8. CONCLUSIONS

Include a discussion of the implications for practice and further research. Discussion the direction for future research in this area.

EXTRA CREDIT

Group Research Projects will be awarded an extra 5 percent credit if the major points of the paper are presented in class as a Power Point presentation and published on a web site.

COMPUTER ASSIGNMENTS

Students will be required to complete four small computer assignments to demonstrate proficiency in the use of spreadsheets for data analysis. These assignments will be graded as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Assignment number one requires the creation of a data set within a spreadsheet.

Assignment number two requires using the spreadsheet to compute descriptive statistics and frequency distributions on variables in the data set created in the first assignment.

Assignment number three requires using of a spreadsheet to conduct an analysis of the relationship between two variables in your data set through use of the Chi-square statistic and the Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Assignment number four requires use of a spreadsheet to conduct an analysis of the relationship between variables in your data set using the t-statistic (independent and dependent) and an ANOVA.

Your course instructor will give specific details on these assignments as they come due.

COURSE TOPICS AND SCHEDULE

<TBODY>DATE	TOPIC ASSIGNED	READINGS
1/12/05	Course Introduction, Introduction into Inquiry The role, history, and current status of research in social work theory and practice -Accessing, synthesizing, and using the research literature and (social work and related journals, computerized and non-computerized library resources, Internet access to literature, documents, and data)	R&B Appendix A, B, & C .
1/19/05	Scientific Inquiry and Social Work Philosophical Issues in Science and Research	R&B Chap.1, 2
1/26/05	Ethics and Politics of Social Work Research Problem Formulation	R&B Chap. 3, 4
2/2/05	Conceptualization and Operationalization Measurement	R&B Chap. 5, 6
1st Test 2/9/05	Construction of measurement instruments Preparation, entry, and manipulation of data using microcomputers . Class meets in lab	R&B Chap. 7
2/16/05 1st Assignment Due	The Logic of sampling	R&B Chap. 8
2/23/05	Experimental Designs for Evaluating Programs and Practice Quasi-Experimental for Evaluating Programs and Practice	R&B Chap. 10,11
3/2/05	Single System Designs - Systematic Evaluation of Practice Spreadsheets and SSD's - Class meets in computer lab	R&B Chap. 12
3/9/05 2nd Test	Survey research	R&B Chap. 9
3/16/05 2nd Assignment Due	Analyzing Available Records Quantitatitve Data Analysis Interpretation and computation of basic descriptive statistics using a microcomputer Class meets in the computer lab	R&B Chap. 15, 18
3/23/05	Spring Break!!!
3/30/05	Qualitative research methods	R&B Chap. 14
4/6/05 3rd Test	Culturally Competent Research Constructing and Interpreting Bivariate and Multivariate Tables	R&B Chap. 16 R&B Chap. 19
4/13/05 3rd Assignment Due	Inferential Data Analysis -Part 1 Bivariate tests of statistical significance and associated microcomputer methods: chi-square, t-test for independent and dependent groups, one-way analysis of variance. Meet in Computer lab	R&B Chap. 20
4/20/05 4th Assignment Due	Inferential Data Analysis Part 2 Bivariate tests of statistical significance continued. Meet in Computer lab	R&B Chap. 21
4/27/05 Group Research Project Due 5/4/05	Groups Present Their Research Findings Final