SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH
SOW 3403 Summer 1998
Florida International University
School of Social Work

Dr. Richard Renz-Beaulaurier
North Miami Campus, ACI 234
Telephone: (305) 919-5876
e-mail: renzbeau@fiu.edu

This course provides an introduction to the basic language, methods and skills of social science research for introductory social work practice. Problem formulation, literature review, definition of variables, sampling, data collection, data analysis and report writing are addressed. The ethical conduct of research is taught within the context of social work purposes and values.

1. To prepare students to apply the principles and methods of social science research to social work practice and policies.
2. To teach students the principles and methods of basic and applied research within the context of the purpose, values and ethics of professional social work practice
3. To educate students in the ethical conduct of social science research that is compatible with social work purposes, values and ethics.
4. To teach students to identify and formulate research problems and hypotheses that address the needs and concerns of diverse population groups, such as minorities and people who are subject to oppression by reason of age, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or culture.

Upon successful completion of this course students will be expected to be able to:

1. Identify ways in which research methods can be used to enhance social work practice and policy development.
2. Identify, access, and use practice-relevant literature to enhance their own practice.
3. Critically assess research reports in the social sciences.
4. Identify and use relevant library indexes and abstracts.
5. Locate government documents and statistics.
6. Identify and use relevant "on line" literature databases and resources.
7. Synthesize relevant research findings in an integrated literature review.
8. Describe the stages of the research process.
9. Give examples of deductive and inductive approaches to theory development.
10. Describe ways in which social work values and ethics direct the selection of problems, goals, subjects, methods, interpretation and reporting of social work research.
11. Write an clear research hypothesis and identify the independent and dependent variables.
12. Explain the roles of design, measurement, and statistics in social research.
13. Identify the type of design used in a study and identify the major threats to internal and external validity.
14. Select appropriate research designs to evaluate the effectiveness of specific social interventions.
15. Develop appropriate research designs to study problems that are relevant to the needs and concerns of diverse population groups.
16. Identify how biases may distort or influence the focus and conduct of research.
17. Describe a variety of sampling methods
18. Design a brief research questionnaire.
19. Identify and describe ways to assess reliability and validity of measurement instruments. This includes identifying potential biases related to the misinterpretation of characteristics of members of diverse populations and minority groups.
20. Administer and code a standardized assessment measure and/or a questionnaire.
21. Demonstrate the ability to graph and interpret data.
22. Explain the purpose of descriptive and inferential statistics.
23. Demonstrate an understanding of the ethics of social research.
24. Describe ways in which knowledge of research methods can enhance the capacity for social workers to aid and advocate for disadvantaged, disenfranchised, and oppressed members of society.

This course will be conducted in a manner that emphasizes student-professor interaction, mutual responsibility for learning and sharing, and student participation. Students are expected to complete all reading assignments before class and to be fully prepared for discussion of assigned content. Class sessions will include lectures, a library tour, discussion, simulations (role-playing), and student presentations. Class sessions will be augmented by case materials provided by the instructor and students. The overall teaching/learning situations will be didactic and experiential.

STUDENT EVALUATION

Students will be evaluated on the basis of demonstration of knowledge and application of that knowledge on the following:

• 20% Literature Review
• 20% 1st Examination
• 20% 2nd Examination
• 30% Research Proposal
• 10% Class participation

The final course grade will be consistent with university grading policies:

Percentage points:

Grade points:

RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

The instructor will abide by the University’s policies on religious holidays as specified in the University Catalogue and the Student Handbook. Any student may request to be excused from class to observe a holiday of his or her faith.

Additional references and resources, especially those available without cost on World Wide Web, may be assigned by the instructor depending on the needs and interests of the class.

It is also expected that students will both own and use the following sources to aid them in writing for this course:

Students who have not had considerable experience writing college level term papers are especially encouraged to read Strunk and White. All writing for this course will be expected to conform to the guidelines set forth in these sources.

1. May 5 Introduction to the course: Developing a knowledge base for research on social work practice. READING: Ruben and Babbie: Prologue (pp. xxi-xxvii).
2. May 12 The role of research in social work: Using research in social work practice; levels of analysis. READING: Ruben and Babbie: Chapter 1
3. May 19 Library Resources and Tour (to be scheduled): Use of indexes, abstracts, on-line databases of social work and social science literature, government documents, and publicly accessible statistical sources. READING: Ruben and Babbie: Appendix A and Appendix H. Also: review resources available at http://www.sc.edu/swan/, http://www.usc.edu/dept/socialwork/topten.htm and http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/osw/extres.html.
4. May 26 Theory in the social sciences: Ways of knowing, theory construction, inductive and deductive reasoning, scientific revolutions. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 2
5. June 2 Problem identification and formulation: Reviewing the literature, abstracting articles, components of research proposals and reports, formulating hypotheses. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 4.
6. June 9 Observation and measurement: Conceptualization, levels of measurement, reliability and validity. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapters 5 & 6.
7. June 16 Constructing measurement instruments: Criteria for the selection of measures, questionnaire construction, clinical measurements and rating scales, administering and scoring instruments, obtrusive and unobtrusive measures. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 7.
8. June 23 Sampling: Populations and sampling frames, types of sampling designs, sampling bias, survey reseach, research with secondary data. READING (for both sessions 8 and 9): Ruben and Babbie Chapters 8, 11 and 14.
9. June 30 Research design: Countering threats to Internal and external validity; experimental, quasi-experimental and time series research designs. READING: Ruben and Babbie same as session 8.
10. July 7 Single system designs: The logic of single system design and measurement issues. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 10.
11. July 14 Data analysis part 1: Descriptive statistics and tables. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 15, 16 and 17 (for both sessions 11 and 12).
12. July 21 Data analysis part 2: Inferential statistical analysis and statistical significance. READING: Ruben and Babbie same as session 11.
13. July 28 Program Evaluation: Types of program evaluation, needs assessment, program monitoring. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 18.
14. August 4 Ethics and politics of social work research: Ethical issues in social work and social science research, NASW and APA guidelines, politics, current debates. READING: Ruben and Babbie Chapter 3; APA Manual.