Research Methods in Social Work
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 1 Assignment – Analyze Ethical Principles
After viewing the videos about children and informed consent, as well as reviewing the other materials for this week, complete the following assignment based on this scenario:
You are a social worker who works at a domestic violence shelter. Your job is to provide services to children of the women who enter the shelter. The shelter has the capacity for 15 children, and your caseload averages about 10 to 12 children each month. Your job is to link the children with counseling services, medical care, and other social services as needed. In the past 3 months, you have noticed that there has been an increase in aggressive behavior among the children in the shelter. You want to develop an intervention utilizing a play therapy technique that you learned in your social work classes and present your findings at a state conference for social workers. You design a study in which the children in the shelter are randomly placed in one of two groups. One group will receive play therapy, and the other group will receive no intervention. You will then compare the behaviors of the two groups of children. Before you hypothetically implement this study, prepare a written response to the following:
Examine what the Code of Ethics says about obtaining informed consent when children are used as research participants.
Explain how you will address the issue of confidentiality for those mothers and their children who want to participate in the study.
Document what you would say to potential participants about their right to withdraw from the study.
Determine if the potential for harm exists. If so, explain what you will do to protect the subjects.
Analyze the potential benefits for these subjects.
Support your assignment with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal articles, may be included.
Length: 4-6 pages, not including title and reference pages
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 3 Assignment – Evaluate Research in the Field of Social Work
This assignment has several warm-up activities and one main task. Please ensure you have completed each warm-up activity before completing the main task. The main task requires you to search for, and then analyze research from the library on a topic of interest in social work. This can be a topic you have investigated during your previous coursework.
Warm-up Activity 1: Getting Acquainted with the NCU Library
NCU Library is committed to supporting the academic research needs of students, faculty, and staff. The Library does this by providing timely access to quality, scholarly, and appropriate information resources and library services, such as reference, information literacy instruction, and inter-library loan services. Students also have access to highly qualified and experienced Library staff.
ibrary services include:
Research Databases – Access to A – Z databases list from the library’s home page containing thousands of journals, magazines, newspapers, e-Books, dissertations, financial data, and other information resources available in the Library.
Inter-library Loan Service (ILL) – Students needing articles, and book chapters not in the Library collection can submit an inter-library loan request. Students can register for the ILL service by clicking the “Request Inter-library Loan Items” link on the Library homepage. Students will need to utilize local libraries for print-only materials.
Ask a Librarian – Students can receive library assistance 24/7 via the “Ask a Librarian” service. Ask a Librarian allows patrons to search an ever-expanding knowledge bank of frequently asked Library questions and their responses, conveniently located at the bottom of the blue, left-side toolbar located on every Library Guide. NCU Students, faculty, and staff may also complete an Ask a Librarian Form. Questions are answered promptly during Library Staffed Hours.
Research Consultations – The Library offers a research consultation service for students, faculty, and staff. This is an in-depth, personalized, one-on-one meeting with a reference librarian to discuss possible information resources and search strategies for class assignments, papers, presentations, Masters theses, and doctoral dissertations.
Library Workshops – Library workshops provide in-depth information about using library resources and services. Recorded workshops are available from the Learn the Library page. Students are strongly encouraged to view a Library workshop before beginning coursework.
Warm-up Activity 2: Considering Information Literacy
Read the Northcentral University Library page called Research Process and review various links and tutorials to prepare for using the library.
s you go through the rest of this assignment, you will be asked to use the Northcentral University Library to locate books, articles, and other appropriate online resources about family therapy. For this purpose, it is necessary for you to identify a topic that you would like to learn more about relating to family therapy. You can choose a specific presenting problem (e.g., infidelity, ADHD, depression) or model of therapy (e.g., Bowen theory, narrative therapy), or even a life stage (e.g., parenting, premarital relationships). Before moving on with this activity, decide on a topic that you will look into as you search the Library. Then, as you search the Library and identify applicable resources, you will make a list of resources that you find. Be sure to capture the reference information for each resource in APA format. You will be required to submit a list of resources in correct APA format at the end of the activity.
Warm-up Activity 3: Learning about RefWorks:
To effectively capture and maintain all of the reference/resource information that is found in the Library and other online resources, students are strongly encouraged to use RefWorks an online research management, writing, and collaboration tool. It is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store, and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. Find out more information about RefWorks including how to access it by exploring the library’s RefWorks page. It is well worth the time to access and learn to use this tool as it can be used throughout your scholastic career at Northcentral University. However, you should know that electronic tools like this are no guarantee that your references and in-text citations are 100 percent correct. It is still your responsibility to know the format for APA references and double-check content produced by these tools (helpful resources in this regard are the Purdue Owl site and the APA style blog, links available in the Books and Resources area).
Warm-up Activity 4: Evaluating Internet Research Sources
The Internet is a valuable tool, but you need to exercise caution when using it for scholarly research. The following guides will help you to think critically about website information. These can be found in the Research Process area, under Evaluating Information:
Website evaluation workshop. Northcentral University Library
Research process: Website evaluation. Northcentral University Library
The Author is an Authority and Unbiased: Is the author considered to be an expert or reputable scholar on the topic? Does the author have any professional views that could affect objectivity? Is the author affiliated with any special-interest groups? Does the author present alternate views and are those views portrayed fairly? Does the author’s language show signs of bias?
Publisher Reputation and Authority: Is the publisher a respected source of academic scholarship? (Note: Academic databases generally have a high standard of accountability and accuracy.) Does the publisher have any professional affiliations that could affect objectivity?
Date of Publication: Is the source new or old? If the source is older (more than 5 years), are there any newer sources that validate or invalidate this source? If the source is from the Internet, can the date of publication be accurately certified?
Primary and Secondary Sources: Is this the original (primary) source, or is this a secondary interpretation or description of the primary source? Would the primary source add more validity to your work?
Cross-reference: Is the source cited in other primary or secondary sources? How is this source used by other authors? Is the source respected and valued in the field?
Audience: Who is the source’s audience? Proponents or opponents? Other scholars? The general public?
Now that you have considered the types of sources you are seeking, you are ready to begin exploring the Northcentral University Library.
Main Task
For this assignment, perform a search for resources in your chosen topic area related to social work.
Be sure to start on the Roadrunner Search tab in the library for scholarly articles. Be sure to check Full Text and Scholarly/Peer-Reviewed Journals to narrow down your results for articles, and just the Full-Text box for other resource types.
Locate five peer-reviewed journal articles, one book, and one professional resource (website or another resource). Be sure to include sources related to diverse and oppressed populations.
Begin by creating a table (a general example has been provided below) and list the resources you find. You can use a Word table and then include it with the write-up described below in order to submit one document to complete this assignment. Please ensure your table entries are in APA format.
Example: Aggressive Behavior
Article Citation/Book Chapter/Scholarly Resource (website)
Database/Website
Keywords
Search Limiter
Summary of how this Article Provides an Original Contribution to the Knowledge Base for your Area of Interest
Coyne, S. M. (2016). Effects of viewing relational aggression on television on aggressive behavior in adolescents: A three-year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 52(2), 284-295. doi:10.1037/dev0000068
EBSCOhost – contains various source types, allows one to save searches in a folder, etc.
Aggressive behavior
Scholarly/Peer Reviewed
Date range 2000-2016
Coyne and colleagues utilized a longitudinal design to study the relationship between aggressive behavior and TV in adolescents. The findings from this study have been used to develop parent education programs regarding TV screen time for adolescents.
The columns of the chart are as follows:
Column 1 – Identify the resource fully AND the type of resource (article, book, other) you discovered in the library.
Column 2 – Provide the name of the database you used AND briefly describe the subject content, resource types, etc.
Column 3 – List the keywords you used in your search.
Column 4 – List any search limiters such as full text, date, peer-reviewed, etc., that you used.
Column 5 – Provide a brief summary of how this article contributes to the knowledge base for your area of interest.
Then, conclude your assignment by selecting one of the following and writing a brief paper explaining which one you chose and the outcome of your effort:
Identify a researcher conducting research in your area and determine questions you would ask him or her about this research based on what you’ve read of his or her work. The primary author’s contact information is often at the bottom of the first page of an article. Researchers love to talk about their research and answer questions. You are not required to actually contact the researcher, but prepare the questions as though you might.
Identify and set up a tool to manage the resources you collect from the NCU Library or other sources. This might be OneNote, RefWorks, or a database you develop for yourself in MS Access, MS Excel, or a similar tool (i.e., setting up folders on Dropbox). Justify your choice and briefly explain how you set it up and plan to use it in conjunction with your use of scholarly sources.
Reach out with a question to the NCU Librarians. Explain your question and the answer you received and how that facilitated your use of the NCU Library.
Total Length: 2-3 pages (the chart—an MS Word Table—on one page, and a 1 to 2-page summary of your experience with one of the three options), not including title page
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 4 – Assignment Examine Differences Between Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Practice Evaluation
Choose one of the scenarios below to prepare a voice-over PowerPoint presentation.
Your target audience includes newly minted MSWs to whom you are providing training on social work research methods for their practice. Presentations provide a key form of communication in the social work field and will be used throughout your program. You may already find you use presentations in your work. Presentations are used for many different kinds of conference sessions, from panels to posters. Presentations are also used in training and teaching in all settings. They provide an invaluable tool during webinars, seminars, and other training and information-sharing venues. Presentations are used to propose projects, show a status of progress, and defend ideas. Be sure to review the NCU Guide to Creating a Successful PowerPoint presentation located in this week’s resources.
Scenario 1:
Assume you are a social worker supervisor for a young adult men’s forensic facility for individuals 18 to 24 years old. You have noticed that there is an unspoken rank and file among the residents (for instance, certain residents are allowed to cut in the lunch line while others are not) as well as a somewhat secretive code of behavior that staff has observed. You are interested in better understanding the culture of this facility through the eyes of your social work staff, who provide case management to the residents. You have weekly supervision appointments with each of your case managers (this is your sample) and plan to interview the staff members on resident culture during the individual weekly meetings with you.
Determine the questions you would ask.
Indicate if these questions lend themselves to quantitative or qualitative methods Explain why.
Identify the research design you would choose. Explain your reasoning for choosing this design.
Identify and discuss any ethical concerns and how you would overcome these concerns.
Explain your role as the researcher.
Describe how you would record their information and protect their confidentiality.
Explain the importance of using the design you chose for this evaluation – quantitative or qualitative- for evaluating social work practice.
Scenario 2:
Your agency provides emergency food and used clothing to clients. You are asked to describe your clients’ level of satisfaction regarding the services that they received through your agency.
List the questions that you would ask to collect information on clients’ satisfaction with these services.
Explain how you would collect data using a quantitative method.
Identify and discuss any ethical concerns and how you would overcome these concerns.
If you were to use a cross-sectional design, determine which method(s) you would use to collect information, and then explain why.
Incorporate appropriate animations, transitions, and graphics as well as speaker notes for each slide. The speaker notes may be comprised of brief paragraphs or bulleted lists and should cite material appropriately. Add audio to each slide using the Media section of the Insert tab in the top menu bar for each slide.
Support your presentation with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources may be included.
Length: 12-15 slides (with a separate reference slide)
Notes Length: 100-150 words for each slide
Be sure to include citations for quotations and paraphrases with references in APA format and style where appropriate. Save the file as PPT with the correct course code information. Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 5 Assignment Apply Critical Thinking to Evaluate a Peer-Reviewed Empirical Article
Select and examine a peer-reviewed empirical article using the same social work topic you examined in Week 3. For this new assignment, use the NCU library resources to search for a peer-reviewed article on your topic that specifically uses one of the three research methods/designs covered this week–either survey research, evaluation research, or single-subject design. The article should focus on a social work population, emphasizing high-quality, ethical research with diverse and oppressed populations.
Prepare a written critique of the article you selected. Begin with a brief summary of the article, the method, and the findings. Then, address the following:
Identify the research method employed by the article, whether it is survey research, evaluation research, or a single subject design. Explain how you knew which method was used.
Assess how well the research problem is defined. In your opinion, is it too narrow or broad? Explain.
Determine if the researcher(s) discuss the role of theory in the research. If so, how does this contribute to the study? If not, how does the omission affect the study?
Explain if the research purposes, questions, and/or hypotheses flow logically from the introductory material.
Explain if the researchers adequately describe the steps taken for the protection of human subjects, informed consent, research ethics, and confidentiality.
Determine if the analysis was statistical or non-statistical.
Was the description of the results easy to understand? Explain your rationale.
Determine if the descriptions of research procedures and methods were sufficiently detailed. Were any important details missing?
Do the researchers imply if their research proved something? Explain if you believe the researchers’ results prove something.
Assess the researcher(s)’ acknowledgment and discussion of the study’s limitations.
Would you be proud to have your name on this research as a co-author?
Support your assignment with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal articles, may be included.
Length: 4-6 pages, not including title and reference pages
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 6 Assignment Explore the Role of Data Analysis in the Science of Social Work
Imagine you are a member of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), a professional organization for researchers in social work. In your own words, prepare a hypothetical blog post for the organization’s home page for other social work researchers to read and respond to. For your blog, analyze the questions below.
What role do statistics play in social work research? Do you believe they are simply superfluous (an unnecessary burden) or are they useful? On what do you base your opinion?
Some argue that outliers should be eliminated from results. Do you agree or disagree with this approach as it relates to advancing the science of social work? Why or why not? How do oppressed, marginalized, and vulnerable populations correspond to the notion of outliers?
Length of blog: 3-5 pages, not including title and reference pages. Support your blog with at least three scholarly sources.
Your blog must be effectively designed and meet the following criteria:
Contains text that is readable (e.g., appropriate size of font, type of font, contrasts with the background, contains sufficient white space),
Includes information within the blog that supports the assignment.
Ensures any included links are active and work.
Contains at least one graphic.
Uses the same template throughout the blog with a consistent design.
Your blog should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your submission should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards where appropriate. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 7 Assignment Critique Measures for Use in Social Work
The goal of this assignment is for you to become familiar with some of the measures that could be used to assess social work practice outcomes. After you have read the assigned readings, identify and critique one measure of an outcome in an area of interest. Select a measure that you would administer to your clients to guide your interventions and treatment planning. Good sources of measures in the NCU Library include EBSCOhost, Mental Measurements Yearbook with Tests in Print, ProQuest, PsychiatryOnline, and PsycTESTS.
Download the Measure Critique Outline and Sample Measure Critique documents from this week’s resources. Using the Sample Measure Critique as a guide, complete the Measure Critique Outline for the measure you selected.
Be sure to send an email to your professor by Wednesday of this week in which you identify one or more measures you are considering evaluating so that your professor can provide guidance on the best one to use for this assignment. For example, you would not want to evaluate a psychological test like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), which social workers in most states cannot administer nor interpret. Instead, you should search for a measure of couple and family functioning, although individual screening tests, like the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), may also be acceptable.
Support your assignment with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal articles, may be included.
Length: 4-6 pages, not including title and reference pages
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 8 Signature Assignment Prepare a Mock Research Design for an Ethical Study in Social Work
For your final assignment, please select one of the following two scenarios to complete your Signature Assignment.
Scenario 1: Survey Design
You are an administrator working in a residential hospice center that provides palliative and end-of-life care to adults with terminal diagnoses and a medical prognosis of less than 6 months to live. The hospice center also provides supportive services to the families of those terminally ill, such as end-of-life planning services and grief counseling. The hospice center receives funding from multiple sources, including insurance payments, third party reimbursements, and private payments, and provides charity care for those who are uninsured/unable to pay for services. Much of the charity care is funded by received donations and grants awarded annually to the hospice center. Recently, the hospice center has been asked by one of the primary charity care funders to conduct research on the efficacy and client satisfaction of the support programs for families of the terminally ill residents. Your task is to develop a survey research design to gather information on the satisfaction of the families who are receiving support services. You will assess client satisfaction by completing this task.
Complete the following for your written submission:
Identify the primary research question you will address and any hypotheses you may be testing. Determine the kinds of variables you want to measure. What questions do you want to have answered? What is the best way to go about getting those answers?
Identify the population you will survey and analyze any ethical concerns or considerations you may need to keep in mind with this population. Include a discussion of any ethical, cultural, or socioeconomic concerns that a researcher must be mindful of.
Determine what mode of data collection you will use (e.g., personal interviews, telephone surveys, mailed questionnaires/drop-off surveys, web-based surveys, and email-based surveys) and provide a rationale for your choice.
Explain the type of data analyses you will complete to answer your questions, including any descriptive/inferential statistics you would utilize.
Discuss any threats to reliability and validity and any other limitations of your study.
Discuss how you will present your study findings to the charity care funders who have requested the study in an ethical and professional manner. Explain what you would do if the research findings painted the support services in a negative light.
Be sure your study design demonstrates cultural competence, clear adherence to social work ethics, and sensitivity to marginalized and oppressed populations.
Scenario 2: Program Evaluation Design
Assume you are a program evaluator and that you are completing an evaluation at the 6-month interval for the following fictitious program. Read the program description, and then complete the tasks that follow:
Safe Haven is a shelter for adolescent runaways waiting for a court determination and trial. It was established as an alternative location to place adolescents instead of the general jail population. The goal of the shelter is to keep the residents safe while they wait for their court date. The ages of the residents range from 14 to 17. The Safe Haven staff monitors three safety risks for this population: harm to others, harm to self, and alcohol or drug use. Staff provides specific programming to address these three issues.
First, mandatory group counseling is provided daily from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, so residents can learn conflict resolution skills to prevent them from harming others. During this group session, members listen to a 30-minute curriculum-based presentation followed by a demonstration. Group members then practice the skills with each other.
Second, all residents are monitored for depression and suicidal ideations to prevent self-harm. Residents meet Monday through Friday for 30 minutes with a social worker for mandatory individual counseling.
Finally, group members participate in a drug and alcohol education class. This is also a curriculum-based educational presentation on refusal skills followed by group practice and process discussions. This mandatory group meets daily from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Urinalyses are conducted on residents every 3 days and a breath analysis every day before bed.
The rest of the days throughout the week, residents are tutored by a teacher who is brought into the shelter. On weekends, residents receive visitors and participate in recreational activities at the shelter under close supervision.
Tasks:
Design a program description for this program that includes the types of services being provided and their location; the program’s mission; the frequency with which services are offered, including time and day; and characteristics of the people you serve (number of residents, gender, race, age, income, etc.).
Be sure to include a discussion of any ethical, cultural, or socioeconomic concerns that the program evaluation must consider when developing the evaluation plan.
Develop a minimum of three program objectives. Objectives should be able to meet the SMART standard (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely or time-bound) and should demonstrate cultural competence, clear adherence to social work ethics, and sensitivity to marginalized and oppressed populations.
Develop a plan to evaluate the MOST objectives.
Support your assignment with at least five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal articles, may be included.
Length: 10-12 pages, not including title and reference pages
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Upload your document, and then click the Submit to Dropbox button.
MSW6007 Research Methods in Social Work
Week 2 Discussion Explore Pseudoscience and Related Strategies in Research
From this week’s material, select one of the 10 pseudoscientific indicators presented by the authors. In your own words, post a discussion in which you analyze the indicator and give an example. The example can be a summary of the ones presented by the author, or even better, use an example you have come across in your own experiences. Conduct external research in the NCU library if need be. Next, explore one of the strategies from this week’s readings you may use to combat the pseudoscientific practice/indicator you explained above. Finally, discuss why understanding pseudoscience is important to your knowledge of the principles of scientific inquiry.
Length: Content post 150-200 words.
Your content post should reflect a collegial attitude, be free of grammar and spelling errors, and include the criteria mentioned above.
Post your discussion by clicking on Start a New Thread and then click the Post button when you have completed your response.
Note- It is likely that you have heard reference to this particular study in the news and in other courses. Understanding the gross ethical violations against the Black men in this historical study is important because provides context for current approaches to ethics in research.
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