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Scientific Inquiry in Social Work: Student and Instructor Resources

Scientific Inquiry in Social Work
Student and Instructor Resources

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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table Of Contents
  5. Student and Instructor Resources
  6. Copyright Information
  7. Acknowledgements and Contributors
  8. Version Information
  9. 1. Introduction to research
    1. 1.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 1.1 How do social workers know what to do?
    3. 1.2 Science and social work
    4. 1.3 Why should we care?
    5. 1.4 Understanding research
  10. 2. Beginning a research project
    1. 2.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 2.1 Getting started
    3. 2.2 Sources of information
    4. 2.3 Finding literature
  11. 3. Reading and evaluating literature
    1. 3.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 3.1 Reading an empirical journal article
    3. 3.2 Evaluating sources
    4. 3.3 Refining your question
  12. 4. Conducting a literature review
    1. 4.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 4.1 What is a literature review?
    3. 4.2 Synthesizing literature
    4. 4.3 Writing the literature review
  13. 5. Ethics in social work research
    1. 5.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 5.1 Research on humans
    3. 5.2 Specific ethical issues to consider
    4. 5.3 Ethics at micro, meso, and macro levels
    5. 5.4 The practice of science versus the uses of science
  14. 6. Linking methods with theory
    1. 6.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 6.1 Micro, meso, and macro approaches
    3. 6.2 Paradigms, theories, and how they shape a researcher’s approach
    4. 6.3 Inductive and deductive reasoning
  15. 7. Design and causality
    1. 7.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 7.1 Types of research
    3. 7.2 Causal relationships
    4. 7.3 Unit of analysis and unit of observation
    5. 7.4 Mixed Methods
  16. 8. Creating and refining a research question
    1. 8.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 8.1 Empirical versus ethical questions
    3. 8.2 Writing a good research question
    4. 8.3 Quantitative research questions
    5. 8.4 Qualitative research questions
    6. 8.5 Feasibility and importance
    7. 8.6 Matching question and design
  17. 9. Defining and measuring concepts
    1. 9.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 9.1 Measurement
    3. 9.2 Conceptualization
    4. 9.3 Operationalization
    5. 9.4 Measurement quality
    6. 9.5 Complexities in quantitative measurement
  18. 10. Sampling
    1. 10.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 10.1 Basic concepts of sampling
    3. 10.2 Sampling in qualitative research
    4. 10.3 Sampling in quantitative research
    5. 10.4 A word of caution: Questions to ask about samples
  19. 11. Survey research
    1. 11.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 11.1 Survey research: What is it and when should it be used?
    3. 11.2 Strengths and weaknesses of survey research
    4. 11.3 Types of surveys
    5. 11.4 Designing effective questions and questionnaires
  20. 12. Experimental design
    1. 12.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 12.1 Experimental design: What is it and when should it be used?
    3. 12.2 Pre-experimental and quasi-experimental design
    4. 12.3 The logic of experimental design
    5. 12.4 Analyzing quantitative data
  21. 13. Interviews and focus groups
    1. 13.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 13.1 Interview research: What is it and when should it be used?
    3. 13.2 Qualitative interview techniques
    4. 13.3 Issues to consider for all interview types
    5. 13.4 Focus groups
    6. 13.5 Analyzing qualitative data
  22. 14. Unobtrusive research
    1. 14.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 14.1 Unobtrusive research: What is it and when should it be used?
    3. 14.2 Strengths and weaknesses of unobtrusive research
    4. 14.3 Unobtrusive data collected by you
    5. 14.4 Secondary data analysis
    6. 14.5 Reliability in unobtrusive research
  23. 15. Real-world research
    1. 15.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 15.1 Evaluation research
    3. 15.2 Single-subjects design
    4. 15.3 Action research
  24. 16. Reporting research
    1. 16.0 Chapter introduction
    2. 16.1 What to share and why we share
    3. 16.2 Disseminating your findings
    4. 16.3 The uniqueness of the social work perspective on science
  25. Glossary
  26. Practice behavior index
  27. Attributions index

1

Student and Instructor Resources

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https://www.opensocialworkeducation.com/

Navigating the web edition

If you’re looking at this in a web browser, you can navigate to each chapter by clicking the Contents button on the top left side of the screen.  If you’re looking at this on a mobile phone, click the Contents button at the top of the page.

Downloadable editions

If you prefer to read a downloadable copy of this textbook, please use the following links.

  • PDF (small file, intended for web distribution)
  • PDF (large file, intended for printing)
  • MOBI (for Kindle)
  • EPUB (for iBooks, nook)

You can also purchase a print copy of the textbook from PrintMe1.  The author does not receive any compensation from these sales, as this is a non-commercial work.

Notice errors in the textbook? Is the language hard to understand? Could an example be better? You can use the Hypothes.is extension in Google Chrome or Firefox to provide annotations and comments. I’ve set up a Hypothes.is group for student feedback.  Using Hypothesis, you can set up your own groups to take notes on the textbook in collaboration with other students.

Instructor resources

If you are an instructor adopting this textbook, please help us understand a little more about your class by filling out this form.  We value your feedback on the textbook.  Please use the Hypothes.is annotation group for professors to provide comments that will be addressed in the next edition of the textbook, currently planned for Summer 2020.

The following ancillary resources for this textbook are available:

  • PowerPoint slideshows
  • A set of assignments that scaffold an individual research proposal as well as exemplars created by students for how to complete these assignments
  • Quizzes–please email profmattdecarlo@gmail.com with documentation that you are a research methods instructor

You can easily customize this textbook for your classroom using Pressbooks.  I would like people to adapt their own versions of this book.

  1. Download the XML file for this textbook.
  2. Create a Pressbooks account.
  3. Go to Tools/Import.
  4. Open this textbook’s XML file using the prompt.
  5. Your project will now be a clone of my textbook.  Take out whatever you want, add stuff, revise wording…do whatever you want with it.
  6. Make sure to abide by the Creative Commons license and provide proper attribution for all adapted material.
  7. To publish your adapted textbook publicly, you will have to pay $99 to Pressbooks.  It’s the same fee I paid to publish mine.
  8. Feel free to consult the BCCampus self-publishing guide.  You can also ask me for help.

If you make changes to the ancillary resources or textbook you feel the community would benefit from or develop new resources, please consider sharing them with the author for inclusion in future editions of this textbook and on OER Commons or Merlot.  Please provide attribution following the best practices in the BCCampus guide.

Publisher information

For more information on open educational resources, open textbooks, and open pedagogy in social work, visit Open Social Work Education.  Our goal is to create open resources for each course in social work!

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Copyright © 2018 by Matthew DeCarlo. Scientific Inquiry in Social Work by Matthew DeCarlo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
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