SWP22RES RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE A

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SWP22RES RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE A

• MARTIN RYAN
• LECTURE SEVEN- Continuing the Research Process

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The Social Work Research Process
1) Identify the Research Problem Area2)
Identify Personal Motivation for Interest in
this Problem Area3) Formulate Focussed
Research Question/s or Hypotheses
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Will you have research questions or hypotheses?

• Hypotheses
• underpin the hypothetico- deductive
  (quantitative approach) to research
• - for all those who favour such an approach they
  are the way to go
• - it is a proposition that can be proven or
  disapproved by data about the nature of a
  relationship between two or more variables.
  These variables consist of an independent and
  dependent variable.
• - variables have to be reduced to observable and
  measurable dimensions

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Research questions

• used more frequently in social work research
  because they are more appropriate than hypotheses
  given the often relatively unexplored state of
  knowledge in the field
• used under the following conditions
• - insufficient knowledge to justify use of a
  hypothesis
• - lack of convincing theory about the relations
  between variables
• - lack of knowledge available to identify and
  define particular variables

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Research questions

• Used in quantitative research studies before
  hypotheses can be formulated and posed, where
  there is a need to describe particular phenomena
  of interest first, and where variables have to be
  found in the relationships between them explored.
• Research questions are traditionally associated
  with qualitative research studies, and
  exploratory and descriptive studies

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The process of creating and refining research
questions

• Find the topic to research
• Focus the topic into a question or questions
• Identify the main research question
• Work out the subsidiary questions (if any)
• How does the main question determine the choice
  of research methods? (Andrews, R. (2003),
  Research Questions, London, Continuum, pp.79-82)

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• 4) Review the Literature
• 5) Reformulate Research Question/s or
  Hypotheses
• 6) Develop a Plan for the Research Study

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1. Operationally define key terms, concepts and
variables.2. Decide on research approach -
quantitative, qualitative or a combined
approach.3. Decide on research design.
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2. Decide on research approach - quantitative,
qualitative or a combined approach

• What you would use depends on
• - your degree of comfort with a particular
  approach
• - your preferences in terms of philosophical
  compatibility
• - your experience with a particular approach
• - the requirements of the funding source for a
  research study and lastly,
• - realistic political considerations.

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• Under what conditions do you think you would use
  a combined approach?

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3. Decide on research design.

• The term research design is used here to mean the
  arrangements concerning the staging of data
  collection over the period of a research study
• Research designs are determined by two key
  factors
• - what the research question is, and
• - the amount of knowledge available on a certain
  problem

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Research designs

• When only a little is known about problem,
  certain types of research design are indicated.
• As knowledge grows, other types of designs may be
  indicated and become possible

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Research designs

• Three broad research designs lie on
  knowledge-level continuum
• Exploratory studies
• Descriptive studies
• Explanatory studies
• - most rigorous form of this is an experimental
  study

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Research designs

• The other key dimension of a research designs is
  time i.e. the number of times that data is
  collected in a study
• - where it is collected at only one point in
  time, it is called a cross-sectional study
• - where it is collected on multiple occasions,
  it is called a longitudinal study which enables
  change and the change process to be documented,
  observed and analysed

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• 4. Define and decide upon access to
  sample and sample size.
• 5. Decide on data collection method and
  instruments (questionnaires, interviews,
  secondary data analysis or observation)
• 6. How the data is to be analysed.

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• 7. Staging and timing of the study.
• 8. Costing of the study.

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• Pretesting and Piloting of the data
  collection instrument/s
• - need to ensure validity ( is it actually
  measuring what it is supposed to measure?)
• - need to ensure reliability ( if it was used on
  a number of occasions would it produce the same
  results each time?)

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• 10. Write up research proposal.
• 11. Obtain necessary ethics clearance.
• 7) Collect the Data
• 8) Analyse the Data (includes the data
  reduction and statistical analysis)

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9) Write up the Research Findings10)
Disseminate the Findings 11) Implement and
Utilise the Findings
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For Tutorials this week

• You are asked to prepare a
• mini-literature review consisting of coverage of
  five works

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Next weeks lecture

• Ethics in social work research