Research Methods

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Research Methods

• Michael A. Dover, MSW, Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor
• Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work
• Central Michigan University

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Chapter One The Utility of Research in Social
Work

• OUTLINE
• Introduction to Research in Social Work
• Professional Competition
• Knowledge Generation
• Obligation to Share Knowledge
• Evaluating Research
• Essential Skills for a Social Worker
• Evidence-based Practice
• Six Steps (pages 6-7) (Question
  formulationsearch for evidence critical
  appraisal of strong vs. weak studies
  determination of which evidence-based
  intervention is best for your client applying
  the intervention evaluation and feedback.

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Chapter 1

• Social work research seeks(RB5)
• Practice practical knowledge to solve problems
  they confront.
• Provide information to alleviate human suffering
  and promote social welfare.
• Accomplish the same humanistic goals as social
  work practice. It is compassionate,
  problem-solving, and practical.
• Professional Competitive Edge
• Why is this important?
• Social workers compete and collaborate with other
  professions
• Social workers need the ability to critically
  evaluate research, a common language to discuss
  problems, and an understanding of the research
  tools involved in the evaluation of practice.

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Chapter 1

• Generation of Knowledge
• Ethical obligation to base our interventions on
  the best available scientific information.
• Code of Ethics (Handout)
• Obligation to share knowledge with fellow social
  workers about interventions that are working
• Most reliable means for generating knowledge

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Chapter 1

• As social workers, we have an ethical obligation
  to our clients and profession to base our
  interventions on the best available scientific
  information. Well be reading excerpts from our
  Code of Ethics that are related to research as we
  cover chapter four of the text. (Handout)
• If we are doing something that is working, we
  have an obligation to share that information with
  our fellow social workers. The use of a
  scientific approach is the most reliable means
  for generating knowledge.

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Critical Evaluation

• Critically Evaluate Research
• Scientific Soundness vs. pseudo research
• One of the major objectives of the course is to
  prepare you to be critical consumers of research.
  You should be able to critically evaluate the
  "scientific soundness" of a research study and to
  distinguish it from "pseudo research. This is
  why the sociologists teaching SOC 300 here at CMU
  recommend that instructors have an assignment
  related to the ability to critically consume
  research. In this section, this is done by
  learning to writing an information abstract and a
  critical appreciation the research methods used
  in a quantitative and a qualitative journal
  article.

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Critiquing Research

• Critiqueing research quality The most important
  thing about learning to critique research is to
  be able to distinguish a strong from a weak
  study. Few studies that make it to publication
  are going to be completely flawed, but if you
  have study A that is strong that has conclusion
  1, and study B that is weak and has conclusion 2,
  you would presumably lean towards conclusion 1 on
  the basis of the strength of the methods and data
  used in reaching that conclusion, no? Dont
  assume that because it is published it is strong.
  Also, dont just rely upon the conclusion or
  abstract it is important to become familiar with
  the tables, the appendices, and the data and
  other technical aspects.

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Chapter 1

• Essential Skills for a social worker
• Critically evaluate trends or waves that move
  through practice
• Understand what literature is relevant to our
  practice
• Ability to abstract the results in a way that
  makes sense and relays information to many people

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Evidence-Based Practice

• Evidence-based practice using the best
  scientific evidence available in deciding how to
  intervene with individuals, families, groups or
  communities (RB, p. 3)
• It is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious
  use of current best evidence in making decisions
  about the care of individual clients (RB, p. 4)
  (Sackett, et al., 1997)
• Will guide us in what interventions NOT to use,
  but also give indicators about what practice is
  best to use at the time

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Steps of Evidence-Based Practice (RB, p. 6-7)

• Step One Question formulation
• Step Two Search for the evidence
• Step Three Critically appraise the relevant
  studies
• Two questions
• Was treatment outcome measured in a reliable,
  valid, and unbiased manner?
• Was the experimental or quasi-experimental
  research design strong enough to indicate whether
  it was the intervention that most plausibly
  explains the variations in the client outcome or
  something else (i.e. due to chance)?
• Step Four Determine which evidence-based
  intervention is most appropriate for your
  particular clients
• Step Five Apply the evidence-based practice
• Step Six Evaluation and feedback

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Utilizing Research

• Utilizing research Although we will cover ethics
  in more detail later, it is important to realize
  there are clear ethical responsibilities to stay
  abreast of evidence about practice. But, there
  is no specific requirement (yet) that
  interventions be evidence based, that would be
  impossible, wed have to stop practicing! That is
  because by and large social work today, and I
  would argue even aspects of medicine, are based
  upon interventions that havent been adequately
  researched.

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Important Characteristics

• There are a five important characteristics which
  should be kept in mind by practitioners who
  aspire to evidence-based practice.

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First.

• First, you shouldnt assume that you are up to
  date on the most important and most valid
  practice interventions, and furthermore, the fact
  that there is some new, scientifically supported
  intervention doesnt mean it is right for your
  own client. The bottom line in evidence based
  practice is critical thinking about practice and
  the goal of scientifically evaluating your own
  practice effectiveness, in some way shape or
  form.

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Second

• Second, although one should consider the
  experience associated with past practices and
  respect the authority of experts and esteemed
  colleagues, and while should consider the
  traditions of an agency, ideally we should be
  critical thinkers. And we shouldnt think that
  being a critical thinker is somehow making us
  less compassionate. Yes, we have to be in touch
  with our feelings and listen to our intuition,
  but the heart can lead you astray sometimes just
  like faulty thinking can!

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Third

• Third, evidence doesnt trump values of the
  client. On my website there is an article about
  the way in which child welfare authorities in
  Texas tried to force additional chemotherapy on a
  teenager client allegedly because the evidence
  showed this was required, but client
  self-determination is something we take seriously
  in social work. The fact that a particular
  intervention seems supported by evidence doesnt
  mean it should be provided if it conflicts with a
  clients values. Also, it is important to
  realize that one cant always expect to find
  conclusive evidence about what interventions to
  use.

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Fourth

• Fourth, one intervention may be effect with
  clients of one ethnic group and not with those of
  another, and often research doesnt fully control
  for ethnicity. We should do everything we can to
  base interventions on evidence from computerized
  library searches, reading of journals in the
  library, going to meetings, visiting the Campbell
  collaboration website for which Ive provided a
  link, etc.. (Continued)

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Fourth (continued)

• Fourth, one intervention may be effect with
  clients of one ethnic group and not with those of
  another, and often research doesnt fully control
  for ethnicity. We should do everything we can to
  base interventions on evidence from computerized
  library searches, reading of journals in the
  library, going to meetings, visiting the Campbell
  collaboration website for which Ive provided a
  link, etc.. But the reality is that most social
  work interventions at the present time cant be
  considered evidence based. Nor can we assume
  that all of the literature you find in such
  searches is of high quality. That is exactly why
  we have to learn to evaluate, critique and
  appraise the studies that are most relevant to
  our practice. Thats why we have to evaluate
  progress towards meeting treatment goals as one
  important step in the process of evidence-based
  practice. And evidence is something we seek not
  only for social work practice but also in order
  to promote social welfare.

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Fifth

• In sum, practitioners engaged in evidence based
  practice should be critical thinkers, should view
  trying to stay up to date with the evidence as a
  lifelong commitment, should be willing to
  challenge tradition and authority as guides to
  practice, should be particularly skeptical of new
  and unproven techniques with no research base,
  and should generally think for themselves but on
  the basis of logic and evidence about what their
  colleagues may contend is based upon practice
  wisdom. On the other hand, social workers cant
  go it alone, it is very difficult for an
  individual to assess their own practice without
  collaboration with others. It may be that one
  reason agencies dont evaluate their
  effectiveness is that research findings often
  discover that the services arent effective!
  Its not that no interventions are effective, and
  it is true you can discover problems with any
  intervention, but one shouldnt assume that just
  because an agency is established, held in high
  esteem, etc, that the services are effective.

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Conclusion to Ch. 1

• To conclude, evidence-based practice means
  striving to use the best scientific evidence
  available in deciding how to intervene with
  individuals, families, groups, or communities.
  When we use reseasrch in this careful way, we are
  acting consistently with the values and mission
  of the profession, and failing to or refusing to
  consider research findings does have implications
  for how ethical we are as professionals.