Читать книгу Social Work Research Methods - Reginald O. York - Страница 30

In Chapter 1, students face challenges in the demonstration of the spirit of scientific inquiry. They learn, for example, that research is a process of discovery rather than justification. The scientific researcher does not cherry-pick information to prove a point. Instead, the researcher examines information in a systematic and objective manner and lets the data drive the conclusions. The practice exercise for this chapter calls on the student to engage in a dialogue with someone about whether the full moon affects unusual behavior, with contributions from research on this theme. The objective is to learn how people do or do not embrace science as a way of knowing.

The student learns about the four phases of social work research in Chapter 2. Also included in these lessons of this chapter is how research can be classified into four ways based on the general purpose of the study (description, explanation, evaluation, or exploration). In the practice exercise of this chapter, students demonstrate competence in conceptualizing the four phases of research work with regard to a study they might undertake on the evaluation of their practice.

In Chapter 3, students learn how to apply the key principles of research ethics and cultural competence with regard to a research study they would like to undertake. For example, how will the issue of privacy be accommodated? Also, how will cultural competence be addressed in each phase of the research process?

Chapter 4 focuses on evidence-based practice. Students learn the nature of evidence-based practice and how to find evidence for their own research pursuits. The practice exercise for this chapter asks the students to review a specific systematic review of evidence and answer a set of questions about what was learned from the review.