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Chapter 1 Science, Research, and Social Work Practice

Chapter 2 Purposes and Processes of Social Work Research

Chapter 3 Ethics and Cultural Competence in Social Work Research

Chapter 4 Evidence-Based Practice

When you complete the content and exercises in this section of the book, you will have achieved an enhanced appreciation of science as a guide for social work. This means that you will be more likely to examine scientific evidence in the pursuit of knowledge to guide practice. You will be less likely to accept someone’s claim that the full moon makes people act differently without a comprehensive examination of this question using the principles and processes of science.

On completion of this section, you will also be more familiar with the phases of the social work research process. You will be less likely to put the cart before the horse because you will know that there is a rationale for the sequence of activities in the research process. In addition, you will understand how research can be usefully categorized according to the purpose of the study. For example, you will know that you must employ descriptive statistics if your study is descriptive in nature and inferential statistics if your study is explanatory in nature.

An appreciation of the ethics in the use of human subjects in research will be another outcome of this section for you. You will know the basic ways to ensure that you have appropriately demonstrated this appreciation in your research tasks. Furthermore, you will know more about how to incorporate culture competence in the tasks of research. Finally, you will be familiar with the nature of evidence-based practice in social work. This also means that you will have a better appreciation of what evidence can do for you in enhancing the effectiveness of your practice.