Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods – serie

As novel, complex social problems increase, especially those involving vulnerable people who reside in challenging places, the limitations of conventional research methods implemented by just one or two investigators become apparent. Research and development alternatives are needed, particularly methods that engage teams of researchers in real world problem solving while simultaneously generating practice- and policy-relevant knowledge. Research methods that effectively tap the expertise of everyday people, especially those impacted by these targeted social problems, are a special priority because academic researchers often lack experiential knowledge that stems from direct, everyday encounters with these vexing problems.Participatory action research (PAR) responds to these manifest needs. It provides a methodological structure and operational guidelines for preparing and deploying people from various walks of life as co-researchers, and it provides a proven strategy for generating practice- and policy-relevant knowledge as problem-solving in real world contexts proceeds.

Content Analysis offers a comprehensive overview of the variation within content analysis, along with detailed descriptions of three approaches found in the contemporary literature: basic content analysis, interpretive content analysis and qualitative content analysis. This book provides an inclusive, and carefully differentiated, examination of contemporary content analysis research purposes and methods. Such a book is not currently available. Chapter One examines the conceptual base and history of content analysis, then the next three chapters examine each approach to content analysis in depth, using brief illustrative exemplar studies. Each of the methodology chapters employs a consistent outline to help readers compare and contrast the three different approaches. Chapter 5 examines rigor in content analysis and highlights steps to ensure the internal coherence of studies. This book concludes with exploration of two full-length studies: Chapter 6 examines the use of content analysis for advocacy and building public awareness to promote human rights and social justice. Chapter 7 reviews a full-length study of older adults in prison to detail how content analysis is completed and how different approaches may be usefully combined.

Developing Cross-Cultural Measurement in Social Work Research and Evaluation, Second Edition is an applied practice-to-research text, with a focus on developing, assessing, and validating meaningful measurements across cultures and populations. This book deeply examines cultural differences that may present problems with measurements for target populations relevant to social work researchers, and features practical hands-on solutions to managing these problems using advanced quantitative methods. The authors present a step-by step approach, beginning with the conceptualization of measurements for different cultures, the processes involved in identifying item questions, and the quantitative techniques that can be used to validate new or pre-existing measures. This Second Edition also includes sample syntax from publicly available data for social work researchers to learn to conduct these types of analyses with their own research.New to the Second Edition:- Emphasis on Item Response Theory, and a new chapter devoted to the concept. - Increased focus on the process of instrument development, based on real-world examples - in particular, a detailed examination of the development of a new cross-cultural instrument, the Empathy Scale, created and validated by a group of multinational and culturally diverse students from the US, China, Mexico, and Turkey under the supervision of Dr. Tran.- Significant updates of all content to reflect new developments in cross-cultural research across social sciences and psychological disciplines.

A researcher's decision about the sample to draw in a study may have an enormous impact on the results, and it rests on numerous statistical and practical considerations that can be difficult to juggle. Computer programs help, but no single software package exists that allows researchers to determine sample size across all statistical procedures. This pocket guide shows social work students, educators, and researchers how to prevent some of the mistakes that would result from a wrong sample size decision by describing and critiquing four main approaches to determining sample size. In concise, example-rich chapters, Dattalo covers sample-size determination using power analysis, confidence intervals, computer-intensive strategies, and ethical or cost considerations, as well as techniques for advanced and emerging statistical strategies such as structural equation modeling, multilevel analysis, repeated measures MANOVA and repeated measures ANOVA. He also offers strategies for mitigating pressures to increase sample size when doing so may not be feasible. Whether as an introduction to the process for students or as a refresher for experienced researchers, this practical guide is a perfect overview of a crucial but often overlooked step in empirical social work research.

The art of writing up a completed research project in a format suitable for submission to a social work journal is an ability separate from one's skills as a research methodologist. It is also an ability that, despite its importance, is often overlooked by research courses and senior-level mentors. This straightforward pocket guide to Preparing Research Articles steps into the void as an insider's guide to getting published.Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience editing a social work research journal, Bruce A. Thyer has crafted a candid companion to the journal publishing process, unraveling the mysteries that students - as well as many established researchers - might otherwise stumble over, and as a result their prospectus for future success improve. Thyer's frank advice on selecting an appropriate journal, handling rejections and revisions, understanding confusing concepts like impact factors and electronic publishing, and avoiding common methodological and formatting pitfalls, constitute a gold mine for the fledging researcher-writer.

With demographic changes and the reality of cultural diversity, social work researchers increasingly see the need to conduct cross-cultural research and evaluation, whether for hypothesis testing or outcome evaluation. Social work, as a profession, has recognized the importance of cultural sensitivity and competence in practice and research, but little has been written about how to use cross-cultural methods in quantitative social work research. Most social work research text books do not offer student step-by-step instructions on how to develop and evaluate cross-cultural measurements and research instruments. To ensure the quality of data collection and validity of outcomes, social work researchers must have both reliable and valid research instruments and measurements. With respect to cultural diversity, it's crucial that research instruments or measurements have equivalence of reliability and validity among participants of different cultures. This volume in the Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods series will guide researchers in developing and assessing cross-cultural research measurements. Chapters illustrate how to formulate research questions, select observable indicators, understand cross-cultural translation, evaluate measurement equivalence, and discern between best and poor practices in measurement development.

When social workers draw on experience, theory, or data in order to develop new strategies or enhance existing ones, they are conducting intervention research. This relatively new field involves program design, implementation, and evaluation and requires a theory-based, systematic approach. Intervention Research presents such a framework. The five-step strategy described in this brief but thorough book ushers the reader from an idea's germination through the process of writing a treatment manual, assessing program efficacy and effectiveness, and disseminating findings. Rich with examples drawn from child welfare, school-based prevention, medicine, and juvenile justice, Intervention Research relates each step of the process to current social work practice. It also explains how to adapt interventions for new contexts, and provides extensive examples of intervention research in fields such as child welfare, school-based prevention, medicine, and juvenile justice, and offers insights about changes and challenges in the field. This innovative pocket guide will serve as a solid reference for those already in the field, as well as help the next generation of social workers develop skills to contribute to the evolving field of intervention research.

When used in tandem, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, two distinct but highly compatible approaches to research synthesis, form a powerful, scientific approach to analyzing previous studies. But to see their full potential, a social work researcher must be versed in the foundational processes underlying them. This pocket guide to Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis illuminates precisely that practical groundwork.In clear, step-by-step terms, the authors explain how to format topics, locate and screen studies, extract and assess data, pool effect sizes, determine bias, and interpret the results, showing readers how to combine reviewing and meta-analysis correctly and effectively. Each chapter contains vivid social work examples and concludes with a concise summary and notes on further reading, while the book's glossary and handy checklists and sample search and data extraction forms maximize the boo'ks usefulness.Highlighting the concepts necessary to understand, critique, and conduct research synthesis, this brief and highly readable introduction is a terrific resource for students and researchers alike.

Most social work researchers are familiar with linear regression techniques, which are fairly straightforward to conduct, interpret, and present. However, linear regression is not appropriate for discrete dependent variables, and social work research frequently employs these variables, focusing on outcomes such as placement in foster care or not; level of severity of elder abuse or depression symptoms; or number of reoffenses by juvenile delinquents in the year following adjudication. This book presents detailed discussions of regression models that are appropriate for a variety of discrete dependent variables. The major challenges of such analyses lie in the non-linear relationships between independent and dependent variables, and particularly in interpreting and presenting findings. Clear language guides the reader briefly through each step of the analysis, using SPSS and result presentation to enhance understanding of the important link function. The book begins with a brief review of linear regression; next, the authors cover basic binary logistic regression, which provides a foundation for the other techniques. In particular, comprehension of the link function is vital in order to later interpret these methods' results. Though the book assumes a basic understanding of linear regression, reviews and definitions throughout provide useful reminders of important terms and their meaning, and throughout the book the authors provide detailed examples based on their own data, which readers may work through by accessing the data and output on companion website. Social work and other social sciences faculty, students, and researchers who already have a basic understanding of linear regression but are not as familiar with the regression analysis of discrete dependent variables will find this straightforward pocket guide to be a terrific boon to their bookshelves.

Historiography is the method of doing historical research, a potentially powerful tool in a social work historian or qualitative researcher's arsenal. This addition to the Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods guides doctoral students and researchers in the construction of a historical study, from problem formulation to instrument construction to data collection and analysis.

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered by many researchers and providers to be the gold standard of health and social service effectiveness research. However, there exist scant resources that deal with the complex nature of designing and implementing RCTs in community-based settings. This clearly written pocket guide provides researchers and social service practitioners insight into each step of an RCT. The goal of this text is to enable readers to understand, design, and implement a community-based RCT. From the initial stage of planning the RCT and developing its conceptual foundations through implementation, the authors provide a wealth of detail and case studies from social work practice research that assist readers to comprehend the detailed information provided. Accessible, concrete advice is woven throughout the text and tackles the many design and implementation challenges that arise in community practice settings. The importance of utilizing a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods is encouraged due to the intricate nature of RCT research in community-based environments. Through utilizing practical case examples, this pocket guide reviews the essentials of RCTs in a manner that will appeal to researchers, practitioners and students alike who are seeking the necessary tools to build the empirical knowledge base for community-based psychosocial interventions for social work.

Clinical Data-Mining (CDM) involves the conceptualization, extraction, analysis, and interpretation of available clinical data for practice knowledge-building, clinical decision-making and practitioner reflection. Depending upon the type of data mined, CDM can be qualitative or quantitative; it is generally retrospective, but may be meaningfully combined with original data collection. Any research method that relies on the contents of case records or information systems data inevitably has limitations, but with proper safeguards these can be minimized. Among CDM's strengths however, are that it is unobtrusive, inexpensive, presents little risk to research subjects, and is ethically compatible with practitioner value commitments. When conducted by practitioners, CDM yields conceptual as well as data-driven insight into their own practice- and program-generated questions.This pocket guide, from a seasoned practice-based researcher, covers all the basics of conducting practitioner-initiated CDM studies or CDM doctoral dissertations, drawing extensively on published CDM studies and completed CDM dissertations from multiple social work settings in the United States, Australia, Israel, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. In addition, it describes consulting principles for researchers interested in forging collaborative university-agency CDM partnerships, making it a practical tool for novice practitioner-researchers and veteran academic-researchers alike. As such, this book is an exceptional guide both for professionals conducting practice-based research as well as for social work faculty seeking an evidence-informed approach to practice-research integration.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) promises to have a profound impact on social work practice, education, and scholarship, but adopting EBP depends on the availability and accessibility of evidence and on strategies to synthesize this information. Systematic reviews provide a comprehensive, unbiased method for retrieving and synthesizing relevant research. This pocket guide is a concise introduction that describes the steps required to complete a systematic review and the criteria that can be used to assess the quality of existing reviews. The authors provide straightforward information on how to define a search question that captures the problem's parameters, develop a search strategy that is transparent and comprehensive, assess the quality and credibility of existing research, and summarize the available research to support EBP in social work. Providing coverage for both quantitative and qualitative synthesis methods, examples illustrate the steps and decisions associated with each approach to research synthesis. Key points and suggested readings and websites provide avenues for further study. This pocket guide is an excellent introduction to EBP and systematic reviews that will be valued by social work students, practitioners, and scholars.

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has long been used in social work research, but the writing on the topic is typically fragmented and highly technical. This pocket guide fills a major gap in the literature by providing social work researchers and doctoral students with an accessible synthesis. The authors demonstrate two SEM programs with distinct user interfaces and capabilities (Amos and Mplus) with enough specificity that readers can conduct their own analyses without consulting additional resources. Examples from social work literature highlight best practices for the specification, estimation, interpretation, and modification of structural equation models. Unlike most sources on SEM, this book provides clear guidelines on how to evaluate SEM output and how to proceed when model fit is not acceptable.Oftentimes, confirmatory factor analysis and general structure modeling are the most flexible, powerful, and appropriate choices for social work data. Richly illustrated with figures, equations, matrices, and tables, this pocket guide empowers social workers with a set of defensible analysis strategies that allows for competent, confident use of SEM.

In today's rapidly changing world, new social and human service problems emerge constantly, and in order to make good use of resources that are often limited, social service agencies must ensure that their services are truly needed. Needs assessments provide a baseline against which later results can be compared, and may also assist policy-makers in recognizing new trends or problems on the horizon. With so much hinging on their outcome, these assessments must be conducted both accurately and efficiently, and this pocket guide will give practitioners the ability to do so. Written by a group of social work scholars with a collective wealth of experience in conducting needs assessments at all levels, this practical guide will walk readers step by step through the process of selecting the right design to confidently conducting the assessment, meticulously analyzing data, and finally writing a cogent report. In addition, the authors explore the various approaches that can be used to assess the needs of a client or population group and the differences between large- and small-scale assessments. Later chapters in the book include discussions of emerging technologies in the field as well as abundant social work case examples. Social work graduate students, as well as social workers in the field who need to brush up on their skills, will find this book an invaluable aid.

Random sampling and random assignment are considered by many researchers to be the definitive methodological procedures for maximizing external and internal validity. However, there is a daunting list of legal, ethical, and practical barriers to implementing random sampling and random assignment. While there are no easy ways to overcome these barriers, social workers should seek and utilize strategies that minimize sampling and assignment bias. These methodological and statistical strategies form the book's core. In step-by-step chapters liberally illustrated with examples using a variety of software packages, Dattalo guides readers in selecting and implementing an appropriate strategy. Readers will gain confidence in using such techniques as exemplar sampling, sequential sampling, randomization tests, multiple imputation, mean-score logistic regression, partial randomization, constructed comparison groups, instrumental variables methods, and propensity scores. Each approach will be cataloged in such a way as to highlight its underlying assumptions, implementation strategies, and strengths and weaknesses. Screen shots, annotated resources, and a companion website make this a valuable tool for students, teachers, and researchers seeking a single source that provides a diverse set of tools that will maximize a study's validity when random sampling and random assignment are neither possible nor practical.

Narrative inquiry allows for a detailed examination of the structure and content of a story and its significance in relation to psychological, sociological, or historical frames of reference. Narrative methods are ideal for the study of intra- and inter-personal process. They are traditionally used to understand first-person accounts obtained in interviews, but unlike other forms of analysis, the storied nature of data is retained, allowing for qualitative analysis of personal experience in relation to time, social condition, and place.This pocket guide presents a reader-friendly introduction to narrative inquiry. It focuses on one particular research design, the case study design, providing a broad framework in which narrative and other relevant data may be collected and the specific ways in which audio recordings of interviews may be transcribed. With dozens of transcript examples taken from research conducted around the English-speaking world, this guide reviews prevailing analytic frameworks for the analysis of transcribed interviews, which include analyses of narrative content, structure, and context. Two cutting-edge approaches, critical narrative analysis and contextual discursive analysis, are also examined for applicability in teasing out how interviewees come to give the narratives that they do-the psychological processes and representational forms that people draw on in telling the stories of their lives. Issues pertaining to validity, reflexivity, and ethics in relation to narrative inquiry are also delineated. Appendices contain a summary of narrative analytic methods and a detailed guide for developing a narrative research proposal. The over 250 references include core references in narrative inquiry that span a range of disciplines and offer a platform for further study of this unique and vital method.Ideal for researchers and graduate students new to narrative study, this is a valuable guide to developing research projects that depend on narrative methods.

Qualitative synthesis within the family of systematic reviews meets an urgent need to use knowledge derived from qualitative studies to inform practice, research, and policy. Despite the contingent nature of evidence gleaned from synthesis of qualitative studies, systematic synthesis is an important technique and, used judiciously, can deepen understanding of the contextual dimensions that emerge from qualitative research. This pocket guide presents an overview for planning, developing, and implementing qualitative synthesis within existing protocols and guidelines for conducting systematic reviews. The authors also explore methodological challenges, including: the philosophical tensions of integrating qualitative synthesis within the family of systematic reviews; the balance of comprehensive and iterative information retrieval strategies to locate and screen qualitative research; the use of appraisal tools to assess quality of qualitative studies; the various approaches to synthesize qualitative studies, including interpretive, integrated, and aggregative; and the tensions between the generalizability and transferability of findings that emerge from qualitative synthesis.Social work researchers, educators, and doctoral students who are interested in systematic reviews will find the step-by-step format of this book invaluable for conducting their reviews, both in the form of rapid evidence assessments and in high-quality critical reviews.

It is usually the case that ethical and pragmatic considerations preclude the use of randomly assigning social work clients to experimental and comparative treatment conditions. In such instances, the practicality of employing a quasi-experimental method becomes an excellent alternative. Quasi-experimental research designs allow researchers to compare groups, and the use of increasingly sophisticated programs provides greater statistical control for what has become the most widely employed research approach used to evaluate the outcomes of social work programs and policies. This pocket guide describes the logic, design, and conduct of the range of such designs, encompassing pre-experiments, quasi-experiments making use of a control or comparison group, and time-series designs. An introductory chapter describes the valuable role these types of studies have played in social work, from the 1930s to the present. Subsequent chapters delve into each design type's major features, the kinds of questions it is capable of answering, and its strengths and limitations. By linking the theoretical discussion of quasi-experimental designs with actual applications in social work literature, the usefulness and vitality of these research methods comes alive for readers.While this book can be utilized as a manual, it will also have great value for practitioners seeking a greater conceptual understanding of quasi-experimental studies in social work literature. Human service professionals planning to undertake a program evaluation of their agency's services will find this book helpful in understanding the steps and actions needed to adopt a quasi-experimental strategy.

In recent decades, social work and other social science research disciplines have become increasingly reliant on large secondary data sets, which have increased in both number and accessibility. When starting a new research project, how does one determine whether to use a secondary data set? Which of the thousands available should be used? This invaluable and expertly written guide provides an in-depth introduction to 29 of the most widely used data sets in social work, such as the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and the U.S. Census. This book also examines the years covered by these cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets, the units of analysis, and the sample sizes.Readers will learn where to find the data and the key variables contained within, and how to use them in SAS and Stata. Screen shots guide researchers through data sets in a step-by-step process: how to download the data, how to merge it with other data sets, and how to program it when necessary. Each section also profiles studies that have used the respective data sets, giving researchers a clear feel for the depth and range of questions that a given data source can be used to answer, like the use of government data to explore issues ranging from pathways out of poverty to the relationship between marital dissolution and women's health and well-being. Exceptionally well calibrated and filled with real-world examples, this pocket guide will give beginning and advanced researchers a comprehensive understanding of these data sets that they can use in their research on clinical, policy, and other types studies.

Qualitative methods have become increasingly popular among researchers, and while many comprehensive textbooks describe the standard techniques and philosophical assumptions, it is often assumed that practitioners are consumers of research and not producers. This innovative book describes how qualitative methods can be used to investigate the in-vivo use of theory in social work practice. It offers not just a comprehensive overview of methods, but a concise, accessible guide focused on how to study and explicate application of theory, and the creative tension that inevitably exists between theory and practice. Theory-to-practice gaps are indispensable conditions for conducting engaged scholarship, which in turn promotes collaboration between researchers and practitioners in addressing practice-related problems in real-world settings.Engaged scholarship and critical realist assumptions are applied to three case studies that combine research questions with data collection techniques and analytic strategies. Thematic, grounded theory, and narrative research techniques are all illustrated, including original quick-start instructions for using ATLAS.ti software. Institutional ethnography is also presented as a method that is particularly useful for social work practice settings.By generating knowledge of practice in open and natural systems, qualitative methods can be used to examine how practice is experienced and how interventions may be understood and transformed. This cutting-edge pocket guide will equip practitioner-scholars with the foundation for conducting research that makes a difference.

This book offers a practical approach to conducting practice research in the field of human services. This evolving form of applied research seeks to understand practice in the context of the relationships between service providers and service users, between service providers and their managers, between agency-based service providers and community advocacy and support groups, and between agency managers and policy makers. Practice research represents a form of evidence-informed practice that involves a wide array of research designs and methods, in contrast to the narrower emphasis on experimental designs that characterizes evidence-based practice. The emerging principles and practices associated with practice research highlight: 1) including multiple, diverse stakeholders, 2) maximizing and negotiating participation, 3) promoting practitioner engagement in all phases of the research process, and 4) developing new identities for participants as research-minded practitioners and practice-minded researchers. The book is designed for researchers, practitioners, service users and students, and focuses on concrete experiences that illustrate the processes and activities involved in a specific, locally negotiated model of practice research. The book describes multiple practice research studies across an array of fields of practice in the human services, focusing on the research questions, designs, roles and relationships that have been developed in the context of a university-agency practice research partnership. These descriptions and stories are used to construct a comprehensive, detailed picture of the research process. Based upon these descriptions, the book synthesizes a set of broader principles and guidelines for practice researchers.

Multilevel models have become very common in social research, however, there are aspects of these models that are explored only infrequently. Those that rarely make their way into courses and training materials are published articles that appear in academic journals. The author's view is that multilevel modeling offers powerful tools for understanding the multilevel data that social researchers often confront. For example, researchers are often interested in studying outcomes for diverse groups of children in different schools, residents of diverse and different neighborhoods, or individuals or families living in diverse and different countries. Such inherently multilevel data lead to analytic complexities, some of which might be well understood, while others seem to be much less often appreciated. This book offers an accessible tutorial for applied researchers, especially those who see their research having some advocacy based component. The approach of this book, while offering up some equations, is less mathematically rigorous than some of the existing texts, and written with the intent of providing a clear and practically focused guide for the applied researcher who is attempting to carry out better research with diverse populations.

In social sciences, education, and public health research, researchers often conduct small pilot studies (or may have planned for a larger sample but lost too many cases due to attrition or missingness), leaving them with a smaller sample than they expected and thus less power for their statistical analyses. Similarly, researchers may find that their data are not normally distributed -- especially in clinical samples -- or that the data may not meet other assumptions required for parametric analyses. In these situations, nonparametric analytic strategies can be especially useful, though they are likely unfamiliar. A clearly written reference book, Data Analysis with Small Samples and Non-Normal Data offers step-by-step instructions for each analytic technique in these situations. Researchers can easily find what they need, matching their situation to the case-based scenarios that illustrate the many uses of nonparametric strategies. Unlike most statistics books, this text is written in straightforward language (thereby making it accessible for nonstatisticians) while providing useful information for those already familiar with nonparametric tests. Screenshots of the software and output allow readers to follow along with each step of an analysis. Assumptions for each of the tests, typical situations in which to use each test, and descriptions of how to explain the findings in both statistical and everyday language are all included for each nonparametric strategy. Additionally, a useful companion website provides SPSS syntax for each test, along with the data set used for the scenarios in the book. Researchers can use the data set, following the steps in the book, to practice each technique before using it with their own data. Ultimately, the many helpful features of this book make it an ideal long-term reference for researchers to keep in their personal libraries.

Although practitioners do not often identify an explicit focus on social welfare policy, the analysis (what it is) and evaluation (what it does) of policy is basic to social work practice. This unique pocket guide presents a case study on one of the most important domestic policy decisions in the post-WWII era, the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. This law ended welfare as we knew it by creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program and closing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program.Examining the law through three decision-making models assists readers in understanding TANF's historical antecedents, its political and power implications, and the way in which it meets social and economic goals. Individual chapters demonstrate how programs such as TANF are evaluated and the methods that can be used, such as primarily qualitative, primarily quantitative, and mixed methods evaluation techniques. Illustrating the advantages and disadvantages of each approach for evaluation, Hoefer makes use of the numerous studies undertaken in the thirteen years since welfare reform and its 2006 reauthorization. Part history text, readers will also learn about the details of the TANF legislation creation and evaluation, but will finish with a greater understanding of the policy creation and evaluation processes.This pocket guide will be useful to researchers as well as students in advanced social policy courses seeking to understand the two stages of policy-making, to possibly develop policy, to be able to describe the impact of social policy on social problems.

A Social Justice Approach to Survey Design and Analysis is written for students, teachers, researchers and anyone who is interested in conducting research. It draws heavily on current discussions regarding social justice, equity, health disparities and social determinants of health to provide a framework for researchers to use both to engage in social justice research as well as to evolve as social justice practitioners. This research book includes a framework of the continuum of social justice research, a presentation on how to provide an active voice for the community in the design and exaction of research, examples of social justice data sources along with how researchers have used that data to measure social inequities, and an overview of how to analyze data, using the social justice research framework. The book also includes several in depth case scenarios that highlight how social justice research has been used to document, monitor and evaluate inequities encountered by underserved populations

Finally, a practical guide to mixed methods research has been written with health and human services professionals in mind. Watkins and Gioia review the fundamentals of mixed methods research designs and the general suppositions of mixed methods procedures, look critically at mixed method studies and models that have already been employed in social work, and reflect on the contributions of this work to the field. But what is most important is that they lead the reader through considerations for the application of the mixed methods research in social work settings. The chapters of this book are structured so that readers can (figuratively) walk through the mixed methods research process using nine steps. Chapters one, five, and six provide supplemental material meant to serve as grounding for chapters two, three, and four, which outline nine steps in the mixed methods research process, and specific to social work research. This is a short and practical guide not just for learning about mixed methods research, but also doing it.

Grounded Theory (GT) is one of the oldest and most often used forms of qualitative research. Unlike other methods, GT is used to develop theory. Grounded Theory has great potential for social work because in order to conduct theory-based practice, social workers need middle-range theories that are neither highly abstract nor difficult to apply in real life. Social work and Grounded Theory focus on the interaction of individual and society. GT studies can provide theories about how individuals navigate their surroundings that can be tested in social work practice and, ultimately, be used to guide social work practitioners.In this volume, readers will find discussions of the common roots of social work and Grounded Theory, the basic characteristics of grounded theory research, and issues of quality in grounded theory research. In addition, practical guidelines and suggestions are provided for conducting grounded theory research, from writing the proposal to advanced data analysis. Exemplars from social work literature are used to illustrate grounded theory research in different social work fields. With practice exercises, guidelines for formulating problems and gathering and analyzing data, tips for working with software, consideration of ethical and Institutional Review Board issues, and discussion of new developments such as mixed-method and synthesis, this pocket guide offers social work researchers a strong, practical introduction to GT research.

Multivariate procedures allow social workers and other human services researchers to analyze complex, multidimensional social problems and interventions in ways that minimize oversimplification. This pocket guide provides a concise, practical, and economical introduction to four procedures for the analysis of multiple dependent variables: multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), multivariate multiple regression (MMR), and structural equation modeling (SEM). Each procedure will be presented in a way that allows readers to compare and contrast them in terms of (1) appropriate research context; (2) required statistical assumptions, including levels of measurement of variables to be modeled; (3) analytical steps; (4) sample size; and (5) strengths and weaknesses. This invaluable guide facilitates course extensibility in scope and depth by allowing instructors to supplement course content with rigorous statistical procedures. Detailed annotated examples using Stata, SPSS (PASW), SAS, and Amos, together with additional resources, discussion of key terms, and a companion website, make this an unintimidating guide for producers and consumers of social work research knowledge.