Research in Social Work
Which concept is an indicator of statistical significance?
P value
If I recruit a group of people when they are young and survey them at different times their life, I am conducting a__________________(fill in the blank) survey.
Panel
How is conceptualization different in qualitative research than quantitative research?
Participants determine how concepts are defined
Which group BEST fits the concept of a cohort for research purposes?
People who graduated with a social work degree from this college between 2000 and 2010
In which sampling method is generalizability MOST likely to be important
Probability
In what way are qualitative research questions different than quantitative research questions?
Qualitative questions can change over the course of a study
A social worker wishes to precisely predict elements of the social world and how they interact. Which method is MOST useful?
Quantitative research
What is required for a study to be considered experimental?
Random assignment
What should a researcher avoid during a research interview?
Requesting "yes" or "no" answers
In a study of undergraduate students at a university, what is the group of students who are recruited into the study?
Sample
How should qualitative researchers ensure that detailed notes are protected?
Save information in a password protected or locked file
What is the difference between scales and indexes?
Scales may have items that vary in intensity
A social worker reads an article in Time magazine about a study on college campuses showing that students are intolerant of conservative political speakers appearing on campus. Which type of source is this?
Secondary
Researchers state that they are 95% sure that the number of people who quit smoking last year is between 100,000 and 150,000. What is the confidence interval for that statistic?
95%
A research question can ask about which of the following? Choose all that apply.
A population An intervention Outcomes of an intervention
What is the argument in formal research writing?
A statement about what is true and why it is true
Which operator reduces the number of search results in a database query?
AND
To quickly determine if an article will be useful, which aspect of the article would be MOST helpful?
Abstract
Which concept BEST reflects validity?
Accurate
When should you edit your literature review?
After you are done writing your first draft
What is a strength of focus groups?
Anonymity can be maintained by requesting that names are not shared
What is a common error committed by authors in a literature review?
Arguments are not supported with facts and citations
How is ontology BEST defined?
As the nature of reality and what is real
A social worker reads a book about historical trauma. What is true about books as a scholarly resource?
Books are helpful to learn theory and philosophy about a topic
Which concept helps define empirical questions?
Can be answered by real experience in the real world
Which group is always a vulnerable population specifically protected in IRB review?
Children under age 18
A social work researcher develops a study to understand the impact of services for clients in three different anger management groups. The researcher selects 10 clients from each group to participate. Which type of sampling is the researcher using?
Cluster
In tables presenting a causal relationship, where is the independent variable is usually listed?
Columns
What is the visual representation of the relationships between the ideas within a research topic?
Concept map
Which concept BEST reflects reliability?
Consistency of the measure
If I stood outside of the student health center and asked any student walking out about their illness, what kind of sampling would I be using?
Convenience
What is an important strength of a survey as a data collection tool?
Cost-effectiveness
A social work educator asks students in multiple classes in one semester to complete a survey about their study skills. Which type of survey is the educator facilitating?
Cross-sectional
Which question is double-barreled?
Did you graduate college and high school?
A survey question asks about people's "intrinsic religiosity". Which survey rule is being violated?
Don't use jargon.
Which of the following is not a threat to validity?
Double-blind design
A social worker reads a journal article that discusses a quantitative survey which focused on social work students' attitudes towards people with differing abilities. Which kind of article is this?
Empirical
What does evidence-based practice MOST likely involve? (Choose all that apply).
Examining the literature on a topic. Understanding theory and evidence Client characteristics
The results found in a lab don't always generalize well to the real world. Which concept is reflected when this occurs?
External validity
It is unethical to pay people to participate in a study, as it biases the results of the study.
False
Random assignment is easy to perform in real-world experiments
False
Researchers may only conduct studies that do not risk harming participants.
False
Researchers should be concerned only with minimizing harm to the participants in their study, not on their study's effects on society or larger social groups.
False
Social work research questions don't have to be empirical because ethics are a part of our profession.
False
Social workers should not study topics about which they feel strongly.
False
Surveys are a type of experiment
False
A student reads about a study completed by social scientists on a popular news website. What should the student do NEXT?
Find and read the journal article written by the social scientists
What are some good ways of addressing the power differential in interviews?
For the researcher to share information about his/her/their interest in the research
Which level of ethical review is the highest for a research study? A. Comprehensive
Full board
A research study includes only self-identified women in the sample. What is the attribute of "female"?
Inclusion criteria
What is the group tasked with ensuring the rights and welfare of human research subjects?
Institutional Review Board
In qualitative interviews, what is the list of topics or questions that the interviewer hopes to cover during the interview?
Interview guide
What defines an effective research question? Choose all that apply.
It has more than one plausible answer. It considers relationships among multiple concepts. It contain a target population.
Which of the following is not true about operationalization?
It is an important part of both quantitative and qualitative research
What is an alternative definition of practice wisdom?
Knowing by doing
What is the focus of epistemology?
Knowledge and how we know things
What is a significant weakness of a survey as a data collection tool?
Lack of ability to be changed during the research process
Laud Humphrey's unethical study investigated which of the following?
Men who have sex with men (MSM)
A social work research project focused on a community church and its members would be at which level of analysis? A social worker develops a research project focusing on a support group and its members. What is the MOST likely level of analysis?
Meso
A social work researcher is concerned that a study will impact the emotional state of the participants. Which level of ethical question is the researcher asking
Micro
What do indirect observables require?
More subtle or complex observations
What kind of variable is ethnic identity?
Nominal
What does it mean for research to be confidential?
Only the researcher can link participants with their data
How does open coding differ from focused coding?
Open coding allows for new codes to be determined
A new intern at your agency for children who have experienced trauma states that "supportive touch worked for my clients...it should work for everyone." Which concept does this statement BEST reflect?
Overgeneralization
A researcher believes in a stereotype of a specific population. This stereotype determines the patterns the researcher looks for in research data. Which behavior is the researcher demonstrating?
Selective observation
Which action is MOST effective to increase the response rate for mailed surveys?
Send a follow-up email or letter to remind people of survey request
A social work researcher develops a study to understand the impact of an agency program on clients. The social worker selects every 3rd client on a list to be part of the sample. Which type of sampling is the researcher using?
Systematic
Which of the following is not a section commonly found in empirical journal articles?
Table of contents
What is the group of people whose issues are included in a research study?
Target population
What type of source is your textbook for this course?
Tertiary
Which of the following issues does the posttest-only control group design help control?
Testing effects
In a research study, what is the population?
The cluster of people that the research is most interested in
What is the difference between a comparison group and a control group?
The comparison group receives "treatment as usual
How is the internal validity of an experiment BEST defined?
The confidence the researchers have that changes in the dependent variable are because of the independent variable
What will an abstract contain?
The key findings of an article
A seminal article can be determined by looking at which of the following?
The number of other sources that cited the article
Which of the following is not part of a literature review?
The number of search results found in a database
What is a strength of focus groups?
They allow researchers to observe body language
Why are journal articles considered to be highly reputable sources?
They are peer reviewed
Which design includes the researchers observing a group multiple times before and after an intervention?
Time series design
What is the FIRST step in writing a literature review?
To create an outline to guide what is wr
What is the purpose of a control group?
To demonstrate what would may happen to the experimental group if treatment had not been provided
When would a social worker MOST likely use research? (Choose all that apply).
To determine the best intervention for a client. To report the effectiveness of a program funded by a grant. To test a new intervention to make sure it works
Why is it important to know the probability for each person to be selected for the researcher's sample?
To ensure the sample is representative of the population
What is the PRIMARY purpose of evaluation research
To evaluate the outcome of a policy or program
What is the purpose of an interview as a data collection tool?
To gather detailed information about a research concept
What is the purpose of the problem statement? Choose all that apply
To grab the attention of the reader To establish why the topic is important To describe the scope of the topic
What is the purpose of a literature review? Choose all that apply.
To provide context for your own work To demonstrate you can find and understand previous work on your topic To locate gaps in the literature
What is the purpose of replication studies?
To repeat a study using the same procedures to see if they get the same result
What is each participant asked to do as a part of informed consent?
To sign a form stating agreement (yes or no) to participate in the research
What is the PRIMARY goal of a literature review?
To synthesize the most important information relevant to the topic
How can constructs be defined?
Using direct and indirect observables
What is an example of signposting in a formal literature review?
Using transition sentences
When does bias in sampling occur
When the elements selected for a study do not represent the larger population
What is important to consider when evaluating sources? Choose all that apply.
Whether the information is current or outdated Whether the source is relevant to your topic Whether the author has the knowledge and credentials to write on the topic.
What does conceptualization involve?
Writing clear, concise definitions for key concepts
What is a strength of focus groups?
hey allow researchers to observe body language
