SW 300 Final Exam

Amy is studying the factors that contribute to getting good grades in her research class. She wants to know whether her biological factors are a greater contributor to obtaining her grades than her poor study habits. Which type of research question is Amy using?

An explanatory question

With regard to the researcher's values, what best fits the interpretive approach

The researcher's values are acknowledged and explored so that interactions with the research participants are understood

An IQ test is an example of what kind of variable instrument

Interval variable

Which choice shows the limitations of positivistic studies

Reactivity, reductionism, scientific determinism, logical consistency

What would you be using to measure results if you administered the same measuring instrument to the same group of people on two separate occasions to observe the similarities between the results?

Test- retest method

The idea of two realities suggests differences exist between reality and out perceptions or reality

True

The lit review draws mainly on primary sources

True

The lit review is a continuous process, which begins before a research question is finalized and continues to the end

True

The literature review should be a well written, coherent product, appropriate for the purpose in which you need it

True

Understanding the concept of time within the culture of the group being studied is important and impacts multiple areas of the research design and implementation

True

While doing a quantitative research study on the effects that domestic violence has on a woman's self esteem, you have been given the opportunity to personally interview a client who has been a victim of domestic violence. Despite your quantitative focus, you should interview the client, ask her some open ended question and incorporate her individual experiences in an effort to strengthen your study

True

While to a positivistic researcher, "value awareness" means putting aside one's values as to not affect the study; to an interpretive researcher it means an immersion in values to better understand their effect

True

Which one does NOT belong with the others regarding controlling rival hypothesis

Use of a control group

Matching pairs for a study means that you will group two similar people together to go through an intervention together so that they may encourage each other

false

A study about the extent of domestic violence shows which function of positivistic studies

Descriptive

Deb is asked by her boss to administer a questionnaire to a group of students for stress research. After the questionnaire is completed, she receives several comments about how it didn't seem like the questions had much to do with stress. She looks it over and indeed it doesn't seem relevant to stress. This may mean the questionnaire is low on which kind of validity

Face validity

A descriptive study represents the highest level on the knowledge continuum

False

An example of qualitative data is an alcoholic telling you how many drinks they consume per week

False

An organizations perception or worldview is an example of micro level culture

False

Culturally competent research affects the decision making process in research development. However, it does not affect the way data is collected, since this must be done regardless of the cultural context

False

Data from an interpretive study easily lends itself to statistical analyses

False

Face validity is more powerful than content validity

False

If results show the independent variable changed the dependent variable, no rival hypothesis is possible

False

John has been preparing to begin work with Native American family. He has spent a lot of time discussing cultural differences with his supervisor and reading about Native American culture in order to be most effective in his practice with family. Johns efforts are an example of enculturation

False

"Number crunching" occurs in what stage of the research process

Data analysis

Which one is an ethical concern about findings of research studies

Only sharing positive findings

The control group is the condition that receives

No treatment

The lit review can have a variety of purposes

help identify suitable topic for study, help identify relevant literature for study, help get an idea of what the main debates are on your topic area, help you understand the issues involved, help inform your own ideas about your research problem area, gain familiarity with the accepted research approaches and methods in our profession, to become a critical co-conversant in the academic conversation (all of the above)

Olivia is teaching two dogs to lay down and she wants to measure the effects of using a treat versus using verbal and physical praise. she has decided to give the treat to Dog A and the praise to Dog B. She says the command down to each dog at ten different times and measures how many times each dog actually lies down. She then applies the intervention by commanding each dog to lay down twice every ten minutes for a two hour period, the change due to treatment is measured. For the next 24 hours the dogs would be commanded to lay down the similar behavioral change she experienced will continue. It is obvious that Olivia is using an explanatory reversal design for her study. but which one?

ABA

If you were preforming a study and measured participants first without an intervention, then implemented an intervention, then took it away again, which design would you use for your graph to correctly show your results

ABA design

Tom tells his social worker Mia that he is feeling very sad lately, doesn't want to get out of bed, and has been calling into work. Concerned, Mia decides to measure his level of depression using a known standardized measuring instrument, with higher numbers indicating a higher degree of depression. After examining his results, she is alarmed to see he is well beyond the clinical cutting score. She decided to immediately implement an intervention treatment for five weeks and tracks his progress, and then removes the treatment, consistently measuring his level of depression of an additional five weeks. After three weeks, there is an increase in his score so Mia decides to implement the treatment again after the 10 weeks. Which case-level design is being utilized?

BAB Design

Billy has been having some trouble controlling his temper in school. Janine, his mother, comes to you for help, and you decide to implement an intervention in order to decrease Billy's outbursts. for the first four weeks the intervention appears to be working as Billys temper levels have been dropping consistently. However after week 4, Billys progress flat lines and it becomes apparent that the original intervention is no longer effective. Instead of changing the intervention completely, you choose to add a slight variation to the intervention method which yields much better results and a continued downward trend in Billys temper levels. What kind of research design is this

BB1

A controversy in designing ethical studies is whether clients should

Be assigned to a control group

The problem with only using beliefs and intuition to evaluate practice is that they can

Be different from the reality of a situation, lead to superstition, be biased, cary from person to person (all of the above)

"I felt I had failed the exam but I got an A" This shows the flaw with using what source of knowledge

Beliefs and Intuition

Positivistic studies serve which four functions

Casual analysis, description, prediction, analysis of interventions

Braxton is one of many participants in the experimental group of a research study. The study topic involves the effects of nutrition on athletic performance, specifically endurance. Before the study begins, Braxton completes information on his nutritional consumption, activity level, and endurance. During the course of the study, he maintains an unchanged activity level and follows a regimented nutritional plan as directed by the study. At the end of the 12 week study, Braxton completes the same info using the same forms he completed before the study. What type of research design has Braxton participated in?

Classic experimental design

You are formulation a research question about whether or not ethnic minorities have a more difficult time accessing social services than members of the ethnic majority. In order to better formulate your research question you should

Conduct a lit review to find relevant articles pertaining to the ethnic minorities and their use of social services to decide where your research should be on the continuum of knowledge

You've been having a difficult time finding participants for your study for homelessness. To gain more participants you should

Consider offering a small incentive calling it compensation or their time

All of the following help control rival hypothesis EXCEPT

Controlling the independent variable

Mary is suffering from depression. She begins seeing a therapist and is asked to take two different types of tests to find her level of self esteem which will then help her doctor determine her level of depression. Mary does so and her doctor is then able to have validity to confirm her depression level. If Mary has taken two forms of testing to the extent where her doctor can accurately identify her depression level, what type of validity is this specifically?

Criterion validity

Which one is NOT a characteristic of an ideal experiment

Dependent variable must be manipulated

Which choice includes the 4 functions of positivistic studies

Description, prediction, analysis of interventions, casual analysis

As a researcher I want to conduct a research proposal. I decide that I would like my research design to explore a research question that most researchers would know little about. My research proposal will uncover generalizations and develop hypotheses that can be investigates and tested later with more precise and more complex designs. My research proposal will allow another researcher to later use better data gathering techniques to improve my proposal. I will be using which research design?

Exploratory design

Greg is a social worker who works mostly with veterans and is interested in research of PTSD. Greg wants to conduct a study of his own. He has randomly selected men and women in a military hospital who have fought and been injured overseas and asked them to keep a journal over the next year and share their experiences during recovery as well as everyday life. He is hoping to find some more information on those who have experienced trauma during battle. There are many criticisms of journals in regards to measuring instruments. Which of the following is not true of journals.

Journals are useless in a qualitative study

After three proud years of sobriety, Sarah has recently had several relapses. Sarah's sponsor is concerned and wants to know what is triggering her impulsive behavior. She is asked to make a note of each time she has a relapse, indicating when and where it happened, also who she was with. Which type of measuring instrument does Sarah's sponsor want her to use

Logs

The main purpose of experimental is to

Make inferences about the relationship between the dependent and independent variable

AFTER signing a consent form, a research participant

May withdraw participation without penalty

Joel is doing a study on divorced people that want therapy for their grief and negative emotions. Part of his study is to have all the participants fill out a survey before, during, and after the study. Diana, a participant in the study, scored high levels of depression and anger upon entering the program. During the study, she meets a man that she knows is her soul mate. Upon taking the survey again, her scores jump up a large amount to more stable levels of depression and anger. By the end of the 6 month period, Diana has run off to Vegas to marry the man of her dreams. When she takes the last survey, her scores have skyrocketed. Joel is now under the assumption that because of the therapy program, Diana is now a happier person. This is an issue because it violates:

Researcher bias, a threat to external validity

The purpose of the control group is to

Rule out threats to internal validity

Only taking note of positive research findings is an example of what ethical concern

Sharing findings

Carla would like to conduct a qualitative study to try and understand why circus performers are so closely knit and unwilling to relate with non circus people. She realizes she may have some difficulty designing and implementing her study, starting with how she will sample her population. Circus people tend to live in separate communities cut off from the rest of the world. Carla has a friend, Mickey, who used to preform in the circus but has since left for a career in finance. He still keeps up with his friends and family in the circus business. What type of sampling method should Carla use?

Snowball Sampling

A researcher is studying Pediatric Occupational Therapists but she is having a difficult time finding more than 5 people to participate in her research study. She asks each POT if they know more POTs. They give her several other referrals, who in turn provide additional contacts. In this way, she manages to contact a sufficient number of OTs for her sample population. This is known as

Snowball sampling

If you were conducting a study and you knew your population size and wanted to divide your population by the desired sample size to give you your sampling interval, which form of sampling would you use?

Systematic random sampling

Which choice shows the major sources of knowledge listed in the text

Tradition, authority, experience, beliefs and intuition, scientific method

A rival hypothesis is an alternative explanation of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

True

Cultural differences are best seen by the social worker as a source of strength and enrichment, not as a barrier to be overcome

True

Effective intercultural communication requires specific knowledge of the other culture and its communication symbols

True

If data is collected in a manner that is inconsistent with the cultural values of the staff or clients involved, reliability and validity of the results can be negatively influenced

True

Lindsay has completed her research proposal. She understands the importance of value awareness while conducting research. She will be immersing her values into the phases of her approach. The study will mostly take place in discussion form. She is using an interpretive research approach

True

A problem with the tradition and authority as data sources is that they

can be based on inaccurate data

Tradition and authority

can be biased and inaccurate

An independent variable is manipulated to establish if

changes occur in the dependent variable

All of the following are characteristics of ideal experiments EXCEPT

comparing two established treatments

A study about the frequency of drunk driving arrests shows which function of positivistic studies

descriptive

The overall purpose of experimental research is to

establish the relationship between dependent and independent variables

The three types of case level research designs are

exploratory case level designs, descriptive case level designs, and explanatory case level designs

Josh is conducting a research at your university. He is finding it a challenge to acquire an adequate number of participants. Time after time the individuals that qualify for the study decline due to the time commitment. After months of trying to construct the 2 groups needed for the study, Josh decides he needs to offer some incentive to potential participants if he wants to complete his study. He decided that a monetary incentive of $25 would be the most effective option. By doing this, Josh has bribed people to participate in the study and has crossed ethical boundaries

false

You do not need to obtain consent from a client when doing a study in cases where the study would not harm the client in any way an his/her name would not be shared or published

false

A characteristic of ideal experiments includes

manipulating the independent variable, controlling for rival hypothesis, use of a control group, random assignment to groups (all of the above)

The positivistic and interpretive approaches to the scientific method differ in that the interpretive approach

may explore a new area by interviewing clients

You are a researcher that is using the Beck's Depressive scale to measure depression in adults that are recently recovering from substance abuse. You see that this measuring instrument has been used over and over again to show that adults recovering from drug abuse feel lonely and isolated. You are trying to track the progress of your clients by measuring their depressive symptoms weekly and comparing them to previous results. You see that the BDS has been proven to give the same score over and over again providing that the measurement is made under the same conditions and nothing about the research participant has changed. You make the conclusion that the BDS is a good measuring tool to use because it has proven to be

reliable

Research reports are generally written up for the main purpose of

share results with the professional community

Which choice shows last two steps in the research process

test assumption, revise assumption

The purpose of manipulating the independent variable is to determine if

the independent variable changed the dependent variable

The experimental group is the condition that receives

the treatment and the dependent variable

An examples of qualitative data is a worker telling you how they experience burnout

true

Respectively, identify the independent and dependent variables in this study: The effects of vocational rehabilitation programs on the employment of ex psychiatric patients

vocational rehabilitation programs, employment

You are working in the schools as a social worker and want to help one of your clients improve his social skills. You begin by taking a baseline measurement and confirm throughout the period of a month that your client is lagging in his social skills. Your first intervention does not appear to work, because after four weeks no significant gains in social competency have been made. You decide to try a second intervention which appears to work. This case level research design is

ABC

All of the following are limitations of positivistic studies EXCEPT

Bias

Brian has developed a survey to measure how satisfied his clients are with him as their social worker. The clients will answer 25 questions using: Very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, very dissatisfied. which type of variable is Brain using in his study?

Brian is using ordinal variables as they have value labels which indicate an answer may be better or worse than another. The value labels allow the answers to be ranked

One area of research that is universally agreed on is that the outcomes of a program are more important in evaluation that the services provided

False

The alternate form method for testing the reliability of an instrument includes dividing the instrument into two smaller instruments, one containing the even numbered items and the other, the odd numbered items

False

The interpretive approach does not employ the positivist way of thinking, and therefore is not concerned with biases

False

Tradition and authority have little chance of being biased or inaccurate

False

When planning a research study it is important to not get caught up in the different perspectives and interests among stakeholders. Rather it is best to focus only on what the majority of the stakeholder group wants

False

You and your colleagues decide to conduct a research study on adults who are incarcerated in prison. You define your population as all the males who are incarcerated in any Michigan prison. You will test this population and see whether or not males that are living in the Michigan state prison system suffer from depression at a higher rate than the general population. When the study concludes, a researcher from Illinois reads your study and would like to apply your results to males in the Illinois state prison system. This will be an accurate addition to his study, since the two prison systems are very similar.

False

Respectively, identify the independent and dependent variables in this study: The effects of group treatment on the battering behavior of homeless alcoholic men

Group Treatment, battering behavior

A controversy in designed ethical studies is whether the studies should

Involve deception

Jim is working with a guy that was in the military. He thinks his patient may be suffering from PTSD. Jim wants his patient to jot down in a note form what he remembers from the different situations that he experienced and that are bothering him. What type of measuring instrument is Jim using

Logs

Max is conducting a research design to find out how peoples feelings and opinions toward premarital sex change or stay the same throughout time. Max sets up a study and asked 50 9th grade students, all chosen at random, certain questions pertaining their thoughts on premarital sex. The willing participants give their answers and Max compiles all of the answers into a summative total and keeps these records. Max continues to preform this exact study on the same exact students for the next four years, up until their senior year. Max finds that their answers have changed over time and he feels the study is valid because he was able to measure it and his answers were from the same people. He finds that as the students mature over time, so do their responses and thoughts about sex before marriage. What type of study is this?

Longitudinal case study design

Becca is gathering participants for her research study. She has given each potential participant a detailed view of what will happen during the study, how long it will take, and the potential risks and benefits. She has explained that although there is not monetary benefit, participants should know that the findings of the study will benefit others in the future. She is conducting the study in a small town and assumes the potential participants understand the possibility that their anonymous quotes may be recognizable by other in the close knit community so she doesn't mention this while discussing confidentiality. Has she truly obtained informed consent?

No Becca has identified a possible breach in the confidentiality. It is her responsibility to account for this when obtaining consent.

Respectively what are the general steps of the research process

Observations and or measurements, make assumption, test assumption, revise assumption

Which choice shows the first two steps in the research process

Observations and/or measurements, make assumption

Beth is a school social worker for a high school in Kalamazoo. She wants to implement a program for truancy problems with students within her school, and chooses a group of students that were in detention last Friday for missed days and tardiness. She takes the group of students, implements an 8-week program to manage time more efficiently, and then has the students complete a posttest asking whether or not they were able to make it to class on time. Which type of group research design was in this this study?

One group posttest only design

James conducted a group research study. This study was designed to see if the 12 step program to help people stop drinking really worked or not. He took one group of 10 people who had an alcohol addiction and put them through this program. He gave a posttest to see if the 10 people stopped drinking. This very simple test design is which of the following

One group posttest only design

As a social worker you are required to rank the progress of a recovering alcoholic. You want to take data monthly on the client's progress in order to track and chart his behavior. You are asked to rank the clients progress on this scale using the following question: the behavior of the client has improved how much over the last month? 1. Not improved 2. Slightly improved 3. Somewhat improved 4. Greatly improved Define the type of variable used in the above example

Ordinal variable

Marsha is planning to preform a research study on the difference between the level of social skills among children who have divorced parents and those whose parents are still married. The purpose of her research study is to develop theory and expand the social work profession's knowledge base. Marsha's research study is

Pure and Theoretical

Richard wants to write a research proposal. The subject he is interested in does not have a lot of preexisting knowledge surrounding it. Thus, he will be asking basic question to research participants. What kind of research approach will he likely be taking

Qualitative

What factors must we consider when evaluating a good research question

Relevance, researchability, feasibility, ethical and cultural acceptability ( all of the above)

Turning a research project into a journal article happens in which stage of the research process

Report writing

Ashley is developing a research study. She is trying to figure out how to properly define her population for a research proposal. Ashley's goal through this study is to find out how many people of different ethnicities suffer from anxiety disorders. She needs to categorize the participants in a way that is fair and valid. What type of sampling would Ashley need to use for this study?

Stratified random sampling

Brandon puts an ad in the paper offering group counseling for people with generalized anxiety disorder. 75 people respond, but the meeting room is only available for one hour two days a week. Brandon recognizes that group therapy will not be effective with such a large group of people. He decided to take 25 of the 75 by randomly choosing every third person to participate. Therefore, he has developed a sample size that is one third the population. This way, 12 people can receive therapy on Tuesday nights, and the other 13 on Wednesdays. Which sampling method is being used

Systematic Random Sampling

Macro level culture can be seen in the from of mandates, policies, and practices in communities and institutions

True

Simply put, the principle of reactivity means we cannot observe an event

Without effecting or changing the event

Respectively, interpretive and positivistic research studies primarily involve what kind of data

Words, numbers

Bill consented to participate in a research study for an experimental drug. He was given a brief description of the study and of how he was selected to participate on a voluntary basis. His short and long term risks were described, and how the data would be collected and made public in a printed publication. Bill agreed to participate in the study. Bill was not aware, however, that the study would be conducted an hour from his house. Can Bill withdraw from the study since he has already agreed to participate

Yes a participant in a study may terminate or withdraw from the study at any time