social research

Marni is looking at the announcements put out by a particular governmental agency. These announcements, commonly referred to as _____, identify the research questions and types of designs that a funding source has in mind, encourage researchers to submit proposals to carry out such research, and provide other information about the source's expectations and funding process.

RFPs request for proposal

Maria has constructed a survey of client satisfaction that presents clients with a number of statements like "My worker treats me with respect" and "I feel comfortable in the waiting room" and asks clients to indicate whether they "strongly agree," "agree," "disagree," "strongly disagree," or are "undecided" regarding each statement. Maria is using a(n) _____ scale.

Likert

Rico is analyzing client data about various psychological symptoms. The clients use an ordinal scale to rate the severity of symptoms they experience (1= mild; 2= moderate; 3=severe). Given that the data are ordinal, is it appropriate for a mean (average) to be calculated?

Probably, yes. This is a gray area and means might be useful in comparing the scores of large groups.

Candice works for a survey company where she sits at a computer workstation and the computer calls a phone number for her. If someone answers, she introduces herself and the survey using the text on her computer screen. If the individual agrees, she begins the survey, again reading the text on the computer screen and entering the responses. Candice is using a(n) ____ system.

CATI computer-assisted telephone interviews

T/F The term intervention quality refers to the degree to which the intervention actually delivered to clients was delivered as intended.

F The term intervention fidelity refers to the degree to which the intervention actually delivered to clients was delivered as intended.

T/F The existence of so-called "common factors" regarding the quality of the relationship between the practitioner and the client makes it clear that the intervention itself is relatively unimportant.

F Even if relationship factors have a greater impact on outcome than does the choice of intervention, this does not mean that the choice of intervention is unimportant. The EBP process emphasizes both the relationship and the intervention.

T/F In selecting informants for qualitative research, the researcher is typically best served by selecting individuals who are "deviant cases" and thus atypical of the group being studied.

F In selecting informants for qualitative research, the researcher is typically best served by selecting individuals who are at least somewhat typical of the group being studied to avoid being misled.

T/F In general, if a survey has less than 70% response rate, it is of no value

F In the past, response rates of at least 50% were usually considered adequate and response rates as high as 60% or 70% were considered good or very good. Today, however, there is less agreement as to what constitutes an acceptable response rate.

T/F In order to gain the cooperation of staff, it is best to allow them to decide what should and should not be included in the final report.

F Program staff should be assured they will get to see and respond to a confidential draft of the evaluation report before it is finalized and disseminated to other stakeholders. They should not be led to think that they will be able to censor the report, but they should be assured that their suggestions will be taken seriously.

T/F EBP is considered to be a restrictive approach that downplays both professional expertise and client values and preferences.

F The EBP process includes the integration of practice expertise, considering the values and expectations of the client, and involving the client in the selection of an intervention.

T/F Aggregate data are typically analyzed at the level of the individual as the unit of analysis.

F When the data are in aggregate form only, they cannot be reanalyzed using the individual as the unit of analysis.

T/F Stratified sampling may be used when it is either impossible or impractical to compile an exhaustive list of the elements that compose the target population.

F cluster sampling may be used

T/F Content analysis is a way of transforming quantitative material into qualitative data.

F qualitative to quantitative

T/F A Type I error occurs if we fail to reject a false null hypothesis.

F this is type II error

T/F The unit of analysis is a single-case design is a single individual.

F The unit of analysis in a single-case design is one individual, one family, one community, or one organization.

T/F In general, you should put off doing your literature review until after you have sharpened your research question to avoid reviewing irrelevant work.

F, complete literature review to avoid 'reinventing the wheel'

Cal is preparing to appear before his university's IRB to discuss a survey he has proposed. His mentor suggested that he look at a particular question and revise it. What is the problem with this question: Is your gender male or female?

If the question is intended to get at the internal experience of being female, male or somewhere in between it is ok, but if it means the category to which an individual is assigned at birth, it should ask about sex or born-sex.

T/F Operationalization in qualitative studies is made more difficult by the fact that the salient variables may not be known in advance.

T In qualitative studies, the problem of operationally defining variables in advance is threefold: we may not know in advance what all the most salient variables are; limitations in our understanding of the variables may keep us from anticipating the best way to operationally define those variables; and, even the best operational definitions are necessarily superficial because they are specified only in terms of observable indicators.

T/F Recruitment efforts of current studies can be hampered by the poisoned climate caused by previous studies that were conducted in a culturally insensitive manner.

T Recruitment efforts of current studies can be hampered by the poisoned climate caused by previous studies that were conducted in a culturally insensitive manner.

How is sample size related to sampling error?

The larger the sample size, the smaller the sampling error.

Social workers often work in settings where superiors do not understand or appreciate EBP and do not give practitioners enough time to carry out the EBP process—especially if they follow the _____ approach in searching for evidence.

a bottom up

After the Supreme Court decision regarding marriage equality, opponents argued that marriage equality opened the door to marriage to dogs and one politician, claiming a lawyer had told him that only one person was needed for a marriage, memorably suggested that a person could marry his or her lawnmower. This is best described as _____.

a straw person argument

A research respondent has _____ when the researcher cannot identify a given response with a given respondent.

anonymity

In the context of program evaluation, stakeholders are best described as _____.

anyone who has any type of interest in the program and its outcomes

How might a practicing social worker use single-case designs?

as a part of EBP

Emmett Spencer, age 23, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 19, is neither employed nor attending school and lives at home with his parents. Although his family is very supportive and committed to helping Emmett, he often refuses to take his antipsychotics and has, on more than one occasion, been hospitalized on emergency holds when he became acutely psychotic. His family is discouraged and wonders what could be done to help their son stay on his medication and have a more stable life. Which method is best supported by research?

assertive community treatment and psychoeducation

Characteristics or qualities that describe something or somebody are called _____.

attributes

Unlike _____ practitioners, practitioners engaged in EBP engage in critical thinking.

authority based

Armando wants to know what the most important challenges in the field of social work are perceived to be, so he sends surveys to the social work faculty and students at his university. Armando is using a(n) _____ sample.

availability

When considering the issue of compensation for research participants from minority of oppressed groups, it is best to _____.

avoid paying so much that the amount could be considered coercive

When survey research involves conducting interviews, the interviewer should _____.

follow the question wording exactly

The first step in the EBP process is to _____.

formulate a question to answer practice needs

Unlike research _____, research _____ provide much greater specificity regarding what the funding source wants to have researched and how the research is to be conducted.

grants, contracts

When we try to explain a person's behavior by enumerating the many reasons for it, reasons that might be unique to that individual, we are using the _____ model of explanation.

idiographic

Reasoning from particular instances to general principles is referred to as _____ reasoning.

inductive

In social work research studies, a(n) _____ is a conclusion that can be logically drawn in light of our research design and our findings.

inference

In the evidence-based practice (EBP) model, research _____ decisions.

informs

Any agency wishing to receive federal research support must establish a(n) _____, a panel of faculty and nonfaculty who review all research proposals involving human subjects and rule on their ethics.

institutional review board

Olivia has developed an instrument that measures the quality of the interactions between first-time mothers and their newborns. After administering it to a number of women, she assesses the correlation of the scores on each item with the scores on the rest of the items. What type of reliability is she assessing?

internal consistency

_____ refers to the confidence we have that the results of a study accurately depict whether one variable is or is not a cause of another.

internal validity

_____ researchers attempt to gain an empathic understanding of how people feel inside, seeking to understand individuals' everyday experiences, deeper meanings and feelings, and idiosyncratic reasons for their behaviors.

interpretive

Tamara has developed an instrument to measure social isolation in young children. She has two research assistants observe the same children and score each child's behavior. Tamara then uses a statistical test to measure the degree of agreement. Tamara is assessing the instruments _____ reliability.

interrater

The _____ method of behavioral recording involves dividing an observation period into short, equal blocks of time and then recording whether the target behavior occurred at all during each block.

interval

Comparisons of survey methods suggest that _____.

interview surveys generally produce fewer incomplete questionnaires

An advantage of probability sampling is that, when properly done, it _____.

is unbiased

Oswald is conducting a content analysis of the portrayals of severely mentally ill individuals on television shows. After an initial review of data, he finds that individuals with schizophrenia are often portrayed as violent while those with other disorders are not. Oswald then reviews the data again, identifying individuals with other disorders who are portrayed as violent. Oswald is best described as engaging in _____.

negative case testing

Your social services agency is on the state's emergency preparedness team. The state police superintendent wants to know how your agency would respond to a large scale incident resulting in widespread casualties. He has heard that critical incident stress debriefing is particularly helpful. Is he right?

no, not effective

Multiple time-series designs have greater internal validity than simple time-series designs (because they add time-series analysis to the _____ design.

nonequivalent comparison groups

Annamae is a school social worker who believes that bullying prevention is critical to the wellbeing of children. She has developed a psychoeducational intervention that she believes will increase the ability of children to identify bullying for what it is and have the skills to report the bullying to adults and resist the negative effects of bullying. She wants to test the program's effectiveness with fifth graders but she cannot randomly assign students to the treatment or control groups. Since the school has two essentially equivalent fifth grade classes in separate classrooms, she decides that one class will receive the new program and the other half will receive the standard program. Which design is Annamae using?

nonequivalent comparison groups design

After a particularly upsetting workplace violence incident at a social services agency, Juanita conducts a survey of licensed social workers in her state. She randomly selects 500 individuals from the list of over 8000 provided by the state board of social workers. Based on the information from the board, Juanita knows the licensure level of all of the individuals she recruited and she also knows the year in they were first credentialed by the state. Juanita asked about licensure level and year of initial credentialing in her survey and notices that the individuals who completed the surveys were much more likely to have only a bachelor's degree and were more likely to be recently licensed. Juanita is most likely having problems related to _____.

nonresponse bias

Tiffany states that the intervention she developed resulted in statistically significant increases in socialization. From this, we can infer _____.

nothing about the magnitude of its effect or the strength of the relationship

When researchers try to be _____, they are trying to observe reality without being influenced by the contents of their own minds.

objective

_____ are what we experience in the real world that help us build a theory or verify whether it is correct.

observations

The _____ shows how much more or less likely a certain nominal dependent variable outcome is for the categories of the independent variable.

odds ratio

Shawn tests his psychoeducational parenting skills group by observing his 13 to 17 year-old clients with their infants to rate the quality of the interactions, providing the group and then observing them with their infants again. Which design has Shawn used?

one-group pretest-posttest design

Which pre experimental design involves making an intuitive judgment as to whether the posttest result is "high" or "low?"

one-shot case study

In research, developing specific research procedures that will result in empirical observations is referred to as _____.

operationalization

The first step in content analysis is to _____.

operationalize the dependent variable

Marlyss measures popularity in an elementary school classroom by asking the children to name the person they would most like to play with at recess. She then creates a composite rank for all of the children from most popular (the most nominations) to least popular (the fewest nominations). Marlyss' is using a(n) _____ scale.

ordinal

Which experimental design is notated as: R O1 X O2 R O1 O2

pretest-posttest control group design

Eugene is reviewing accounts from over the past century written by individuals with severe persistent mental illnesses about their experiences with inpatient treatment to characterize their interactions with nursing staff. Eugene is using _____ sources

primary

During the _____ phase, conceptual elements, including the hypothesis and operational definitions, are explicated.

problem formulation

_____ evaluations focus on identifying strengths and weaknesses in program implementation and recommending needed improvements.

process

Psychoeducational groups have been found to be effective in helping the family members of individuals who have just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, some families attend but choose not to participate and benefit very little. Kara decides to interview these families to understand why they attend but do not participate. Kara is using _____ sampling.

puposive

Which research methods are more likely to tap the deeper meanings of particular human experiences and generate theoretically richer observations?

qualitative

The simplest measure of dispersion is the _____.

range

When the fact that an individual knows he or she is being observed changes the individual's behavior, _____ has occurred.

reactivity

With ___________ the researcher can explore trends over time, sometimes over several decades

secondary analysis

Mattie is conducting a survey of residents in a community that was recently evacuated following a chemical leak. Three weeks after her initial mailing, she has gotten back less than 25% of her surveys. Experts would suggest that she _____.

send out a follow-up mailing

Jessie finds that, as the amount of time children spend playing video games at a local after school program increases, their academic performance increases. However, she soon finds that children do not get to play video games until their homework is complete and that the amount of time they get on the games is related to the quality of the work they have done. This suggests that the relationship between the amount of time children spend playing video games and academic performance is _____.

spurious

Testing for _____ means calculating the probability, or odds, of finding due to chance a relationship that is at least as strong as the one we have observed in our findings.

statistical significance

In comparison to quantitative research, qualitative research is useful in _____.

studying phenomena whose meanings are not sufficiently understood

Walter is delighted to learn that a medication has been found that results in significant memory improvement in individuals with early Alzheimer's disease. However, he also reads that improvement is on a clinical test of memory, not in real-life memory function, such as remembering to eat, or how to get home. Walter laments the lack of _____.

substantive significance

Which type of program evaluation is best described as being concerned with the ultimate success of a program?

summative

Which design involves administering the treatment to the comparison group after the first posttest?

switching replications

In _____ sampling, every kth element in the total list is chosen for inclusion in the sample.

systematic

Which type of error occurs when the information we collect consistently reflects a false picture of the concept we seek to measure because of either the way we collect the data or the dynamics of those who are providing the data?

systematic

The scientific method conceptualizes all knowledge as _____.

tentative

In a cost-effectiveness analysis, _____.

the costs of the program itself are considered but the monetary benefits of the program's effects are not

When a nonprobability sampling procedure is proposed, _____.

the possibility of bias and the methods to avoid it should be discussed

Potential drawbacks of using self-report instruments in single-case evaluation designs include _____.

the potential for social desirability bias

According to Gambrill, because EBP is primarily a compassionate, client-centered approach to practice, it is important to consider _____.

the values and concerns of clients

A(n) _____ is a systematic set of interrelated statements intended to explain something.

theory

In 1994, NIH issued a directive that all research projects funded by NIH that involve human subjects must include adequate representation of women and members of ethnic minority groups in their samples, unless _____.

there is a clear and compelling justification for not including them

Milgram's study of obedience has been criticized because _____.

there was a potential for participants to suffer psychological harm

You feel absolutely certain that there will be pumpkin, sweet potato and pecan pie for dessert at your family's Thanksgiving supper because that is the way it has always been. Your knowledge is best described as being based on _____.

tradition

In the single-case evaluation design, _____ means that more than one indicator of the same target problem is to be measured.

triangulation

Willard tested a new intervention for children who are extremely distressed and fearful about going to school. He obtained a result that was significant at the .01 level and thus rejected the null hypothesis. Subsequent testing of the intervention in a variety of settings including some similar to the one in which the intervention was initially tested found that it was not significantly different from conventional interventions. This suggests that Willard committed a _____ error.

type I

Statistical power analysis deals with the probability of avoiding _____ errors.

type II

Ora works for a community mental health center and wants to make the case to the state that there is a need for more services for individuals who are victims of domestic violence. Ora knows that, as a part of the telephone intake process that occurs when someone calls for an initial appointment, individuals are asked about safety issues including domestic violence. However, as an experienced worker, she knows that a substantial number of individuals who are in violent relationships do not acknowledge this until after they have built a trusting relationship with their worker. This suggests that the telephone intake data may have a problem with _____.

underestimation of the true rate

Data analysis in single-case design evaluations includes _____.

determining whether any change is clinically significant

Sam knows that rates of cigarette smoking are higher among individuals with schizophrenia and, when doing street outreach for a drop-in program often carries cigarettes with him as a way to break the ice. If Sam assumes that Charles, who has told Sam that he has schizophrenia, smokes cigarettes and offers him one, Sam has fallen into the _____ fallacy.

ecological (unproven inferences)

The term _____ refers to the use of evidence based on observations.

empirical

The term _____ refers to belief in the superiority of one's own culture.

ethnocentrism

Milton believes that the teenage boys who are about to become fathers will be more likely to form healthy, enduring bonds with their children if they know how to be fathers. Milton has developed a psychoeducational intervention and wants to find out if it is effective. His research is best described as _____.

evaluation

Hill's criteria for causality, derived from epidemiology but also applicable to social work, include the _____.

existence of a plausible, consistent, and coherent explanation for the relationship

Univariate analysis is to description as bivariate analysis is to _____.

explanation

Dominick's research on services related to the placement of older children and sibling groups started with quantitative ratings of services. Suppose that the focus groups, rather than being the main focus, were used to better understand the quantitative results. This research is best described as _____.

explanatory sequential mixed methods

Myra reads the following statement on a consent form: You may decide not to participate at all or, if you start the study, you may withdraw at any time. Withdrawal or refusing to participate will not affect your relationship with Municipal Social Services Agency in anyway. You and/or your child's refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you or your child are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent, and your child may draw his/her assent, at any time and discontinue participation without penalty. This statement pertains to the _____ of the research

voluntariness

One problem with the _____ design is that practitioners may feel that withdrawing an intervention that appears to be working is indefensible in light of the suffering or other costs the client may bear if conditions revert to baseline.

ABAB

T/F The safest solution to issues related to question order is to randomize the questions.

F The safest solution to issues related to question order is sensitivity to the problem

_____ involves following along and observing practitioners in their daily activities.

Ethnographic shadowing

T/F Because they are inherently quantitative, descriptive statistics are not used in qualitative research.

F

T/F Most scholars believe that social work research is typically value-free.

F

T/F It is not possible to operationally define variables that exist only in terms of our idiosyncratic conceptions of them.

F Although there may be disagreements about how to best operationally define theoretical constructs that cannot be observed, they still can be operationally defined.

T/F Cross-sectional studies may have exploratory or descriptive purposes, but not explanatory purposes.

F Cross-sectional studies may have exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory purposes.

T/F Double-barreled questions are particularly efficient and effective ways to collect information about complex topics.

F Double-barreled questions ask about more than one issue and should be avoided because they cannot be clearly interpreted.

The more reliable the measure, the more random error in it.

F More reliable= less random error

T/F In social work research, the terms research problem and research question are considered to be distinctly different and not interchangeable.

F The research question typically deals with needed information to solve practical problems in social welfare, the terms research question and research problem are often used interchangeably.

Enrique is conducting a qualitative study of adjustment after spinal cord injury results in quadriplegia (loss of ability to use all limbs). How is he likely to address reliability and validity?

He will provide detailed observations and quotations from multiple perspectives, making conventional definitions of reliability and validity of less concern.

How are hypotheses generally used in historical and comparative analyses?

Hypotheses are revised and reformulated continuously in the process of analysis and synthesis.

Why evaluate an intervention if published studies have already provided credible evidence of its effectiveness?

Interventions are tested with specific population groups, and the client may be a member of a population for which it does not work.

What does research indicate about response rates for online surveys?

Online surveys appear to have response rates approximately comparable to mail surveys.

T/F Although the abstract model of science is divorced from ideology, the practice of science is not.

T

T/F Cultural competence influences all phases of the research process, from conceptualizing research to reporting it.

T

T/F In computer-assisted telephone interviewing, the interviewer keys responses directly into the computer, where the data are compiled for analysis.

T

T/F In the mid-19th Century, superintendents at public mental hospitals used discharge rates to support the idea that they "cured" nearly all of their patients despite that they had no effective treatment to offer.

T

T/F Key concepts in single-case evaluation designs are multiple measurement points and unlikely coincidences.

T

T/F Technological advances have reduced response rates and exacerbated sampling problems in telephone surveys.

T

T/F The idea of chance as a rival hypothesis has to do with sampling error.

T

T/F Validity refers to the extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration.

T

How should data analysis be handled in a research proposal?

You should spell out the purpose and the logic of the analyses, identifying and justifying the specific analytic methods.

Which research project is most likely to be granted expedited review by an IRB?

a characterization of the ways social workers are represented in television shows and movies

Wendell excitedly tells his colleague about as intervention he read about in a professional journal, noting that it seems very promising in reducing dropout rates among high risk youth. Leeza retorts that nothing, including paying youth to stay in school, has ever been shown to reduce dropout rates and nothing ever well. Once kids decide to drop out, she says, they will. Leeza is engaging in _____.

a premature closure

Immediately after the title page, reports will include a separate page containing a(n) _____ that briefly summarizes the study in 75 to 150 words.

abstract

The process in which a group or individual changes after coming into contact with the majority, taking on their language, values, attitudes, and lifestyle preferences is referred to as _____.

acculturation

The tendency to agree or disagree with most or all statements in a measurement instrument regardless of their content is called the _____ bias.

acquiescent response set

Anthony and Sarah disagree vehemently about what sorts of counseling services ought to be offered to children who commit violent crimes. Anthony believes that, since they will almost certainly be released from supervision at 18 or 21 at the oldest, it is vital to provide intensive services. Sarah counters that the politician who is the biggest proponent for these services has been married three times, has seven children all of whom live with their mothers, and is known to be far behind in paying support for the children, who he rarely sees. What method is Sarah using to devalue the politician's comments?

ad hominem attacks

A literature review should _____.

address major themes in the area

Cora maintains that children need both a mother and father because "everyone" knows that is true. Cora is relying on _____ reality.

agreement

In the single-case design, the _____ serves the same function that a control group does in group experiments.

baseline phase

In constructing the possible responses for closed-ended questions, it is important to remember that they should be _____.

both mutually exclusive and exhaustive

When coding categories are developed to enable computer analysis of open-ended questions, the coding categories should be _____.

both mutually exclusive and exhaustive

A researcher wanting to calculate the probability that the difference in frequencies (or proportions) between two nominal variables can be attributed to chance will most likely use a(n) _____.

chi square

When discussing the importance of proposed research, it is important to _____.

cite facts

The _____ is an international nonprofit organization that recruits researchers, practitioners, and consumers into review groups that provide reviews of research on the effects of health care interventions.

cochrane collaboration

The case control design compares groups of cases that have had contrasting outcomes and then _____.

collects retrospective data that might explain the difference in outcomes

Christine is testing a new intervention for children who are extremely fearful about going to school and often refuse to go. Children are randomly assigned to the new treatment (experimental) group or the standard treatment (control) group. Christine runs the newly-developed group for the children and their parents while a colleague runs the standard treatment group. Christine's colleague, Sam, believes that the newly-developed treatment is far superior to the old group and feels bad for the children and parents receiving the standard group treatment, which has never been particularly effective. As a result, Sam puts in a lot of extra effort to try to make it up to the children and families in her group and goes well beyond what would normally been done in the standard treatment. Sam has introduced _____.

compensatory equalization

A(n) _____ is a mental image that symbolizes an idea, an object, an event, or a person.

concept

Maura is conducting of how women adjust to having their first baby and is surveying the women just before discharge from the hospital with their babies and again six weeks later. She has an English-language questionnaire that will be translated into three other languages. From a culturally competent measurement point of view, what type of equivalence problem exists with this question, which is to be asked at the six-week follow-up: How often does your baby's crying get on your last nerve?

conceptual

When instruments and observed behaviors have the same meanings across cultures, they are said to have _____ equivalence.

conceptual

In research, the refinement and specification of abstract ideas is referred to as _____.

conceptualization

The first step in operationalization is _____.

conceptualizing the construct

In a survey that provides _____, the researcher is able to identify a given person's responses but essentially promises not to do so publicly.

confidentiality

Max has developed a measure of stress among children whose sole care-giving parent has been deployed by the military to a dangerous reason. He wants to be certain that he has covered the range of the children's experiences and concerns. Max is concerned with _____ validity.

content

Suppose you are conducting research at a social work agency and you want to identify likely pitfalls. Which technique would be most likely to help you?

content analysis of agency documents and service delivery manuals

Question 5 in a questionnaire asks respondents if they have any children. If they answer yes, question 6 asks for the ages and sexes of their children. If they answer no, they are instructed to skip question 6 and go on to question 7. In this example, Question 6, asking for the ages and sexes of the respondent's children, functions as a(n) _____ question.

contingent

In discussions of causality, the requirement that changes in the cause are accompanied by changes in the effect is referred to as _____.

correlation

In comparison to the reports of quantitative research, the reports of qualitative research usually have a more _____ style.

creative

The _____ region of the sampling distribution contains those results that are deemed not to have occurred by chance.

critical

Lucinda wants to know how different age groups get information about programs that provide assistance with utility bills. She interviews individuals between 19 and 78 years of age, and then analyses the data by 10-year age group (19 to 28, 29 to 38 and so on). This research is best described as _____.

cross-sectional

Sandy works at a crisis residential program for adolescents. In an attempt to improve academic performance, the agency pays youth for their grades. The have found that, as pay increases, performance improves up to a point, but beyond that point academic performance actually gets worse. What type of relationship does this illustrate?

curvilinear

When deception can be justified by compelling scientific concerns, an institutional review board will likely impose a(n) _____ requirement.

debriefing

Silvia is conducting a study that seeks to characterize the mood of remaining employees after a large-scale layoff. She will be using standardized measures of anxiety, depression and satisfaction. Her research is best categorized as _____.

descriptive

Cynda's research on services for the families of children with serious emotional disabilities began with a focus group in which parents identified what they liked and what they disliked about existing services and what additional services they believed would be beneficial. Cynda used the information from the focus group to develop a scale in which parents rated various existing and possible new services are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being extremely important; and their satisfaction with current services on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very dissatisfied and 5 being very satisfied. This approach is best characterized as _____.

exploratory sequential mixed methods

Program evaluators who work for agencies such as government or regulating agencies and private research consultation firms are called _____ evaluators.

external

_____ refers to the extent to which we can generalize the findings of a study to settings and populations beyond the study conditions.

external validity

In the United States, the Tuskegee syphilis study, which started in 1932 in Alabama by the Public Health Service and involved poor African American male sharecroppers who had syphilis, _____.

failed to tell the men they had syphilis, thus exposing them and their partners to risk

Katrina is conducting a longitudinal study of individuals with severe mental illnesses who are discharged by psychiatric hospitals back to the street rather than a shelter or other residence. In order to get back in contact with the participants, she must sometimes ask other people on the street about where they might be. Katrina is using the _____ method.

field tracking

_____ groups are guided discussions among a small group of people that might stimulate some participants to think of or express things that they might not have considered or expressed in an individual interview.

focus

The _____ provides a background to the problem that has been investigated.

introduction

Bradley is conducting a survey of the client services directors at private social services agencies. He is very concerned about being able to offer the participants, who he knows to be very busy, the ability to choose the most convenient way to completing the survey. Which method would be the best for him?

multiple response modes / one contact mode

A _____ is a graphic portrayal that depicts the essential components of a program, shows how those components are ultimately linked to long-term outcomes, and specifies measurable indicators of success at each level.

logic model

_____ refers to a variety of arrangements that try to control the costs of health and human services.

managed care

Josefina is performing a content analysis on what candidates say about social welfare issues during political debates. Her initial analysis involves identifying their positions on key issues. Josefina is analyzing _____ content.

manifest

Ruben is constructing an employee satisfaction. Each item in the main body of the scale asks respondents to indicate how true the item is of him or her, using a five point scale where 1 represents "not at all true of me" and 5 is "completely true of me." By arranging the items and possible answers in a(n) _____, Ruben can use space more efficiently, use the respondent's time more efficiently and increase comparability among the items.

matrix

Shawn is conducting research on interventions designed to improve parenting skills among 13 to 17 year-old adolescent parents. He observes his clients with their infants to rate the quality of the interactions, provides a three month psychoeducational group to his clients and then observes them with their infants again. Shawn finds that their parenting skills have improved. Which threat to internal validity is this especially vulnerable to?

maturation/passage of time

Finn is computing a measure of central tendency by adding up the numeric value of the scores and dividing the sum by the total number of scores. Finn is computing the _____.

mean

Professor Jimenez asks students to identify the guest speaker they would most like to have in class. The alternatives include a woman had been homeless but is now a social worker who works with the homeless; a social worker who is on the child fatality team that investigates all suspicious deaths of infants and children in the state; a social worker who works with individuals who have severe mental illnesses and who bipolar disorder himself; or a social worker with the Veterans Administration who works with veterans who have posttraumatic stress disorder. The speaker who is most often chosen will be invited. Professor Jimenez is using the _____.

mode

In comparison to quantitative instruments, qualitative instruments are _____.

more likely to have a free-flowing style

The _____ mixed-method design is distinguished by the use of several projects that are implemented over time in a longitudinal study in which the multiple projects focus on a common objective.

multiphase

By using _____, researchers can detect whether one group is already engaged in a change process and the other is not.

multiple pretests

Vida assisted in the provision of services to a large group of individuals who had been laid off when an urban factory closed. In addition to working with individuals, she was responsible for maintaining lists of other employers in the area who were hiring workers with similar skills and education. Several months later, Vida heard from Amy, with whom she had gone to school. Amy is a social worker in a rural community that just lost the employer of the majority of its residents when factory closed down. Vida has happy to provide advice on helping people find new jobs, but recognizes that, since Vida's experience was with a large urban area in which there were numerous other employers and Amy is in a rural community with no other factories or large employers, she will need to be conscious of the risks of _____.

overgeneralization

Leila has been studying the career trajectories of a group of social workers for the past 20 years. They were randomly selected from among those who were newly licensed in 1995 and she has surveyed the same individuals every 5 years since then. This is best described as a(n) _____ study.

panel (same set of people over time)

The first step in the research process includes _____.

posing the research question

Ollie is preparing to analyze a social services data base. He knows that data entry errors are common so is carefully cleaning the data. For example, the codes for counties in his state are three digit odd numbers ranging from 001 to 163. An individual with a county code greater than 163 or with a county code that is even will be flagged for resolution of the error. What method is Ollie using?

possible-code cleaning

Statistical ____ analysis deals with determining how large a sample needs to be in order for researchers to have an adequate probability of obtaining statistically significant findings.

power

_____ help us organize our views about social work activities and may or may not reflect a synthesis of existing theories.

practice models

Teri has developed an instrument she believes will identify women at high risk for postpartum psychosis, a particularly devastating and dangerous disorder that occurs in a very small percentage of women who have recently given birth. Teri's instrument is administered to a number of women who are followed for 6 weeks after birth to determine whether they develop psychosis. Teri is most likely assessing the instrument's _____ validity.

predictive

Cynda is a school social worker who wants to improve services to the parents of children who receive special education services because of severe emotional disabilities. She starts with a free-flowing focus group in which parents identify what they like and what they dislike about existing services and what additional services they believe would be beneficial. Cynda uses the information from the focus group to develop a scale with two parts: one asks parents how important various existing and possible new services are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being extremely important; and the other rating satisfaction with current services on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very dissatisfied and 5 being very satisfied. It is this instrument that is her primary interest. Cynda's approach is best described as _____.

qualitative --> QUANTITATIVE

Which mixed method design is often used to generate research questions or techniques?

qualitative --> QUANTITATIVE

Arthur is conducting unstructured, open-ended interviews with a small number of practitioners regarding how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act has impacted their clients. This research is best described as _____.

qualitative exploratory

Which research methods emphasize the production of precise and generalizable statistical findings?

quantitative

Dominick is a social worker for a private adoption agency that specializes in the placement of older children and sibling groups. The agency wants to improve its services and starts by sending out a survey to all parents with whom children have been placed over the past two years. They are asked to rate a number of concerns they had adoption using a scale of 1 (not at all a concern) to 5 (an extremely important concern). The top five concerns are selected and Dominick then has focus groups in which he seeks a more nuanced, richer understanding of the concerns themselves and how the agency did (or did not) help. It is the focus group portion of the study that was of most interest to the agency. This research is best described as _____.

quantitative --> QUALITATIVE

Suppose your state created extensive and convoluted new paperwork for individuals applying for the Medicaid Waiver Program that is supposed to help individuals with severe disabilities remain in their communities rather than be placed in nursing homes. After nearly all applicants using the new paperwork are denied, your agency works with the state to develop a training on how to complete the new forms. Knowledge of how to complete the forms is assessed by scores on a multiple choice test given both before and after the training. This research is best described as _____.

quantitative evaluation

A sample is _____ of its population if the sample's aggregate characteristics closely approximate those same aggregate characteristics in the population.

representative

A(n) _____ is approximately one to five pages long, should be concise and direct, should tell the reader why the publication is justified and should describe the findings themselves.

research note

The notation for the _____ design is O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 X O6 O7 O8 O9 O10.

simple interrupted time-series

Rochelle is conducting a study of adolescent sex workers. She met several adolescent sex workers at the drop-in center where she works and has asked them to introduce her to others. Rochelle will then ask those individuals to introduce her to others and so on. Rochelle is using a(n) _____ sample.

snowball

The tendency to answer questions in ways that will make the respondent look good is referred to as _____ bias.

social desirability

The _____ approach to needs assessment examines aggregated statistics that reflect conditions of an entire population.

social indicators

What makes the _____ mixed-methods design distinct is not the degree of emphasis or the sequencing of the qualitative and quantitative methods, but rather, that it is aimed at collecting data that will yield a call for action to improve the plight of vulnerable, marginalized or oppressed groups.

social justice

In interviewing, _____ are explanatory and clarifying comments about how to handle difficult or confusing situations that may occur with specific questions in the questionnaire.

specification

When evaluating systematic reviews and meta-analyses, it is important to consider _____.

whether the authors of their affiliated institutions or agencies had a financial stake in the findings

Andre is a school social worker in a community in which getting parents involved in their children's education is difficult. Many of the parents work, and he suspects that coming home from a hard day's work, feeding the kids, arranging for someone to watch the kids and then going to school for a meeting is part of the problem. He works with the district's vocational school, which has both culinary and child development/care programs and, using donations from local businesses, arranges to provide services at two schools that serve very similar populations. Historically, only about 20% of the parents have shown up for the monthly parent/teacher meetings at each of the schools. The families in one school will be offered a free "family dinner" coupled with free childcare afterwards, allowing the parents to attend meetings with teachers and the other will offer free childcare while parents attend meetings with teachers. In the pilot phase of his study, which will last during the first half of the school year, Andre plans to look at the proportion of parents who attend meetings with teachers at each of the schools. What is the independent variable?

whether the families get a meal + childcare or only childcare

Andre wants to improve attendance at parent/teacher meetings and arranges to offer services that he hopes will do just that at two very similar schools. The families in one school will be offered a free "family dinner" coupled with free childcare afterwards, allowing the parents to attend meetings with teachers and the other will offer free childcare while parents attend meetings with teachers. In the pilot phase of his study, which will last during the first half of the school year, Andre plans to look at the proportion of parents who attend meetings with teachers at each of the schools. What is the dependent variable?

whether the parents come to the parent/teacher meetings

A paramount ethical issue that bears on feasibility is _____.

whether the value and quality of the research will outweigh any potential discomfort, inconvenience, or risk experienced by those who participate in the study

Terence just received a package of delicious cupcakes from a gourmet food company. The company sent him an e-mail asking him to rate the deliciousness of his order and by clicking on the face that best represented his feelings, and showed him a selection of five emoticons ranging from very unhappy to very happy. Research suggests that the use of such "smiley faces" _____.

yields about the same ratings as a verbal scale