Instructor: Professor Gunnar
Almgren Class
meets July 24 – Aug 21
Office: 244A Tues
& Thurs 9:30am – 12:20pm
Office Hrs: By appt Room SW305
(Commons)
Email:
Telephone/voice mail:
(206) 685-4077
TA: Quynh-Tram H. Nguyen: E-Mail
qthn@u.washington.edu
SocW 506A
– Summer 2008
ADVANCED
SOCIAL WELFARE RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This
course builds on and reinforces the knowledge and skills you developed in your
undergraduate social research methods course.
Designed to strengthen knowledge and skills related to practice-based
research, this course considers issues of
problem definition, literature review, measurement selection for diverse
populations, and optionally quantitative data analysis.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
1.
To learn to critically assess social science research from ethical,
multicultural, and social justice perspectives.
2.
To build on students’ existing knowledge base to expand their
capabilities to conduct research.
3.
To enable students’ capacity to link research to evidence-based
practice.
4.
To identify ways in which social welfare research can either perpetuate
or counter oppression against vulnerable populations
REQUIRED TEXT
Rubin, A. & Babbie,
E.R., (2008). Research Methods for Social Work. 6th Edition.
Thomson Brooks Cole.
If you have a prior edition
of the Rubin and Babbie text you are welcome to use it. However, it will be your responsibility to
identify the pages in the text that are tied to the specific readings in the
current edition.
SUPPLEMENTAL
There are two types of supplemental readings, required and optional. The required readings will be placed on electronic reserve, available for reading on-line or download at the following URL: https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=6534&page=docs#
There is also a hardcopy of
the e-reserve readings available for individual check-out from the SSW Library
Reserves. Optional resource readings will be via a set of books placed on
course reserves at the SSW Library. These include:
Evidence-based Practice Manual: Research and Outcome
Measures in Health and Human Services
Edited by Albert Roberts and
Kenneth Yeager.
2004,
The Qualitative Research Experience
Edited by Deborah Padgett
2004, Wadsworth Publishing
Company
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research
edited by Norman K. Denzin,
Yvonna S. Lincoln.
Tricks of the Trade: How to Think About Your Research
While Doing It
Howard Becker
Qualitative research for social workers : phases,
steps, & tasks
Leslie M. Tutty, Michael
Rothery, Richard M. Grinnell ; [contributors: Carol D. Austin.
TEACHING METHODS
This course will include lecture,
discussion, in-class exercises, computer lab sessions, as well as readings and
homework assignments to achieve the course objectives.
Periodically, there may be email
communication sent via a class list created by UWIN, hence, it is students
responsibility to periodically check their official UW e-mail account.
COURSE RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibilities
include: timely completion of required readings, class attendance,
participation in discussions, completion of project, and presentation of
individual project.
Each
student must decide by the end of class on July 31st which of the
following individualized project options s/he will be doing. The projects are due Aug 21. These options are
being made available to tailor learning to each students’ level of expertise
.
- Develop a research
proposal
- Propose research
question, conduct a statistical analyses on a research question formulated
by the student from the
COURSE EVALUATION
This
course will be formally evaluated using standard UW evaluation forms at the end
of the quarter. In addition, note cards are provided at each session for
immediate feedback.
Evaluation of Student Learning:
Successful learning in this class is predicated on active in-class participation, currency with the required reading and a commitment to student peer teaching. The final grade for the course will be based on the following criteria:
40% Individual project due Aug 21
20% 2 Mini-Quizes (one Aug 5 and one Aug 19)
20% Small Group Project: Development of an
Evidence-Based Clinical Protocol due August 21
10% Poster presentation of individual
project due Aug 21
10% Regular class attendance and active
participation in class discussion and exercises
Written work should be typed,
double spaced, using a standard 12 point font (e.g., Times Roman). Please
number your pages, and use appropriate citation of sources following APA format
conventions. Grades for written work
will be based on the following: ability to articulate ideas; evidence of critical
thought; understanding of research design elements and if appropriate analyses;
skill of argumentation; and, organization, clarity, and quality of writing. As
a graduate level course, grades in the "C" range (2.9 or lower) are
considered unsatisfactory. Grades in the "B" range (3.0 to 3.6)
indicate satisfactory to very good performance. Grades in the "A"
range (3.7 to 4.0) indicate excellent to outstanding work.
SERVICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
Please let me know right away
if you will need any learning accommodations for this class. If you would like to request academic
accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Resources for
Students, 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924 (V/TTY).
If you have a letter from the office of Disability Resources for
Students (formerly Disabled Student Services) indicating you have a disability
that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we
can discuss the accommodations you might need for this class.
COURSE OUTLINE
Note: Class lecture
discussion sessions will be held in SSW 305 (The Commons), and all lab sessions
will be in the SSW Computer Lab located on the ground floor. During the first
week of the term, students will be assigned to either Lab Section A or Lab
Section B. In order to accommodate the limited number of terminals in the
Computer Lab, during the 5 class sessions that include a statistics lab, Lab
Sections A and B will switch places between the lab and lecture segments that
occur in the second half of the class.
Session #1 – July 24
9:30-10:00:
Introductions and Course Overview
10:00-10:45:
Inductive epistemology, deductive
epistemology, and theory building
10-45-11:00:
Break
11:00-11:30
In-Class Exercise #1: Formulating a
question and considering design options.
11:30-12:20 Research Designs
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 3
Rubin and Babie, Chapter 6
Session #2 –
July 29
9:30-10:15 Forms of Validity
10:15-10:45 In-Class Exercise #2: Study justification,
research questions, design of two articles
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:40 Threats
to Validity
11:40-12:20 Lab # 1 Entering Data
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 10
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 11
Session #3 – July 31
9:30-10:15 Measures and Psychometric Properties
10:15-10:45 In-Class Exercise #3: Creating a Measure
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:40 Correlation and Causality
11:40-12:20 Lab #2
Describing the Sample
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 7,
8, & 9
Session #4 – Aug 5 (Mini-Quiz #1)
9:30-10:00 Mini-Quiz
#1 on Study Designs and Validity
10:00-10:45 Sampling
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 In Class Exercise #4: Review sampling,
measures, data collection in 2 research
articles
11:30-12:20 Sampling Error and Measurement Error
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 14
Becker. Sampling, In Tricks of the Trade. University of Chicago
Session
#5 – Aug 7
9:30-10:30 Qualitative Data Analysis
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:30 Quantitative
Data Analysis
11:30-12:20 Lab #3
Cross-tabulation and Chi-square
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 19
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 20
Suggested:
Coleman and Unrau. Analyzing
Your Data. In Tutty, Rothery and Grinnel
(Eds.) Qualitative Research for
Social Workers. Allyn and Bacon. 1996.
(in e-reserves)
Almgren. Statistics for Human
Service Workers. In Roberts and Yeager (Eds.) Evidence-Based Practice Manual.
Session #6 – Aug 12
9:30-10:30 Connecting Theory and Evidence to
Practice
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:30 Pragmatics of Program Evaluation
11:30-12:20 Lab #4 – t-tests and One-Way ANOVA
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 13
Session #7 – Aug 14
9:30-10:30 Ethical Dimensions of Social Welfare
Research
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:30 Selection
Bias and Generalizability of Findings
11:30-12:20 Lab #5 Bivariate Correlation and Regression
Readings
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 4
Myers,
L.L. & Thyer, B. (1997). Should social work clients have the right to
effective treatment? Social Work, 42, 3,
288-298.
Witkin,
S.L. (1998). The right to effective treatment and the effective treatment of
rights: Rhetorical empiricism and the
politics of research. Social Work, 43, 1,
75-80.
Massey. Review Essay:
Massey. Blackballed by Bush. Contexts 5 (1): 40-42 (in e-reserves)
Session #8 – Aug 19
(Mini-Quiz #2)
9:30-10:00 Mini-Quiz
#2 on Measurement, Sampling, and Data Analysis
10:00-11:00 Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-12:20 Cross-cultural Research
Rubin and Babbie, Chapter 5
Almgren, Kemp and Eisinger.
The Legacy of Hull House and the Children’s Bureau on the American Mortalty
Transition. Social Service Review 74
(1): 1-27. (in e-reserves)
Shklarov. Double Vision
Uncertainty: The Bilingual Researcher and the Ethics of Cross-Language
Research. Qualitiative Health Research 17
(4): 529-538. (in e-reserves)
Session
#9 – Aug 21
Round robin poster presentation of
major project assignment and celebration
Individual Project Options
Option A –
Research Proposal
This paper presents your overall study design and
methodology. Present the study in four
sections and use the headings as provided below. You
will need to meet with either the instructor or TA no later than Aug 7th to get
feedback on your research question, preliminary design and methodology. Total paper length 8 pages double spaced
and references on a separate page(s) in APA format. If you’re not sure about APA formatting with citations, check the
Your
poster presentation on Aug 21st
should describe your research question and methodogy so your classmates
will have a sense of what kind of study you are proposing.
i)
Introduction
a)
Present the research question.
b)
Provide a clear justification showing how this question builds on the
existing literature, including appropriate citations of peer-reviewed
literature to support this justification.
Since you will have limited time to work on this, you will not have an
opportunity to do a thorough review. You
should still have a few relevant citations to make a succinct argument or
justification of you are building on the knowledge base.
c)
There should be a rationale as to why this research question is
important, why we should care about it.
ii)
Methods
a)
Describe the study design
i)
Rationale for the particular study design
ii)
Potential strengths and weaknesses of this design
b)
Describe the sampling plan include:
i)
what you will do to select cases
ii)
how you will contact them
iii)
what your exclusion and inclusion criteria for participating will be
c)
Describe your proposed measure including information on its reliability
and validity
i)
if it’s a measure without existing psychometric information explain how
you will assess whether it is an appropriate instrument or note
ii)
provide a copy of the measure, whether it is pre-existing or one you
created
d)
Describe the procedures you will use to collect the data
i)
how will you ensure a high completion rate
ii)
attend to possible human subject concerns
iii)
Limitations
a)
Discuss how generalizable you expect your results to be based on your
design, sampling strategy and data collection
b)
Discuss how your proposed study attends to issues of diversity
(remember diversity isn’t just about race) and possible biases
iv)
Poster
Your
poster presentation on Aug 21st should describe your research question, your
study design type, your measures, sampling methodology, and planned approach to
data analyses.
OPTION B – Analyses Project
This project entails picking
out a dataset to use that is likely to answer a research question that you are
interested in. You will have access to
data from the UW’s Beyond High School Research Project for this purpose. If you have access to some other data, for
example, agency data or a publically available dataset, you are welcome to use it.
i)
Review the
dataset to see what kind of constructs are measured within the data.
ii)
Construct one or
more research questions that can be answered by the data.
iii)
You will need to meet with either the instructor or TA
no later than Aug 7th to get feedback on your research question and
proposed analyses.
iv)
Conduct the
necessary analyses.
a)
The level of
sophistication of your analyses will be dependent on your statistical
background. The course will provide an
opportunity to learn how to use SPSS/PC which is a quantitative software to
conduct analyses. The course is however
NOT a statistics course so we will not be reviewing statistical concepts.
v)
Provide a written
summary which includes your research question(s), the steps you took in your
analyses, the results, and their interpretation. The length of the summary is dependent on
your analyses so no page guidelines are given.
This is due at the start of class on August 21st.
vi)
Your poster
presentation on Aug 21st should describe your research question, describe your
analyses, results and interpretation.