What are the 6 different ways of knowing/understanding human behaviour and world around us?
- Intuition
- Type of Insight / without much thought or reason - Tradition
- Values / Beliefs, Culture - Experience
- 1st hand, individual variation - Authority
- experience we don’t have – rely on someone else - Media
- print material, news, social networks, TV - Science
- System to produce Knowledge / Knowledge produced
What is generalist social work practice?
- Individuals, groups, communities, organizations
- Variety of settings
- Eclectic knowledge base & range of skills /roles
- Code of Ethics
- Strengths based perspective
- Critical thinking
- Planned change process
What is the purpose of Research in Generalist SW Practice
- Evidence-based practice
- Key approach in SW, strength to decisions made
- Research - development of knowledge - Ethical practice
- Responsibility to provide best possible service - Fiscal responsibility
- Accountability to funders for spending responsibly
- Substantiate claim for new services - Empowerment
- Certain research methods directly empowering
What are the 5 characteristics of Scientific inquiry?
- Universalism
- Judged on scientific merit, not who/where - Organized Skepticism
- All evidence questioned; examined for scientific method; publications peer-reviewed - Disinterestedness *
- Neutrality, impartiality, receptive to evidence/findings contrary to expectations, beliefs - Communalism
- Share findings - Honesty
- Demanded
What is the post positivism worldview?
Also known by other terms:
- Positivist
- Empirical science
- Science research….
Postpositivist
-Recognition – cannot be 100% positive about claims made regarding human behavior / actions
What are the key assumptions of post positivism worldview?
1.Knowledge – absolute truth unknown
2.Research – process – make claims – refine / abandon
3.Data, evidence, rational thought shapes knowledge
-Collect data - instruments – measure
4.Research aim – explain / describe causal relationships
-Examine various relationships – questions / hypotheses
5.Being objective essential
Examine for biases
what are the key points of postpositivism?
1.Quant
2.Deterministic - cause / effect
-Test /verify / refine laws / theories that govern the world
Explain / predict
3.Reductionist
-Reduce ideas —-> discrete set of ideas (variables)
4.Numeric measurement
5.Objectivity
6.Deductive process
-general to particular
What are the key assumptions of constructivist worldview?
- Humans construct meanings – engage world / interpreting it
- People make sense of the word – based on history, social perspectives.
- Researchers’ interpretation of findings shaped by own experience / background - Basic generation of meaning – social – based on human interactions
What are the key points of constructivist worldview?
1.Qual
2.To develop understanding
3.Open ended questions
4.Context / setting
5.Participant view
6.Inductive process
Particular to general (data up)
What are basic assumptions of the transformative worldview?
1.Focus on inequities
e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation
2.Assumes collaboration
Involvement, voice, raising consciousness – improve life
3.Links political & social action to inequities
4.Central – study of lives / experience
e.g., constraints / strategies to resist….
5.Program theory of beliefs
How program works / why problems of oppression, domination, etc exist
What are the key points of transformative worldview?
- Marginalized individuals / groups
- Social oppression
- Action agenda
- Collaboration
- Practical
- Integration of theoretical perspectives
- Create political debate to promote change
What are the basic assumptions of pragmatic worldview?
-Not committed to one system of philosophy / reality
-Freedom of choice (methods, techniques, procedures)
Many ways to collect / analyze data
Look for what & how
-Research occurs in social, political, historical context
-Truth – what works at the time
What are the key points of pragmatic worldview?
- Mixed Methods
- Use all approaches to understand a problem
- Quant / Qual assumptions
- Social, historical, political contexts - FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS-SOLUTIONS
- ACTIONS, SITUATIONS
What is the second component of research approach?
Research DESIGN- type of inquiry within the approach used
3 approaches to research (qual, quant or mm)
- Choice of designs within each
- Choice made directs
- R. questions
- data collection & analysis
- final report format
Alternative research designs
Quantitative:
- Expermental
- non experimental (eg. surveys)
MM:
- convergent
- explanatory sequential
- exploratory sequential
- tranformative, embedded, multiphase
Qualitative:
- narrative
- phenomenology
- grounded theory
- ethnography
- case studies
What are the research designs specifically referred to in the text?
Quan:
- Experimental Research
1. True experiments (random)
2. Quasi-experiments (non random) - Survey Research
MM:
Convergent Parallel
- same time
Explanatory Sequential
-QUANT first
Exploratory Sequential
- QUAL first
Transformative
- theoretical lens
- convergent or sequenced QUAL: Narrative -stories about lives Phenomenology -essence of experience
Quant:
Survey: Numeric description Trends, attitudes, opinions Cross-sectional / Longitudinal Questionnaires or structured interviews Generalize: sample to population
Experimental Research:
Treatment effect on outcome
-One grp gets treatment
-Another doesn’t
-Difference in score(s) on outcome
RCT
-“True” experiment
-Random assignment
Quasi experimental
-Non randomized & Single subject designsQual
Narrative (humanities)
- Stories of participants’ lives
- restoried by researcher – narrative chronology
Phenomenology (psychology, philosophy)
- lived experience of phenomenon
- Essence of human experience
Grounded Theory (sociology)
- Theory development – process, action, interaction
- grounded in participants’ views
Ethnography (anthropology, sociology)
- Patterns of behavior, language, action shared by group
- Natural setting – prolonged engagement
Case studies (multiple fields) -In depth study of a ‘case’, bounded by time & activity
MM
Integration of both Quant / Qual into one study
Field relatively new
Can be used to
- Check accuracy - Help explain, explore different questions - Development of instruments
MM: Various designs
Convergent parallel mixed methods :
- Quan / Qual data collected about same time
- Integrates info in the interpretation of overall results
Explanatory sequential mixed methods:
- Quant data 1st, then builds on results / details them with Qual data
- Sequential – one follows the other
Exploratory sequential mixed methods:
- Qual 1st, followed by Quan data (2nd phase)
- Qual – used to build / inform instrument or identify variables
What is the third component of a research approach?
METHODS
Methods: QUAN
Pre-determined
Instrument based
Data Collection:
-performance
-attitude
-observation
-census
Data analysis: Statistical
Interpretation: StatisticalMethods: MM
-Predetermined and emerging method
-closed and open ended questions
-multiple forms of data collection
statistical and text data analysis
-statistical and text data analysis
-across database interpretation
Methods: Qual
- Emerging methods
- open ended questions
- data collection:
- interview
- observation
- document
- audio-visual - data analysis: text/image
- interpretation: themes/patterns
