Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Paradigm

A way of viewing the world; a set of beliefs that guide research.

Theory

A set of ideas that explain how things work and how they are connected

Interpretivism

The belief that understanding people requires looking at their experiences and meanings.

Positivism

The belief that the world can be studied objectively, like in the natural sciences.

Critical Paradigm

Focuses on power, inequality, and social change

Connection between theory and research

Theory helps us design research questions and make sense of the findings.

Social work and paradigms

Social workers use multiple paradigms to understand complex human behavior.

Deductive reasoning

Start with a theory → make a hypothesis → test it.

Inductive reasoning

Start with observations → develop a theory based on patterns.

Paradigms help us choose what to study and how.

true

Theories guide interventions, policy work, and practice

true

Seminal article

is “a classic work of research literature that is more
than 5 years old and is marked by its uniqueness and contribution to professional knowledge”

Theoretical articles

by contrast, do not follow a set structure.

Tertiary sources

Synthesize or distill primary and secondary sources.

Social work research is conducted to benefit

consumers, practitioners, policymakers, educators, and the
general public through the examination of societal issues”

Disciplines

consume, produce, and disseminate knowledge

Periodicals include

Journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers

What you type into a database or search engine like Google is called a

Query