Learn: social work research midterm

What is the role/purpose of a lit review?

Its an ongoing process and initial review of the literature aids in:

- Problem selection

- Understanding if the question has already been answered

- Identifying conceptual and practical obstacles

- Learning how to address obstacles

- Building on existing research

What to do when you have too many search results or too little?

Too many search results can mean your topic is too broad, and you need to narrow your scope. Too few results can mean you need to broaden your scope by using different terminology, widening the time frame of publication, etc.

What is cultural competence?

Awareness and responsiveness to cultural factors and differences throughout the research process

How can cultural competence be demonstrated?

An example can be when a researcher is designing their demographics form. They are taking steps to ensure that the questions they use are sensitive to terminology

(e.g. preferred terms, inclusive options).

What are the consequences of research that is not culturally competent?

Unless the researcher is studying a specific population, the study can be exclusionary and cannot be generalized for a larger group. This means results can be skewed and possibly inaccurate

How can sampling and other research methods promote cultural competence?

Randomization can help promote cultural competence because you are more likely to get a diverse sample

How does social work research relate to evidence practice?

Informs evidence base

Evaluates outcomes within agencies/clinical settings

It is important for culturally competent research to obtain a representative sample. What are some barriers that might interfere?

- Mistrust of researchers

- Perceptions that research lacks value for community

- Difficulty locating the population

- Culturally insensitive procedures

- Stigma

Quantitative

Data = numbers, concerned with associations or causal relationships between variables and dependent variables (outcomes); researcher's values & biases are assumed to not influence the research (uses deductive reasoning)

Qualitative

Data = words, objects, images, sounds, texts; concerned with reality as perceived by the subject; researcher's biases & values are explicit (uses inductive reasoning, NO hypotheses)

Mixed methods

A qualitative observation of an event or phenomenon. The opportunity to provide subtle details that outline a problem. Then uses a quantitative tool, like a survey, to validate or invalidate observations made during the qualitative phase

Inductive reasoning

start with a theoretical perspective but don't know the specific explanation for the phenomenon

Deductive reasoning

use already established theories and complete data collection to support/reject those theories

Independent Variable (IV)

This term describes a type of variable whose variation does not depend on that of another (variable being manipulated)

What is an example of IV?

Ex. In a clinical trial examining interventions for depression, this variable would be the type of therapy offered, or the type of medication given

Dependent Variable (DV)

This term describes a type of variable whose value depends on that of another (variable being observed)

What is an example of DV?

ex. In a clinical trial examining interventions for depression, this would be the client's score on rating the severity of their depression after the intervention (IV)

Extraneous/Control Variables

This type of variable influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious association

What is an example of extraneous/control variable?

ex. In a clinical trial examining interventions for depression, this is any variable other than the IV (the intervention) that could influence the DV (the participant's depression levels).

The 3 conditions of IV and DV that can increase confidence regarding causality

1. The independent variable must precede the dependent variable in time

2. The independent variable must have a statistically significant association with the dependent variable

3. The change that occurs in the dependent variable must be due to the independent variable and not extraneous variables (i.e., shoe size & IQ or male IQ study).

What are the types of extraneous variables that you need to "control"?

Environmental factors, personal biases, individual differences of participants (gender, age, race), etc.

What is operationalization, and what are the steps for this?

When defining a construct, social work researchers must turn abstract conceptual ideas into measurable variables. The steps are:

1. Identifying the key concept (O)

2. defining the variable

3. describing the variable

4. developing a measure of the variable

Research questions

The question that the research project sets out to answer.

- It is written as a question and is inquisitive in nature.

Ex. Does gender affect the difference in scores on Beck's Depression Inventory?

Hypothesis

A tentative and testable statement about how changes in one thing are expected to explain changes in something else

T or F: A hypothesis is not a question, but rather It is predictive in nature and a statement about the relationship between two or more variables.

true

Ex. There will be no difference in scores on Beck's Depression Inventory between men and women.

Ex. Women will have higher scores than men on Beck's Depression Inventory.

What are these examples of?

a hypothesis

How do you decide on a research topic/question?

Should have good social work implications (for practice, policy), should be of your passion, should not be too broad or too narrow, data should be accessible, etc.

Anonymity

Not even the researcher is able to link participants' data with their identities

- May be impossible in some situations (e.g., face-to-face interviews)

Confidentiality

Some identifying information on participants is known and may be kept, but only the researcher can link participants with their data and promises not to release it publicly

- May not be possible (e.g., focus group or duty to report)

Informed Consent

A subject's voluntary agreement to participate in research based on a full understanding of the research and of the possible risks and benefits involved

- To mitigate potential emotional harm, have a plan to provide supports

- Explain mandatory reporting duties in consent form & be sure participants understand

- Researchers should emphasize that participants can halt participation at any time and/or withdraw from the study

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Ensure the rights and welfare of human research subjects will be protected at all institutions that receive federal support for research

- Typically consist of members across disciplines & members of the Community

- Researchers (including students) are required to submit proposals outlining their research plans to IRB for review prior to starting the study

three levels of IRB review

exempt, expedited, and full board

Exempt Review

Projects that expose participants to the least amount of harm (e.g., publicly available or secondary data)

Expedited Review

middle level of review; expose participants to minimal risk; application still thoroughly reviewed by a member of the committee, not the full committee (e.g., medical records or case notes)

Full Board Review

highest level of review (more than minimal risk); multiple members of IRB will meet & discuss, invite researcher to answer questions/defend, and vote to approve proposal or send it back for revisions

What is an example of research that wouldn't require review from an Institutional Review Board?

Literature review, publicly available information (such as policies, websites)

Nonmaleficence

This ethical principle refers to the obligation not to inflict harm on others.

When might the potential for harm be acceptable in research?

When the resulting benefits outnumber the risks

Name one example of research that did not uphold ethical standards (know the details)

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Milgram's experiments on obedience

Zimbardo Stanford Prison Study

4 levels of measurement

nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio

Nominal

values are in two or more categories that are distinct, mutually exclusive, and exhaustive of all possibilities.

- Ex. no ranking such as names, gender, religion

Ordinal

This type of variable is a categorical, statistical data type where the variables have natural, ordered categories and the distances the categories are not known.

- Ex. ranking, course grade, size

Interval

values have a sequential order to them, and there is an equal distance between the different values. There is no true zero value.

- Ex. temperature

Ratio

This type of variable may, in theory, have an infinite number of possible values and has a true zero

Ex. Weight, time, height

Validity

(accuracy) Standard that determines whether an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure and whether it measures it accurately. Accuracy IS THE KEY ISSUE!!

Face validity

Valid based on what you already know about the concept by just looking over the measure; review the measurement instrument and ask whether it appears to measure accurately what you want to measure

Construct validity

consider how the variable to be measured is logically associated with other variables

Criterion-related validity

measure is valid if it scores correlate with the scores of another measure of the same construct

Content validity

measure covers the range of meanings included within the concept. Do the questions you selected reflect all dimensions of the variable

External Validity

This term refers to the extent to which research findings apply to the larger population

Reliability

(consistency) internal consistency of the measure

• Does the instrument measure a concept consistently from one time to another and does it consistently measure a concept among different people.

Different ways to test reliability

test-retest, inter-rater reliability, split-half method, alternate-forms method, triangulation

If a scale has high validity and high reliability, what does it mean?

The study is consistent and has produced accurate results

Researchers want ____________ and ____________

high reliability, high validity

Using existing scales to measure a variable that you're interested in: What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Advantages include built-in reliability and validity, time and cost-efficient, etc. Disadvantages can include cultural or contextual mismatch, risk of non-response or reactance (ex., poorly phrased, confusing language, or overly invasive)

Descriptive

A non-experimental, observational method used to systematically document the characteristics, behaviors, or trends of a population or phenomenon without manipulating any variables

Exploratory

This type of research typically investigates research questions that have not previously been studied in depth

Explanatory

This type of research seeks to identify causal relationships between variables.

Cross-sectional studies

analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset, at a specific point in time

Longitudinal studies

Describe processes occurring over time by conducting observations over an extended period.

Consumer

the reader of the study, social worker who applies current research into evidence practice and policy

Producer

the researcher who conducts the study and publishes it

Primary data

information collected directly by the researcher or organization for their specific study

Secondary data

Analyzes data already collected in another study

- Data may be available for free or low cost, and it may be representative, so can be generalized to other people

- Available from research firms, universities, state and local health and social service agencies, community organizations, etc.