Overview of the Course

This course focuses on the nature, execution, and critical analysis of modes of inquiry, research methodology, and the evaluation of social work practice and programs. As the two quotes above highlight, there are different views and approaches to knowledge creation in social research. This course will review the main paradigms and perspectives that were covered in SWSS 227 Research Foundations and challenge students to demonstrate their comprehension and to deepen their level of awareness of the role of research and evaluation in social welfare programs and services. Positivist, post-positivist, critical and constructionist perspectives will be used to discuss, analyze and critique the assumptions of andjustification for current models of research and evaluation; the application of empirical study to practice; the implications and consequences of the choice of methodologies; and emergent models of program evaluation. Within these topic areas a wide range of various research methods from formal experimental and quasi-experimental designs to ethnography and participant -driven research will be examined. As in SWSS 227, ethical issues and values considerations will be emphasized and explored in depth. Implications for those "outside" the dominant culture whose voices are ofien stilled by racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ablesism or who are "dis"privileged by the prevailing economic order will be discussed. Research approaches that give voice to those considered outsiders or outcasts will be highlighted as well as approaches consonant with a social constructionist social work practice posture. How research influences and is in turn influenced by social policies will be another area to be investigated. We will also consider how a strengths-based and culturallysensitive perspective may both be integrated with traditional research agendas and advance our understanding of the human condition. Examples, assignments, class discussions, exercises, team projects and readings will offer students the opportunity to apply course products to the portfolios in their chosen concentration.

Course Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to demonstrate accomplishment of the following objectives:

Knowledge Objectives:

An understanding of:

1.The importance of theory of varied philosophical orientations to knowledge development in social work;

2. Positivist, post-positivist, critical and constructionist approaches to knowledge creation and implications for social work research and evaluation;

3. The bases for the case for a many ways of knowing stance in social work research and program evaluation;

4. Feminist approaches to research and their relationship to the various paradigms or perspectives of knowledge;

5. Decision - making criteria for choosing methods from among the various schools and perspectives of knowledge;

6. The strengths and limitations between positivist, post positivist, critical and constructionist methods including case studies, experimental designs and single-case designs;

7. Philosophical issues and questions of the place of values in social research.

Values Objectives:

An understanding of and sensitivity to:

1. The ethical issues underlying various approaches to research and evaluation;

2. Use of cultural, gender and ethnic lenses within research and evaluation;

3. Misuses of empirical searches for knowledge that omit the voices of oppressed and stigmatized populations and groups;

4. How research can be useful to communities and persons outside of the academy;

5. How research questions are always influence by cultural, political, individual biases;

6. The differences between a clinical research focus based upon strengths than a focus based on problems and pathology;

7. How research and evaluation can restrict, omit or enhance/advance human rights.

8. Appreciating the dialectical and contradictory nature of the search for knowledge as opposed to research as a search for the truth;

Skills Objectives:

The ability to:

1. Critically analyze the philosophical assumptions underlying various approaches to research;

2. Work with notions of reliability and validity;

3. Interpret and evaluate the appropriateness of measurement instruments in specific situations and with specific clients or groups of clients;

4. Critically assess models of practice evaluation;

5. Critically analyze research and evaluation in relation to its potential impact on marginalized and oppressed groups and in relation to social work values;

6. Design an evaluation study;

7. Apply the strengths perspective to social work research and evaluation;

8. Design research and evaluation that represents appreciation for cultural and community \issues and is consistent with a human rights and social justice perspective.