Social Work Research: 2044

Howard, Matthew O.; Garland, Eric L.

doi:10.1086/681099

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In addition to growth in doctoral programs, there has been outstanding growth in the production of social work scholarship over the past 30 plus years. Comparing social work reports published in 1984 and 2013 using free-text searches of three large databases (PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, and PubMed) using the phrase social work, Howard and Garland (2015) found increases ranging between 669% and 891% in social work publications. Social work research has expanded into new areas such as evidence-based practice, prevention science, and implementation science.…”

Section: Jo Ann R Coe Reganmentioning

confidence: 98%

From the Editor—The Future of Social Work Education

Robbins

Regan

Williams

et al. 2016

Journal of Social Work Education

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Section: Jo Ann R Coe Reganmentioning

confidence: 98%

From the Editor—The Future of Social Work Education

Robbins

Regan

Williams

et al. 2016

Journal of Social Work Education

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“…We do not know if social work is in the midst of a replication crisis (Howard & Garland, 2015;Yaffe, 2019). The extent to which social workers engage in QRPs, the power of social work studies, publication bias, etc.…”

Section: Is Social Work In a Replication Crisis? Does It Matter?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraising Contemporary Social Work Research: Meta-Research on Statistical Reporting, Statistical Power, and Evidential Value

Dunleavy¹

2020

Preprint

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Background. In recent years, the veracity of scientific findings has come under intense scrutinyin what has been called the “replication crisis” (sometimes called the “reproducibility crisis” or“crisis of confidence”). This crisis is marked by the propagation of scientific claims which weresubsequently contested, found to be exaggerated, or deemed false. The causes of this crisis aremany, but include poor research design, inappropriate statistical analysis, and the manipulationof study results. Though it is uncertain if social work is in the midst of a similar crisis, it is notunlikely, given parallels between the field and adjacent disciplines in crisis.Objective. This dissertation aims to articulate these problems, as well as foundational issues instatistical theory, in order to scrutinize statistical practice in social work research. In doing so, itparallels recent work in psychology, neuroscience, medicine, ecology, and other scientificdisciplines, while introducing a new program of meta-research to the social work profession.Method. Five leading social work journals were analyzed across a five-year period (2014-2018).In all 1,906 articles were reviewed, with 310 meeting inclusion criteria. The study was dividedinto three complementary parts. Statistical reporting practices were coded and analyzed in Part 1of the study (n = 310). Using reported sample sizes from these articles, a power survey wasperformed, in Part 2, for small, medium, and large effect sizes (n = 207). A novel statistical tool,the p-curve, was used in Part 3 to evaluate the evidential value of results from one journal(Research on Social Work Practice) and to assess for bias. Results from 39 of the 78 eligiblearticles were included in the analysis. Data and materials are available at: https://osf.io/45z3h/Results. Part 1: Notably, 86.1% of articles reviewed did not report an explicit alpha level. Apower analysis was performed in only 7.4% of articles. Use of p-values was common, beingreported in 96.8% of articles, but only 29% of articles reported them in exact form. Only 36.5%of articles reported confidence intervals; with the 95% coverage rate being the most common(reported in 31.3% of all studies). Effect sizes were explicitly reported in the results section ortables in a little more than half of articles (55.2%). Part 2: The mean statistical power for articleswas 57% for small effects, 88% for medium effects, and 95% for large effects. 61% of studiesdid not have adequate power (.80) to detect a small effect, 19% did not have adequate power todetect a medium effect, and 7% a large effect. A robustness test yielded similar but moreconservative estimates for these findings. Part 3: Both the primary p-curve and robustness testyielded right-skewed curves, indicating evidential value for the included set of results, and noevidence of bias.Conclusion. Overall, these findings provide a snapshot of the status of contemporary social workresearch. The results are preliminary but indicate areas where statistical design and reporting canbe improved in published research. The results of the power survey suggest that the field hasincreased mean statistical power compared to prior decades; though these findings are tentativeand have numerous limitations. The results of the p-curve demonstrate its potential as a tool forinvestigating bias within published research; while suggesting that the results included fromResearch on Social Work Practice have evidential value. In all this study provides a first steptowards a broader and more comprehensive assessment of the field.

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“…Broadly, and as interpreted in this study, the history of social work in the United States, Britain, and Nordic countries is replete with atheoretical and largely intuitive exhortations for social workers to supplement and balance their informal-interactive tool preference with formal-analytic tools. Particularly in the United States, these exhortations are rooted in the idea that research on social work makes discoveries and develops interdisciplinary research that is exchanged with and used by everyday social workers to improve their everyday in situ labor (Bellamy, Bledsoe, & Traube, 2005;Feldman, 2010;Fortune, McCallion, & Briar-Lawson, 2010;Fraser, Richman, Galinsky, & Day, 2009;Howard & Garland, 2015;Martinez-Brawley, 1995;Okpych & Yu, 2014).…”

Section: The Supplement-and-balance Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather than interpreting research on social work practice univocally as making discoveries and developing interdisciplinary research that is exchanged with and used by everyday social workers to improve their everyday in situ labor (Fraser et al, 2009;Howard & Garland, 2015;Martinez-Brawley, 1995;Okpych & Yu, 2014), we might also interpret everyday social workers as making discoveries (Epstein et al, 2015) and developing collectively enacted strategies that are exchanged with and used by everyday social workers to improve their everyday in situ labor. These collectively enacted strategies among social workers produce the shared and recognizable solutions to the problem of evaluating everyday practice effectiveness.…”

Section: Proxy Questionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice Evaluation Strategies Among Clinical Social Workers

Davis

Dennis

Culbertson

2015

Research on Social Work Practice

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Objectives: Practice evaluation strategies range in style from the formal-analytic tools of single-subject designs, rapid assessment instruments, algorithmic steps in evidence-based practice, and computer software applications, to the informal-interactive tools of clinical supervision, consultation with colleagues, use of client feedback, and clinical experience. The purpose of this study was to provide practice researchers in social work with a more complete understanding of how and why social workers evaluate their practice the way they do. Methods: Questions about practice evaluation strategies were posed to 12 licensed clinical social workers in a 3-hour focus group. Findings: Drawing on advances in the cognitive and social neurosciences, the study identified among clinical social workers an informal-interactive tool preference that displays itself as a cognitively necessary, sufficient, and stand-alone preference that required neither the supplementation nor balance of formal-analytic tools. Conclusions: New directions in social work practice research are required and delineated.

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Social Work Research: 2044

Cited by 27 publications

References 41 publications

From the Editor—The Future of Social Work Education

From the Editor—The Future of Social Work Education

Appraising Contemporary Social Work Research: Meta-Research on Statistical Reporting, Statistical Power, and Evidential Value

Practice Evaluation Strategies Among Clinical Social Workers

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