What Types of Designs are We Using in Social Work Research and Evaluation?

Abstract

This article addresses a void in the literature about social work research and evaluation (R&E) designs, in particular related to the quality of its published work. Data were collected by reviewing three empirically oriented journals, Research on Social Work Practice, Journal of Social Service Research, and Social Work Research over three publication years 2005, 2006, and 2007. A total of N = 329 articles were content analyzed accordingly: research versus nonresearch, designs used, design objectives, sample sizes, primary statistics used, and outcomes. Main findings were (a) social work’s R&E is uniquely characterized by a cohort of nonresearch studies, which assist in understanding our empirically published work; (b) the most frequently used designs were preexperimental (82.2%) and least frequently used were experimental (2.3%); (c) design objectives were equally dispersed across exploration, variable relationships, instrument development, and program/evaluation; (d) primary statistics used were parametric (82.2%); and (e) 96.7% of the studies specified outcomes within them. Implications are directed to better understanding the context of where social work R&E is conducted, not apologizing for the designs the author uses, and how one can and should strengthen our study designs to offset their concerns.

Research Productivity in Top-Ranked Schools in Psychology and Social Work

“…These findings for social workers are consistent with those reported in social work by Holosko (2010), Holosko, Hamby, and Pettus, (2013), and Wodarski (2011.…”

The Nature of Social Work Research by Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences : An Overview

“…Taber and Shapiro published a study with this aim as far back as 1965; a content analysis of articles published between 1920 and 1965. Similar studies conducted so far are limited as they predominantly reflect the state of SWR in the USA and the UK (e.g., Barusch, Gringeri, & George, 2011;Fraser et al, 1991;Holosko, 2010;Jobling, Shaw, Jang, Czarneckie, & Ramatowski, 2017;Kreisberg & Marsh, 2016;Rubin & Parrish, 2007;Shaw & Lunt, 2018;Shaw, Ramatowski, & Ruckdeschel, 2013). This study analyses for the first time, as we know, the characteristics of SWR by Dutch UAS as reported in peer-reviewed and in practice related, professional journals and reports.…”

Perceptions des participantes sur les effets d’un programme pour les femmes exerçant de la violence

“…Une méthodologie qualitative a été retenue : dans le contexte où la recherche évaluative, incluant des programmes pour femmes qui ont des comportements violents, est dominée par les études quantitatives de perspective positiviste (Holosko, 2010), cette étude pourra contribuer aux connaissances en permettant de mieux saisir l'expérience des participantes et leurs points de vue sur les effets du programme. Une approche qualitative permet également d'ouvrir la voie à des effets non anticipés de l'intervention (Larue et al, 2009).…”