Methods Final

Front 1

Ms. Lowery, an executive director of a children's shelter is conducting research on the placement needs of children. She diligently constructs a questionnaire, trying to gather all pertinent information. Then she distributes the questionnaire to providers in the community who service children and families. What roles does Ms. Lowery in the research?

Back 1

Producer

Front 2

Meredith is conducting a project on the political affiliations of key community stakeholders. She realizes that the information is sensitive and that anoymity breaches can produce drire consequences. Therefore meredith makes all necessary safeguards to ensure the research participants remain anonymous. What does this mean?

Back 2

Nobody knows the identities of research participants

Front 3

Physicians observe that Hmong residents in the county seem to have higher rates of diabetes than other populations. The physicians contact the local health department to report the phenomena, and subsequently the health department contacts a college professor who is a known as an expert on Hmong culture. The professor is interested in conducting research on the issue, but she claims it will be inductive in nature because little is known about diabetes among Hmong communities. Inductive research typically starts with:

Back 3

Data collection

Front 4

Alice develops a survey about depression that is designed to measure the symptom intensity. The survey has 10 questions, and each question has a rating scale that ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 = low depression and 5 = high depression. For instance, one of the questions is “have you lost interest in activities that use to be pleasurable.” Possible responses to the question are 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 =sometimes, 4 = frequently, and 5 = always. Scores on the survey can range between 10 and 50. Alice finds that the average score on the survey is 22. What type of data analysis is this?

Back 4

Quantitative

Front 5

Immigrants who migrate from Somalia to U.S. are having problems with family preservation. What seems to be occurring is a fracture between the parental and sibling subsystems. In particular, caregivers want their children to assimilate to their new culture(s), but also want them to embrace the traditional customs and practices from Somalia. What type of research philosophy may help social workers strengthen these families?

Back 5

Aforcentric

Front 6

A study is conducted to explain the academic achievements of students in an experiential learning environment. A student-centered theory frames the study as researchers draw the hypothesis directly from the theoretical expectations. Further, academic achievement is defined as the students’ GPA over the course of one calendar year. What type of research is described in this vignette?

Back 6

Deductive

Front 7

As a mandated component of a social work curriculum, this construct is relevant to multiple facets of being a social worker. It can be described as the tendencies to give attention to the process of reasoning and alternative points of view. What is this construct?

Back 7

Critical Thinking

Front 8

Researchers are interested in the perceptions of first-generation U.S. citizens on Arizona's immigration laws. To accomplish this research goal, thirty first-generation people are located, and each is interviewed for approximately one-hour. Finally the transcripts of the interviews are analyzed for content. This research is:

Back 8

Qualitative

Front 9

Jim is concerned about the physical environment of his community. He proceeds to inquire if any of his neighbors have the similar concerns, only to find that he is not alone, that dozens of people also have concerns about the physical environment. What would be the first step Jim will implement if he is using participatory action research to better understand the problem(s)?

Back 9

involve stakeholders

Front 10

A research project is being designed on the effectiveness of paxil at reducing depressive symptoms. A team of researchers, including a social worker, are going to design and conduct the study. The social worker prides himself on being ethical and is not comfortable with the fact that one of the researcher members is employed at the pharmaceutical company that produces paxil. The other team members agree with this ethical dilemma, and therefore excuse this researcher from further participation in the study. What ethical safeguard is the team protecting?

Back 10

conflicts of interest

Front 11

Frank is a social work administrator who wants to conduct a study on the effects of perpetrator notification on intimate partner violence. As an ethical social worker, Frank must take into consideration the possible damage that may manifest as a resultof the research. These damages may run the gamut of psychological to physical abuse, even the possibility of being fatal. What ethical component must Frank take into consideration during the research?

Back 11

Balancing risks and gains

Front 12

Regina is interested in social work because she wants to help people function more adaptively in the community. She has worked as a practitioner for years, but over time has become more interested in conducting social work research. In her opinion, social work research can help people thrive in the social environment. According to the text, what supportive role regarding research in social agencies is she embracing?

Back 12

Promoting research that benefits the clients well-being

Front 13

Informed consent is a safeguard to help protect research participants from ethical harm. As the text notes, there are multiple elements that need to be included in an informed consent form. For research participants what does informed consent mean?

Back 13

being informed precedes giving of consent

Front 14

Ruth wants to conduct research on the needs of multiracial families. Her interests stem from first hand observations during the field placements. However, she wants to ensure that the research will truly benefit multiracial families, and therefore she plans on collaborating with multiracial families during the design process. What ethical safeguard is Ruth using?

Back 14

Involving participants in decision making

Front 15

The Tuskegee Study is an unfortunate example of unethical research. Most undergraduate and graduate programs in social work, and many other fields, cite the ethical flaws in the research. One ethical problem of the research is the psychological damage it inflicted, however, what is the most glaring ethical issue with the Tuskegee Study?

Back 15

Physical harm

Front 16

Psychological harm is an ethical issue in social and behavioral scientific research. For instance, research participants could experience emotional distress in response to questions about past trauma(s). Another factor that contributes to the problem of psychological distress is that it can be difficult to detect. According to the text, what can a researcher do to detect psychological harm?

Back 16

Carefully assess and monitor

Front 17

Social work researchers want to learn about the factors that increase academic and vocational success for people with developmental disabilities. Fortunately, they have access to data from 4 assisted living facilities that have a total of 160 residents. As experienced researchers, the social workers realize that this population will display diversity in many characteristics. According to the text, what is the term given to investigating the characteristics of a given population?

Back 17

Group-specific characteristics

Front 18

Dana promises her research participants that their participation will be confidential. She knows this is important to most individuals who are being questioned about financial matters.What is Dana ensuring by making a promise of confidentiality?

Back 18

Only the researcher will know the identities of the research participants

Front 19

Monica is concerned that her colleague, William, is not completing a comprehensive literature review. She is concerned that this might be an ethical issue because William’s focus is solely on finding information on his favorite theory, psychodynamic. What issues manifest from William having a narrow focus during the literature review?

Back 19

He is not considering all the points of view found in the literature

Front 20

Rodney is an extremely talented social work researcher who has interests in studying racial profiling. Due to his solid reputation as a researcher, Citibank has approached him to conduct research for helping the corporation maximize profits. In response, Rodney turns down Citibank’s offer. According to the text and given this vignette, why did Rodney turn down the research opportunity?

Back 20

The topic is not important to social work

Front 21

Completing a literature review can be a daunting task as there can be a substantial amount of information available on any given topic. The text provides an outline of the elements for completing literature review. What word is chosen to represent the step of integrating the information that is gathered?

Back 21

Synthesizing

Front 22

John is reviewing the literature to find information on working with divorced clients. He finds a breadth of information on causal factors and therapeutic needs of people who experience divorce. In addition, he also determines that some research designs use face-to-face interviews, some use self-report rating scales, and some use cross-sectional analysis. According to the purposes of completing a literature review and this scenario, what did John most likely gain from the literature?

Back 22

identifying research methods

Front 23

Melinda is in the process of developing the concepts for her study on empowering Hispanic clients. In particular, she wants to determine the social environmental barriers that inhibit academic and vocational achievements. Currently, she is in the process of formulating the concept of empowerment. What is a concept?

Back 23

ideas or thoughts with which we have a mental imagine