SOWK 546: The Science of Social Work: Appraising Research

Bringing key developments and debates together in a single volume, this book provides an authoritative guide for students and practitioners embarking on qualitative research in social work and related fields.  Frequently illustrated with contemporary and classic case examples from the authors' own empirical research and from international published work, and with self-directed learning tasks, the book provides insight into the difficulties and complexities of carrying out research, as well as sharing 'success' stories from the field. Shaw and Holland have long experience of writing for practitioners and students and in making complex concepts accessible and readable, making this an ideal text for those engaging in qualitative social work research at any level.  Ian Shaw is a Professor of Social Work at the University of York and at the University of Aalborg. Sally Holland is a Reader in Social Work at the School of Social Sciences in Cardiff University.

Research design, with its statistical underpinnings, can be especially daunting for students and novice researchers. At its heart, research design might be described simply as a formalized approach toward problem solving, thinking, and acquiring knowledge, the success of which depends upon clearly defined objectives and appropriate choice of statistical design and analysis to meet those objectives. Our three-volume Encyclopedia of Research Design elucidates how one makes decisions about research design, interprets data and draws valid inferences, undertakes research projects in an ethical manner, and evaluates experimental design strategies and results. From A-to-Z, this work covers the spectrum of research design strategies and topics including, among other things: fundamental research design principles, ethics in the research process, quantitative versus qualitative and mixed-method designs, completely randomized designs, multiple comparison tests, diagnosing agreement between data and models, fundamental assumptions in analysis of variance, factorial treatment designs, complete and incomplete block designs, Latin square and related designs, hierarchical designs, response surface designs, split-plot designs, repeated measures designs, crossover designs, analysis of covariance, statistical software packages, and much more.

In the field of social work, qualitative research is starting to gain more prominence as are mixed methods and various issues regarding race, ethnicity and gender. These changes in the field are reflected and updated in The Handbook of Soical Work Research Methods, Second Edition. This text contains meta analysis, designs to evaluate treatment and provides the support to help students harness the power of the Internet. This handbook brings together leading scholars in research methods in social work.