Week 13: Research Proposals & Sharing Research

SOWK 459 Fall 2019 Planning: Class 13

Location: CBC Campus - Tuesday T-336 & SWL-220
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-8:15
Week 13: 11/11/19 — 11/17/19
Reading Assignment: DeCarlo (2018) chapter 15 and 16
Topic and Content Area: Research Proposals
Assignments Due: Assignment 11: research proposal is due Friday 11/15/19 at 11:55 PM via Moodle; Assignment 02: reading quiz for chapters 15 and 16 are due at 5:30 PM prior to class via My Heritage; Assignment 14: [extra credit] selected population literature review is due Friday 11/15/19 at 11:55 PM via My Heritage
Other Important Information: N/A

Agenda

• Reminder regarding qualitative versus quantitative examples
• Practice determining a research proposal
• Your research proposal

Approaches to Research: Commonalities Between Approaches

• Authority
• Tradition
• Experience
• Beliefs & Intuition
• Scientific Method

Positivistic Research or Interpretive Research

Approaches to Research: What they Look Like

Positivistic (Quantitative)

• Objectivity
• Numbers (_quant_itative)
• Standard procedures that can be replicated
• Deductive (hypothesis testing)
• Less in-depth on many cases
• Fixed response options
• Statistical tests

Interpretive (Qualitative)

• Subjectivity (interpretation)
• Words (_qual_itative)
• Emerging procedures
• Inductive (generates hypotheses)
• More in-depth on a few cases
• Unstructured or semi-structured options
• No statistical tests

Approaches to Research: Examples in Practice

Positivistic

• To test the hypothesis that inconsistent transportation is a key reason students are absent, I will provide new cars and gas cards to half the students, then measure if those students are absent less than those without new cars and gas cards.
• If they are absent less, I have evidence to support my hypothesis.

Interpretive

• To learn about why students are absent at Mt. Adams School District, I will conduct focus groups with students and parents and identify key themes.
• Those themes become hypotheses.
• Example: Inconsistent transportation is a key reason students are absent.

Quantitative Example

Bell, N. S., Harford, T. C., Fuchs, C. H., McCarroll, J. E., & Schwartz, C. E. (2006). Spouse Abuse and Alcohol Problems Among White, African American, and Hispanic U.S. Army Soldiers. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30(10), 1721–1733. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00214.x

Methods: Cases (N = 7,996) were all active-duty male, enlisted Army spouse abusers identified in the Army’s Central Registry (ACR) who had also completed an Army Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) Survey between 1991 and 1998. Controls (N = 17,821) were matched on gender, rank, and marital and HRA status.

Quantitative Example

Findings - Tables and Charts

Qualitative Example

Walker, T. (2013). Voices from the Group: Violent Women’s Experiences of Intervention. Journal of Family Violence, 28(4), 419–426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9509-x

Abstract: This study discusses the experiences of women who participated in a program for partner-violent women by understanding their views of the treatment process, outcomes and the meanings they attached to it. This study followed a Husserlian descriptive phenomenology. Interviews were conducted with seven English women who used physical intimate partner violence in heterosexual relationships. The data were analyzed using by the method developed by Colaizzi (1978). The qualitative findings suggest the women experienced the treatment as positive and meaningful and experienced personal transformations. Deeper analysis of the data, showed that there were two key areas of benefit to the women, one involving the connections and bonds formed with other women in the group and the facilitators, and the second including the skills and strategies the women learned for managing anger and negative emotions.

Qualitative Example

Findings - Text and Narrative

“The feelings and attitudes that colored the experience of group treatment can be characterized into two main areas. Firstly, the anxiety that characterized the participants before and during the group sessions; secondly the unique relation- ships that developed between the group members. Some of the participants described feeling anxious and nervous about initially going to the program. Gill, for example, felt she was not good at being in groups and her interpersonal skills were quite poor while Julie felt it would unlock and release issues from her past which had been exceptionally difficult for her to confront. Nancy and Gill went on further to say they were extremely worried they may be ‘labeled’ or ‘branded’ in some way by the other group members, for example, as a “husband beater” or “psycho”. Many of the group members initially thought the program would help them gain insight and possibly understand what makes them violent. Mavis, for example, indicated she wanted more awareness of what caused or “triggered” her violent behavior. By developing this knowledge base and awareness several of the participants voiced that it might allow them to develop ways of controlling their violence or develop alternative ways of thinking about situations so that in the future the situation they are encountering does not end by them becoming violent with their partners. Nancy stated explicitly “…she wanted to stop it [violence to her partner] altogether, but I haven’t got a magic wand have I? I need to know more about it!””

Basic Components of the Methods Section

How to Choose Which Style

• Data Collection: How will you get your data?
• Sampling/Participant Selection: Who will you collect data from? How will you select those people?
• Data Analysis: How will you process and draw conclusions from your data?

Developing a Research Proposal: Practice Making It Happen

Directions: In your group, discuss each of the examples provided below. For each example, discuss and determine the following:

• Would the research question be better answered using quantitative or qualitative methods?
• Which data collection method would be most appropriate (e.g., gathering archival data, surveys, interviews, focus groups, a combination)?
• Which data analysis method would be most appropriate (e.g., coding, mathematical analysis such as chi-square test, correlation analysis, t-test, etc.).
• Which sampling method would you use (simple random sampling, systematic random sampling, stratified random sampling, cluster random sampling, availability sampling, purposive sampling, quota sampling, snowball sampling, etc.)?
• What would be your desired sample size?

Example 1

The researcher has just started working for the Heritage Valley Sheriff’s Department as an intern and since she’s started, there have been two officer-involved shootings that received extensive news coverage. She has a hunch that people in Heritage Valley now have less trust in the Sheriff’s Office than they do in the Heritage City Police Department, which hasn’t had an officer-involved shooting in over ten years. She’s developed the following research question: How have the recent officer-involved shootings affected citizens’ views of the Heritage Valley Sheriff’s Department?

Example 2

The researcher has just started working for the Heritage Valley Sheriff’s Department as an intern and since she’s started, there have been two officer-involved shootings that received extensive news coverage. She’s noticed that, even though the officers have gone through the required post-shooting counseling, they seem different than before and she’s not sure why. Maybe it’s the negative press, maybe it’s the way their families or coworkers are treating them, maybe it’s guilt—she has so many ideas running through her head! She’s developed the following research question: What are the experiences of Heritage Valley Sheriff’s officers who have survived an officer-involved shooting?

Example 3

The researcher is working at Heritage Valley Behavioral Health as a crisis responder for victims of sexual assault as is curious as to how undocumented immigrants experience their services She’s developed the following research question: How do undocumented victims of sexual assault experience the services provided by Heritage Valley Behavioral Health?

Example 4

The researcher is working at Heritage Valley Behavioral Health as a crisis responder for victims of sexual assault and has noticed that there seems to be a relationship between immigration status and whether or not a client returns for follow-up care. Specifically, she believes that undocumented immigrants seem to be less likely to return for aftercare than documented immigrants. She’s developed the following research question: How does immigration status affect a client’s participation in aftercare following a sexual assault?

Example 5

The researcher has just started working as a social work intern at Heritage Valley Elementary School and has been invited to be part of the leadership team. During the last meeting, everyone (the principal, vice principals, counselors, and teachers) complained that nothing they’re doing is working because the kids don’t come to school regularly. The researcher looked at the OSPI website and discovered the school does have one of the highest absence rates in the state. He believes that the parents have a great deal of influence over whether or not elementary students attend school regularly and wonder about their opinions and beliefs on attendance. He develops the following research question: What do the parents of Heritage Valley Elementary Schools students believe about attendance?

Example 6

The researcher has just started working as a social work intern at Heritage Valley Elementary School and has been invited to be part of the leadership team. During the last meeting, everyone (the principal, vice principals, counselors, and teachers) complained that nothing they’re doing is working because the kids don’t come to school regularly. The researcher looked at the OSPI website and discovered the school does have one of the highest absence rates in the state. As part of his internship, he’s been working as a success mentor for ten students. As a success mentor, he has five students assigned to him and meets with them three times a week. His goal is to build a relationship with those students, and he believes that that relationship makes those students more likely to come to school. He has developed the following research question: How does participation in the success mentor program affect student attendance?

Research Proposal Rubric: What You Get Graded On

RESEARCH PROPOSAL RUBRIC WHAT YOU GET GRADED ON Initial Emerging No research approach is identified The selected research approach is weakly presented The selected research The selected research approach is adequately approach is clearly presented and justified presented and justified Presentation of methods for data collection and/or participant selection/ sampling are missing Methods for data collection and participant selection/ sampling are weakly presented Methods for both data Methods for both data collection and collection and participant selection/ participant selection/ sampling are sampling are clearly adequately presented presented and justified and justified Methods for analyzing data are not presented Proposed methods for analyzing the data are weakly presented Proposed methods for analyzing the data are adequately presented Research Proposals SOWK 459 Fall 2019 Developed Highly Developed Proposed methods for analyzing the data are clearly presented Jacob Campbell, LICSW at Heritage University

What Is your Research About- Discussion

DISCUSSION WHAT IS YOUR RESEARCH ABOUT Research Proposals SOWK 459 Fall 2019 Jacob Campbell, LICSW at Heritage University