SOWK 703 Integrative Seminar: Social Work Research II

Course Syllabus

I. Purpose/Rationale

Social workers have a responsibility to evaluate their individual practice effectiveness and the effectiveness of interventions used with clients.  This responsibility stems from both the ethical standards as set forth by the 1996 National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics for professional practice and accountability standards required by agencies and funding sources.  The purpose of this course is for students to acquire a constellation of knowledge, skills, and values related to conducting single-system evaluation research that can be used in work with individuals, families, groups, or within organizations.

II. Course Content

This course examines a number of single-system designs that can be used to evaluate practice or practice interventions with clients. The designs, which are n = 1 types of studies, can be used with any size system, e.g., individuals, couples, families, groups, or organizational(agency) units. Students in this course will learn a variety of single-system designs, the descriptive statistics that are used with such designs, graphing and plotting data,content on binomial and normal distributions, and tests of hypotheses with single-system designs.

A variety of values and ethical issues relate to single-system research. These include issues about design selection, the use of baseline and withdrawal phases, appropriate analyses, and responsible reports of results. Because values and ethics are an integral component of practice-related single-system research, these are infused throughout the course and included in almost every unit where the primary text for this course is used. In addition to the infusion of values and ethics content related to design, analysis, and reporting issues, additional content about controversial and ethical issues related to single-system designs are included in the final unit of this course.

Issues related to populations at risk, social and cultural diversity, and oppression are integrated within the course content as these relate to selecting measurements, types of single-system designs, and interventions.

III. Objectives

Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

1. Describe a variety of single-system research designs and criteria for their use in evaluation of social work practice interventions.
2. Create a computer data file, and use a computer to produce tables, graphs, plots, and descriptive statistics of single-system design data.
3. Interpret tables, graphs, plots and descriptive statistics of single-system design data.
4. Select, analyze, and use various tests of hypotheses to determine statistical significance of single-system interventions.
5. Discuss the implications of various choices regarding research designs and reporting for populations at risk, and identify choices which are consistent with the NASW Code of Ethics.

IV. Linkages to Other Courses

This course is linked horizontally and vertically to content from baccalaureate social work programs and to other courses within the curriculum. This course is linked vertically to undergraduate research courses and to SOWK 702 by furthering students’ knowledge about basic research concepts and applying these concepts to the more narrowly focused single-system types of designs. Because it focuses on the evaluation of practice, this course links vertically and builds upon knowledge of human behavior at various system levels and a range of practice interventions, which students have developed in their baccalaureate education and in SOWK 700. This course is linked vertically both to advanced year practice courses, where students learn content on advanced practice interventions and to SOWK 793. In SOWK 793, students expand their understanding of concepts from SOWK 792 and apply these concepts to group evaluation research related to agency services and policies. It also builds upon and supports the field experience, as students apply their learning in single-system design research projects associated with subsequent field placements.

V. Methods of Instruction

Instructors may use a variety of teaching methods and learning aids. These may include lectures, class discussions, speakers, small group projects, homework calculations, quizzes, or student presentations. In addition, computer lab instruction will be provided on the use of computers for entering, plotting, and analyzing data. Programs of particular relevance to single-system designs are SPSS, SingWin, and Microsoft Excel.

Any student who because of a disability may need special arrangements or accommodations to meet the requirements of this course should consult with the instructor as soon as possible. The office of Disability Services provides an array of services to meet the needs of students with disabilities, according to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. See information and guidelines provided in The Carolina Community: Student Handbook and Policy Guide.