Research Methods for Social Work (Empowerment Series)

by Allen Rubin

recognizes that we all have predilections and biases that can distort how we look f...

emphasizes the pursuit of objectivity in the way we seek and...

None of us may ever be purely objective, no matter how strongly committed we are to the scientific method. No matter how scientifically pristine their research may be, researchers want to discover something important—that is, to have findings that will make a significant contribution to imp...

recognizing that they may have these biases, they must find ways to gather observations that are not in...

example, you devise a new intervention for improving the self-esteem of traumatized children. Naturally, you will be biased in wanting to observe improvements in the selfesteem of the children receiving your intervention. It’s okay to have that bias and still scientific...

instead of relying exclusively on your clinical impressions, you would devise an observation procedure that was not influenced by your own biases. Perhaps you would ask colleagues who didn’t know about your intervention or the nature of your inquiry to interview the children and rate their self-esteem. Or perhaps you would administer an existing paper-and-pencil test of self-esteem that social scientists regard as valid. Although neither alternativ...

requires transparency by researchers in reporting the details of how their studies have been conducted. All procedural details should be specified so that others can see the basis for the conclusions that were reached, assess whether overgeneralization and selective observation were truly avoided, and judge whether the conclusion...

we all discover things through our personal experiences from birth on and from the agreed-on kno...

We also learn that such patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic in nature: The effects occur more often when the causes occur than...

causality and probability

important secondhand way to attempt to learn things is through tradition.

We may test a few of these “truths” on our own, but we simply accept the g...

Tradition, in this sense of the term, has clear advantages for human inquiry. By accepting what everybody knows, you are spared the overwhelming task of starting from scratch in your search for regularities and understanding. Knowledge is cumulative, and an inherited body of information and understanding is the jumping-off point for the development of more knowledge. We often...

tradition may be detrimental to human inquiry. If you seek a fresh and different understanding of something that everybody already understands and has alw...

will probably never occur to you to seek a different understanding of something that is alrea...

When you enter your first job as a professional social worker, you may learn about your agency’s prefe...

Chances are you will feel good about receiving instructions about “how we do things in this agency.” You might be anxious about beginning to work with real cases and might be relieved that you won’t have to choose bet...

In conforming to agency traditions, you might feel that you have a head start, benefiting from the accumulated practice wisdom of previous generations o...

downside of conforming to traditional practice wisdom is that you can become...

may never think to look for evidence that the traditional...

catching or eating a delicious trout,1 and it will help you remember the following key features: T Tentative: Everything we think we know today is open to question and subject to reassessment, modification, or refutation. R Replication: Even the best studies are open to question and need to be replicated. O Observation: Knowledge is grounded in orderly and comprehensive observations. U Unbiased: Observations should be unbiased. T Transparency: All proc...

are not as effective as everyone believes or for evidence concerning whether alternative approaches are more effective.

you may find that agency traditions make your colleagues unreceptive to the new information.

new knowledge appears e...

acceptance of these new acquisitions will depend on the status...

example, you’re more likely to believe the epidemiologist who declares that the common cold can be transmitted through kissing than to believ...

authority can both assist and hinder h...

Inquiry is hindered when we depend on the authority of experts speaking outside t...

advertising industry plays heavily on this misuse of authority by having popular athletes discuss the nutritional value of breakfast cereals or movie actor...

better to trust the judgment of the person who has special training, expertise, and credentials in the matter, especially in the face of contr...

inquiry can be greatly hindered by the legitimate authority who errs within his or h...

Biologists, after all, can and do make mistakes in the field of biology. Biological knowledge changes over time....

knowledge accepted on the authority of legitimate and highly regarded experts can be inco...

important that social work practitioners be open to new discoveries that might challenge the cherished beliefs of their respected...

keep an open mind about the new knowledge that displaces the old. It, too, may be flawed, no matter h...

we try to remain objective and open to new discoveries, no matter how much they may conflict with the traditional...

try not to close our minds to new ideas that might conflict with trad...

tradition and authority, then, are twoedged swords in the search for knowledge about the world. They provide us with a starting point for our own inquiry. But they may also lead us to start at...

common sense is often cited as another way to know ...

Common sense can imply logical reasoning, such as when we reason that it makes no sense to think that rainbows cause rainfall since rainbows appear only after the rain starts fallin...

Common sense can also imply widely shared beliefs based on tradition and authority. The problem with this sort of common sense is tha...

common sense might seem rational and accurate, it is an insufficient and highly risky alternative to scie...

Much of what we know about the world is learned from...

We did not have to conduct a scientific study to know about the attack or have strong feelings about it.

Neither did we need tradition or authority. We did not have to experience the attack firsthand (although we really did experience it—and probably were at least somewhat traumatized—by what we saw and heard on our television sets).

we can learn a lot from the popular media, we can also b...

most journalists might strive for accuracy and objectivity, they are still influenced by thei...

Some also might seek out the most sensational aspects of events and then report them in a biased manner to garner reader inte...

(ratings affect pr...

nature of their business can impede t...