Research for Social Workers

Margaret Alston is Professor of Social Work at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is also Professor Emeritus at Monash University. She is the Director of the Gender, Leadership and Social Sustainability (GLASS) research unit which was established at Monash and is now located at the University of Newcastle. She has published widely in the areas of gender, social work, rural social issues and climate change. Wendy Bowles is Professor in Social Work and Human Services at Charles Sturt University. She is also co-author of Ethical Practice in Social Work: An applied approach and writes in the areas of rural social work practice and education, social work ethics and disability issues.

Part 1: Beginning social work research
1. Social work research
2. Choosing your topic area
3. Developing research questions
4. Steps in the research process

Part II: Research methods for social work
5. Sampling
6. Systematic reviews
7. Surveys and interviews
8. Assessing community needs and strengths

Part III: Evaluation
9. How do I evaluate my program?
10. Action research
11. Evidence-based practice and best practice evaluation
12. Research in post-disaster recovery and other crisis situations
13. Other methods

Part IV: Statistical analysis
14. Producing results: Qualitative research
15. Producing results: Quantitative research
16. Statistics for social workers: Analysis of a single variable
17. Statistics for social workers: Two or more variables

Part V: Bringing it all together
18. Influencing policy and practice
19. Developing a research proposal