1. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 Social Work Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches Topic 12: Reviewing Literature and Report Writing Get Online Help with the APA Manual of Style: http://www.apastyle.org/ This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program

2. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 Topic 12: Reviewing the Literature and Report Writing Why write a report? What are the goals of a literature review? Where can one find social work research literature? What does a good literature review look like? What are the advantages of using the Internet for social work research? What are the disadvantages of using the Internet for social work research? What are the keys to successful writing in social work research? What are the successful strategies for proposal writing in social work research?

3. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 Why write a report? Social work research is a communal activity that emphasizes the norm of sharing and making public information about interventive successes and failures, discussing new discoveries, and debunking myths and mistaken logic. Good research practice requires reading numerous published reports before beginning and thinking about the final report during the entire process.

4. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What are the goals of a literature review? Demonstrate familiarity with a body of knowledge. Show the path of prior research and how current project is linked. Integrate and summarize what is already known Learn from others and stimulate new ideas.

5. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 Where can one find social work research literature? Scholarly journals – those abstracted in major sources such as Social Work Abstracts or the Social Science Citation Index. Books – those containing original research or collections of research are often housed in university libraries. Dissertations – those research studies done as part of a PhD. Student’s course of study. Government Documents – those sponsored by state and federal governments usually found in specialized catalogs. Policy Reports and Presented Papers – those sponsored by special interest policy analysis centers, and those presented at professional association annual meetings.

6. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What does a good literature review look like? It communicates the purpose of the review It organizes common findings together It addresses most important ideas first It logically links statements or findings It notes discrepancies or weaknesses

7. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What are the advantages of using the Internet for Social Work Research? Advantages – it is easy, fast, and inexpensive; it is widely accessible and can be used from many locations. A near- free resource, it is always open and easy to acquire information from and store such information electronically. Data can be linked together, it has a democratizing effect as there are no restrictions on posting information. It can store and transmit more than black and white images and has almost limitless capacity.

8. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What are the disadvantages of using he Internet for Social Work Research? Disadvantages – it has no quality control, there is no peer review for content that conforms to standards of science, almost anything can be posted. What is free is limited, many excellent sources are not available or subject to special and sometimes costly subscriptions. Finding sources can be time consuming and sources can be unreliable. Ranked sites or those highly rated can be misleading. Sources may be unstable and difficult to document. For-profit information may be distorted or misleading in terms of the norms of science. Searches tend to be broad yet shallow, missing deep structural issues and questions dealing with scarcity, such as those whose voice has been stifled.

9. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What are the keys to successful Writing in Social Work Research? Know your audience. Instructors want clear, well- organized papers or reports. Students want terms defined in straight-forward reports. Scholars do not need definitions or technical explanations, they want condensed reports. Practitioners want a short summary and must be cautioned not to over- generalize. The general public wants simple language and a focus on practical implications.

10. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 What are the successful strategies for proposal writing in Social Work Research? A proposal must address an important research question in social work or a related profession. It should follow all instructions, be well written and easy to understand with clearly stated hypotheses. It should completely describe the research procedures to be used and the methods must be appropriate to the research question.

11. Copyright @ Allyn & Bacon 2003 The Social Work Research Proposal: Successful Strategies continued… The proposal must include plans for disseminating results and for evaluating whether the plan has met its objectives. The project should be well designed showing serious planning. The budget and schedule should be realistic. The proposal should include information that confirms that the research team has the necessary competence to complete the project successfully. If not, is should discuss how will such competencies be supplied.