Teaching Inferential Statistics to Social Work Students: A Decision-making Flow Chart

Abstract

Given that social work research courses are typically built on modernist principles of teaching and content, it is not surprising that the majority of social work students dread these courses. Few attempts have been made to better align the modernist content of quantitative research with the postmodern philosophy and values inherent in current social work. This article presents a decision-making flow chart in conjunction with a problem-based learning framework so that students can be self-directed in the process of determining which inferential statistic to use when given a case example.