Social Research Methodology Research Articles

Report on the Sessions and Round Table about Trends in Social Research Methodology

Report on the Sessions and Round Table about Trends in Social Research Methodology

"Being" Native versus "Going Native": Conducting Social Work Research as an Insider

The increasing cultural diversity among professional social workers has resulted in the need to examine critically some of the earlier notions about the epistemology, ontology, and methodology of social work research and practice. One outcome of these analyses about how and by whom research projects are carried out is the emergence of "native," "indigenous," or "insider" research in which scholars conduct studies with populations and communities and identity groups of which they are also members. This article reports the work of a native social work researcher who conducted an ethnographic study with her social identity group. The complex and inherent challenges of being both an insider with intimate knowledge of one's study population and an outsider as researcher are explored. Implications for social work research and practice with regard to native social work perspectives and methods also are discussed.

The development of an applied whole-systems research methodology in health and social service research: A Canadian and United Kingdom collaboration

This paper provides a description of a 'whole system' research model developed in Canada and adapted for use in the United Kingdom. The model tests the assumption that service utilization across the whole system is driven by a complex mix of psychosocial factors, rather than disease characteristics, of the population and, second, that proactive, integrated and communitybased packages of care are equally or more effective and less expensive than fragmented services. The methodology uses large-scale, cross-sectional surveys of a diverse range of population groups accessing health and social services. Data were collected on measures of psychosocial resource, functional ability and service utilization. The relationship between psychosocial resources, functional ability and service utilization is analysed. This paper describes the research model, the theories informing the model and the application of the model to two diverse population groups: patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and single parents on welfare. The article concludes by acknowledging that multi-agency approaches to evaluation using measures of patient need and healthcare outcomes which do not privilege the contribution of any one agency are required to test the cost-effectiveness of inter-agency working. This paper describes the early experiences of replicating this methodology in a UK context in order to test the findings for their generalizability to that context.

<a name="top"></a>Trabalho e subjetividade: cargas e sofrimento na prática da nutrição social

Este estudo tem como objeto a análise da prática de um segmento específico de trabalhadores sociais do Setor Saúde - os nutricionistas sociais - a partir do referencial teórico relativo às relações saúde/trabalho. Através de um estudo de caso exploratório, orientado por metodologia qualitativa de pesquisa social, analisaramse diversos aspectos da subjetividade do grupo concernentes ao cotidiano do seu trabalho no Setor e, em particular, às cargas e sofrimento aí presentes. Os resultados apontam um predomínio de cargas mentais e psico-afetivas sobre as cargas físicas, ao mesmo tempo em que destacam alguns determinantes do quadro identificado. Em contrapartida, indicam um nível elevado de satisfação no trabalho, aspecto que, no plano da subjetividade, se sobrepõe ao sofrimento vivenciado pelo grupo na sua prática profissional.

Simulation as a tool for teaching research methods in a criminology course*

In this paper, I describe an approach for integrating discussions of research methods into an introductory criminology course. I describe how one method—simulation—is introduced to students and how they analyze it critically while I communicate Coleman's concept of the culture of competition. This example is offered as a model for an introductory criminology course that pairs substance with methods to meet the needs of students who lack training in social science research methodology. This pedagogical approach facilitates learning by engaging students in a handson assignment, placing a methodological lesson in context, and enhancing critical evaluation skills.

Breaking the Rules: A Group Work Perspective on Focus Group Research

Marcia B. Cohen is an Associate Professor al the University of New England in the United States where she teaches graduate courses in group work, generalist social work practice and social welfare policy. Her professional interests include recipient-run services and organisations, issues relating to poverty, homelessness and mental health, and diverse aspects of social group work. Kendra J. Garrett is an Assistant Professor at the University of St Thomas in the United States where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in generalist social work practice, group work and research. Her professional interests include social work ethics, school social work, research methodology and social work practice with groups. SUMMARY Focus groups, originally used in fields such as marketing and consumer research, are rapidly gaining popularity as a research methodology in the social sciences. It is interesting to note that most of the scholarly work on focus groups continues to come from business rather than the social sciences. Few researchers have discussed the differing purposes and goals in social science and consumer research (Ospina, 1994; Moore, 19%). Furthermore, the literature on focus group research rarely utilizes social work knowledge of group dynamics or group facilitation skills. Rather, the literature on focus groups tends to give guidelines for leading groups, telling focus group facilitators what to do and what not to do in leading such groups. We believe that these guidelines, while generally helpful, can lead to rigidity on the part of focus group leaders. We suggest that, in social work research, focus group facilitators should use their knowledge of group dynamics and the values of individualization and empathy to modify focus group rules where appropriate. This paper describes part of a qualitative study of client/worker relationships in residential mental health settings. During the course of this research, group work principles came into conflict, at limes, with recommended guidelines for focus group leaders. The paper illustrates how insights gleaned from group work theory and practice can enable a researcher to break focus group rules responsibly, thus bringing greater depth to the data gathered and allowing the researcher to be more sensitive to the needs of focus group participants.

Methodologist's Toolchest for Windows. Edward Brent , Alan ThompsonSRM Database of Social Research Methodology. SRM-Documentation Centre

<i>Methodologist's Toolchest for Windows</i>. Edward Brent , Alan Thompson<i>SRM Database of Social Research Methodology</i>. SRM-Documentation Centre

Social Skills Interventions with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems: A Quantitative Synthesis of Single-Subject Research

Sixty-four single-subject studies examining the effectiveness of social skills interventions with students with emotional or behavioral problems were included in this synthesis. The results of quantitative synthesis procedures using percentage of nonoverlapping data suggest that social skills interventions have limited empirical support for their overall effectiveness. Implications for future social skills research and quantitative analysis methodology are discussed.

The Causes of Human Behavior; Implications for Theory and Method in the Social Sciences

Acknowledging that though the disciplines are supposed to be cumulative, there is little in the way of accumulated, general theory, this work opens a dialogue about the appropriate means and ends of social research based in analysis of fundamental issues.This book examines two root issues in the methodology of explanatory social research--the meaning of the idea of causation in social science and the question of the physiological mechanism that generates intentional behavior. Conclusions on these as well as on several derived problems emerge through the analysis. Among the latter, the analysis shows that neither universal nor probabilistic laws governing human behavior are possible, even within the positivist or empiricist traditions in which laws are a central feature. Instead, the analysis reveals a more modest view of what an explanatory social theory can be and do. In this view, the kind of theory that can be produced is basically the same in form and content across quantitative and qualitative research approaches, and similarly across different disciplines. The two streams of analysis are combined with resulting implications for large-sample, small-sample, and case study research design as well as for laws and theory.Written for the practicing empirical researcher in political science and organization theory, whether quantitative or qualitative, the major issuesand findings are meant to hold identically, however, for history, sociology, and other social science disciplines.Lawrence B. Mohr is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Michigan.

Feminist Methodology in Social Movements Research

Feminist social scientists have developed distinctive principles of inquiry that depart from the positivist ideal of the detached, value-free scientist and are consistent with the feminist goal of rendering women's experiences visible and challenging gender inequality. In this article, I show how my research on the postpartum depression self-help movement illustrates five features of feminist methodology: a gender perspective, accentuation of women's experiences, reflexivity, participatory methods, and social action. My intent is to demonstrate how attention to the epistemological and methodological questions posed by feminist researchers produces new standards of evidence that allow us to recognize the gendering of social movement processes and theory.

Gerard Noiriel's Pragmatic Quest for Paradigms

Historians have always disagreed about the causes and consequences of past events, but Gerard Noiriel argues in his important recent book that they now differ even more profoundly in their views of the social and intellectual objectives of their professional lives.' Although many historians might welcome these increasingly diverse social identities and research methodologies as signs of professional vitality, Noiriel worries that fragmentation and theoretical critiques are threatening both the social and the intellectual coherence of the contemporary historical profession. His book describes this historical and also proposes a new conception of historical work that could sustain the unified professional identity that he thinks is needed in an era of stagnating financial support and postmodern epistemological skepticism. Noiriel's descriptions of the crisis as well as his desire for pragmatic solutions resemble comparable professional commentaries among American historians, and one of the striking features of his book emerges in his use of American examples to explain current dangers and his use of American philosophical traditions to construct a new professional paradigm. Sur la ?rise de l'histoire is mostly about France, but the cross-cultural themes suggest that the among historians and the possible responses to it grow out of an international culture of historians and historical work. Like many historians in Europe and America, Noiriel wants to reconstruct a unifying professional paradigm while acknowledging the force of criticisms that have undermined powerful earlier beliefs in scientific history. He thus rec-

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Learning Through Interaction: Technology and Children with Multiple Disabilities. Edited by Nick Bozic and Heather Murdoch.Psychology Discourse Practice: From Regulation to Resistance. By Erica Burman, Gill Aitken, Pam Alldred, Robin Allwood, Tom Billington, Brenda Goldberg, Angel Gordo López, Colleen Heenan, Deb Marks and Sam Warner.Mathematics Education: Models and Processes. By Lyn D. English and Graeme S. Halford.Actualizing Talent. A Lifelong Challenge. Edited by Joan Freeman, Pieter Span and Harald Wagner.Teaching our Children to Read: The Role of Skills in a Comprehensive Reading Program. By Bill Honig.The Psychology Research Handbook: A Guide for Graduate Students and Research Assistants in Psychology. By Frederick T. L. Leong and James T. Austin.Sage Publications/SRM Database of Social Research Methodology on CD‐ROM.The Balance Model of Dyslexia: Theoretical and Clinical Progress. Edited by R. Licht and G. Spyer.School for Women. By Jane Miller.Understanding Changes in Time: The Development of Diachronic Thinking in 7 to 12 Year‐old Children. By Jacques Montangero.Stress and Emotion: Anxiety, Anger and Curiosity. Volume 17. Edited by Charles D. Spielberger and Irwin G. Sarason.Autism: An Inside‐Out Approach. By Donna Williams.

Bridging the Macro and Micro Levels in Outcome Evaluation

In a symbiosis between social research methodology, statistics and information technology, a strategy can be found for evaluation in large systems and organizations. The paper outlines a multilevel design concept for studies of the outcome from interventions on different levels, including the whole system, its parts, and the individuals in it. For the case of the evaluation of the outcome of cuts in funding of schools, the presentation illustrates the necessity to collect data directly from teachers and students themselves. Methodological advancements in psychometrics and statistics are presented and illustrated.

The Herbert Thesis Revisited: A Critical Commentary

Twenty Years after Adam W. Herbert offered an insightful analysis of role demands and pressures experienced and perceived by minority public administrators, Murray, Terry, Washington, and Keller (1994) set out to revisit and test Herberes thesis. Their stated purpose is to empirically examine: Whether Herbert's theory was still applicable given the myriad of technological, political, and social changes that have occurred in the United States over the past 20 years. More specifically, we were interested in how minority public administrators view their role in relation to the demands and dilemmas described by Herbert. In other words, have the perceptions of minority public administrators changed over the past 20 years or have they remained relatively the same (Murray et al., 1994, 410). For all those interested in the propositions set forth or inferred from Herbert's work, a 20-year retrospective is most welcome. It should allow us to explore the continued applicability of his work and assess it in light of what we have since learned. However, the study of Murray and his associates contains several weaknesses that limit a sound reassessment. First, its stated purpose is to revisit Herbert's thesis to determine whether the perceptions of minority administrators have changed. However, this is misleading because Herbert offers a theoretical discussion not a test. Thus, only the applicability of Herbert's theory, not change, can be tested. Second, the methodology and reporting of findings on the most critical area (i.e., the testing of Herbert's role determinants model) includes no tables, no statistical analysis beyond frequency and mean response data on selected items and, through errors of omission, raises more questions than are answered. For example, the representativeness of the sample appears to be assumed, but it is not discussed, despite apparent errors. And, third, because the 51-item survey questionnaire itself is not presented in whole or in part, readers are largely to accept that the instrument validly measures and tests Herbert's model. This is of particular concern given the study interpretation of findings and its confidence in conclusions. On several points the study appears to misinterpret Herbert's propositions such that the validity of the instrument for the testing of Herbert's work is left open to question. Beyond simple criticism of the methodology, the more important question here is, what is missed by this treatment? First, the study may not advance Herbert's work as it does not explore its underpinnings in administrative and/or governmental theory, nor in the other areas of the social sciences necessary for clarifying its value to the study and practice of public administration. Second, it may not advance the application of social science research methodology necessary for the empirical investigation of such critical constructs as role, role expectations, and role conflict as attributed to minority administrators by Herbert. In the final analysis, the study may overlook the greater value of his work. That is, Herbert's contribution is not the offering of a definitive framework for retesting. Rather, the questions he raises and his framing of the discussion has, over the past 20 years, spurred various theoretical and empirical works. Others have sought to build on his work and its explicit and implicit propositions. In this sense, the study may undervalue his work. The Role Determinants Model In 1974 Herbert offered an analysis of the role demands and dilemmas influencing the role behavior of minority administrators. He identifies the conflicting expectations that may be perceived or experienced by minority administrators as they attempt to reconcile: (1) system demands; (2) community accountability; (3) colleague pressures; (4) personal commitment to community; (5) personal ambition; and (6) traditional roles.(1) While these various role demands are not unique to minority administrators, he argues that, in combination, they are particularly relevant to the conditions in which minority public administrators find themselves. …

Structural equation modeling and the latent linearity hypothesis in social and behavioral research

The issue of sensitivity of the structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology to violations of the underlying hypothesis of linear latent relationships is the focus of this paper. The identity of overall goodness-of-fit indices of an initially considered linear latent pattern model and of an equivalent model not making this assumption exemplifies the lack of routinely available global means within the methodology to evaluate the linearity assumption. It is next focused on the sensitivity of SEM to violations of presumed linearity for a general, nonlinear pattern of true relationship. The results of a simulation study are then presented which demonstrate that latent correlations and percentage explained variance as well as parameter standard errors and model residuals can provide critical information about violation of latent linearity, and should therefore also be focused on when examining departures from linear relationships at the latent level in applications of the SEM methodology in social and behavioral research.

社会問題研究の一つの方法

This paper is a critical examination of the ‘Social Constructionist’ social problem research methodology, which seeks to overcome the intrusion of subjectivity into social research and ensure research objectivity. The school's position-and that of many of its critics'-is focused on identification of, and the approach to be used in the study of, social problems as well as defining the research boundaries of a sociology of social problems. In critical response, this paper will argue from H. Sacks's insight of Membership Categorization Devices which convincingly demonstrates the essential quality of categories for members' sense making of the world-for good, for bad, or for indifferent. Based on this, we propose an alternative approach to the study of social problems.

Social work research: the state of the art (or science)

ABSTRACTThis paper provides a critical review of current trends within social work research methodology. The paper identifies three influential contemporary perspectives in social work research: empirical practice, pragmatism and participatory/critical research. It identifies the different approaches taken by each perspective to what should be researched, how it should be researched, and how truth claims should be evaluated. By exploring the linkages between methodology, social work and wider social and political changes, the paper argues that research is an intensely political rather than a neutral activity.

Developing Critical Evaluation

Drawing upon the experience of the Social Welfare Research Unit in undertaking evaluations with public-sector organizations and projects, this paper contributes to the development of a critical methodology for evaluation. The Unit undertakes research and evaluation to promote social welfare. Researching for change for the better involves us in critical social research methodologies, engaging in research and evaluation to contribute to changing policies and practices. The research program of the Unit is eclectic in its methods, analysing data both quantitatively and qualitatively, drawing upon feminist methodologies and upon the contribution to research methodology made by new social movements such as disability research (e.g. Oliver, I992). This paper is concerned with evaluation methodology. Its purpose is to explore ways in which evaluation may be developed as critical, informed by critical social research methodologies and by postmodernist approaches to discourse and values.

Social work research: Debating the boundaries

Abstract In this article those characteristics of research which make the research distinctively ‘social work research’ are discussed. In distinguishing social work research from sociological, psychological or anthropological research the question is also raised concerning what might be social work's particular contribution to research in the human sciences. In so doing, I discuss those aspects of the social work endeavour which constitute its particular orientation, namely, a focus on the individual in relation to the social, a commitment to social change, and a concern with the poor and the oppressed. I argue that these three foci express particular values and must remain at the centre of social work research epistemology and methodology. In the second half of the article six factors which might act as guidelines to the framing of social work research practices are discussed.

Power and Politics in Social Research Methodology

Power and Politics in Social Research Methodology