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 research2. Choosing your topic area3. Developing research questions4. Steps in the research processPart II: Research methods for social work5. Sampling6. Systematic reviews7. Surveys and interviews8. Assessing community needs and strengthsPart III: Evaluation 9. How do I evaluate my program?10. Action research11. Evidence-based practice and best practice evaluation12. Research in post-disaster recovery and other crisis situations13. Other methodsPart IV: Statistical analysis 14. Producing results: Qualitative research15. Producing results: Quantitative research16. Statistics for social workers: Analysis of a single variable17. Statistics for social workers: Two or more variablesPart V: Bringing it all together 18. Influencing policy and practice19. Developing a research proposal