In the present moment, the centrality of the criminal justice in how our society approaches substance use and abuse is under renewed scrutiny.  Students will independently read and watch videos assigned by the instructor and address in a critical and reflective manner on how social work practice with people who use drugs would be different in a world where drug use was not criminalized. 

This exercise guides students through reading and outlining an empirical journal article. It reviews the basic structure of empirical journal articles and prompts students to take detailed notes of each article as they read.

This exercise guides students through how to outline a non-empirical (theoretical, philosophical, practical) journal article. Students are prompted to take detailed notes as they read within a structured format.

Our textbook guides graduate social work students step by step through the research process from conceptualization to dissemination. We center cultural humility, information literacy, pragmatism, and ethics and values as core components of social work research.

Short Description:
This short guidebook provides information about selecting a research topic and research questions, searching for literature, reading and understanding scholarly writing, and writing a literature review to synthesize what is known and what remains to be learned about a social problem. For students who appreciate the availability of resources on the internet, it also provides links to additional materials. It can be used with its companion textbook, Foundations of Social Work Research by Rebecca L. Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo, or as a stand-alone guide.

Long Description:
As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of writing a literature review and determining research questions for a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, and write a literature review. The guidebook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education’s 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this guidebook using the links provided in the front matter. As an open textbook, users are free to retain copies, redistribute copies (non-commercially), revise the contents, remix it with other works, and reuse for any purpose.

Word Count: 31630

ISBN: 978-1-64816-992-2

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

For use with the exercises on outlining journal articles, this video reviews how to read and outline a journal article for use in a literature review.

This folder contains a prompt for a research proposal, scaffolded exercises to create a proposal over the course of a semester, and exemplars from a student who completed the assignments well.

Content warning: suicide, LGBTQ oppression, depression.

Short Description:
As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter. As an open textbook, users are free to retain copies, redistribute copies (non-commercially), revise the contents, remix it with other works, and reuse for any purpose.

Long Description:
Based on my years teaching research methods, this is the book I’ve wanted to write and use. It builds on the work of educators in other disciplines by including greater detail on multi-paradigmatic research methods and new content specific to the social work discipline. It is the first textbook produced by Open Social Work Education (http://www.opensocialworkeducation.com)

Word Count: 135856

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

Short Description:
As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter. As an open textbook, users are free to retain copies, redistribute copies (non-commercially), revise the contents, remix it with other works, and reuse for any purpose.

Long Description:
Based on my years teaching research methods, this is the book I’ve wanted to write and use. It builds on the work of educators in other disciplines by including greater detail on multi-paradigmatic research methods and new content specific to the social work discipline. It is the first textbook produced by Open Social Work Education (http://www.opensocialworkeducation.com)

Word Count: 137954

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This is a test module for the Social Work Distance Education conference.  The materials are drawn from the open textbook Critical Inquiry in Social Work, adapted by Matt DeCarlo.  This book was adapted from Principles of Sociological Inquiry – Qualitative and Quantitative Methods by Susan Blackstone.