Foundations of Social Work Research

Reviewed by Quentin Maynard, Assistant Professor, University of Southern Indiana on 11/30/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text covers topics that social work students need to understand to be consumers of research. The author and contributors include current real work examples to help emphasize the different topics. Integrating the chapter on Real World Research throughout the text might help emphasize to students that engaging in research is necessary to our profession, even as practitioners.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content was accurate and error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of the text was up-to-date and included information relevant to social work research. Since the main author solicited contributions from colleagues at their institution, updates and changes would likely be relatively straightforward.

Clarity rating: 5

The book seemed accessible for individuals with limited research experience. Key words were defined in the text and included in a glossary at the end of each section and the text.

Consistency rating: 5

The text was consistent in style and organization. Chapter subsections have specific learning objectives allowing students to know what will be covered in each chapter. Doing this reduces bloat and increases clarity for readers.

Modularity rating: 5

The text did not appear to be structured in a way that was overwhelming or difficult to follow.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The structure of the book was logical.

Interface rating: 5

The digital pdf and the online versions of the text were intuitive and easy to navigate. I did not notice any issues with the interface in either format.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No writing or grammar errors noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is culturally sensitive. It includes a content advisory at the beginning of each chapter which allows students to be aware of specific topics (e.g., racism, sexism, and poverty) discussed or mentioned in the chapter. While this text was adapted for students at a specific university, the authors include topics that reach much farther than that audience. The examples included cover a diverse set of people and situations.

Comments

This is a comprehensive text that allows students the opportunity to learn how to be consumers of social work research. While practice evaluation might not be the scope of this text, other than the chapter on Real World Research, including discussions about how students might apply the concepts of each chapter in social work practice. The structure of the book allows students to see the research that their professors are engaging in and might make research more accessible to social work students and practitioners

Reviewed by Matt Walsh, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Marian University on 12/30/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook covers all the aspects of research you would expect for an introduction to social work research. It uses classic examples of past research to highlight the importance of ethics in research. It also does a good job of discussing both quantitative and qualitative research as well as single system designs and program evaluation. My one critique as someone who does qualitative research is that it mentions the importance of trustworthiness and rigor in qualitative research but does not mention how a research can achieve this. However, it does go into other elements like coding and it would not be hard to provide student with supplemental materials about memoing or peer debriefing as examples and to be fair, it is hard to put everything in just one chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

All components are accurately described and well-written. The glossary at the end of each section is helpful for key words. The text appears to be error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

There are links to recent examples which highlights the real world aspect of research.

Clarity rating: 5

This text is clear in its description of research and its major components. Certain aspects like causality get a little advanced for a introduction to research book but there are good visual to aid in students' understanding of some of the more complicated concepts. (Please note that I am reviewing this with BSW students in mind, MSW students may not find some of these sections as overwhelming as I suspect my students might).

Consistency rating: 5

The book is very well structured and consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is well structured and organized as a whole and in terms of each chapter and each section with the chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics follow the order of most other foundational research books I have seen and have a logical flow to them.

Interface rating: 5

I did not find any interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I could not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There are good examples throughout that display an effort to have inclusivity, diversity, and equity in this text.

Comments

I feel like this book would provide students with a good understanding about research and could be used interchangeably with other foundational/introduction books on the market, especially if the professor is familiar with teaching research and has already established a good foundation (quizzes, lecture slides, assignments, activities, etc.).

Reviewed by Vivian Miller, Assistant Professor in Social Work, Bowling Green State University on 1/5/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text Foundations of Social Work Research covers social work research comprehensively and appropriately. Across twelve chapters, the author begins by introducing research, the science behind research and how this translates to the profession of social work, and the importance of understanding research as it applies to social work practice across all system levels. In addition to comprehensive chapters, the text contains a glossary, practice behavior indices, bibliography, derivative notes, and links by each chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This text is an accurate text that is error free. This text is extremely well-written and includes real-life examples, drawing on written contributions from social work faculty across practice settings and populations, as well as students at the masters and doctoral levels.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Much of research methods and the process is overall static, however the author does an incredible job to provide timely, relevant, and applicable examples throughout the text to ensure that this version will not be obsolete within a short period of time.

Clarity rating: 5

This text is clearly written and is easy to move through. This text contains chapters and sub-chapters. I’d recommend this book for a higher-level undergraduate program or graduate program (e.g., MSW), as there is technical terminology used. Additionally, the author provides a glossary at the back of the text, hyperlinked to each chapter on the web-version. Moreover, there are definitions highlighted at center page throughout the text.

Consistency rating: 5

This text is very consistent. Chapters build on one another and are written in clear order.

Modularity rating: 5

The use of subheadings throughout allows this text to be separated into smaller reading sections. For instance, if an instructor wanted to assign reading for “Probability sampling,” this topic can be readily extracted from the full text. A student can understand this topic area despite being separated from the text as context is provided to the reader in each sub-chapter. The use of bolded words, images, examples, and hyperlinks throughout make the text easy to separate and digest.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This text is very well-organized and moves through each section in a step-wise process building on each previous content area.

Interface rating: 5

There are no interface issues in the text. Images display well, as well as key takeaway and glossary charts throughout each chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This text is culturally sensitive. Examples across all system levels (e.g., micro, messo, and macro) are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Comments

Highly recommend this text for a Social Work research course.