CSWRK 5030 Research Evidence for the Helping Professions
The purpose of this foundation course is for students to develop skills in the identification, analysis, and application of empirical evidence to promote resilience in social work practice. The course introduces students to formal and informal research methods to evaluate client outcomes in their individual practice and program outcomes with a critical awareness of the implications of person-in-environment factors such as race, class, gender and other social influences. Students will develop research questions that relate to basic research concepts such as the relationship between research needs and research design, internal and external validity, triangulation, and basic quantitative and qualitative research processes so that they may critique the existing evidence for practice. Students also critically examine available social work practice/research ‘evidence’ for biases and relevance for the diverse array of clients, populations, and contexts with which they work.