Looking Ahead
In Week 4, you will submit a paper covering Parts 1, 3, 4, and 5 from the outline. This assignment will require you to synthesize what you have learned in the first 3 weeks with what you learn in Week 4. You DO NOT need to write an abstract at this stage. These sections constitute the introduction and literature review in a completed research study. This same material also constitutes a beginning research plan or proposal.
Focusing Research Questions and Developing Hypotheses
One of the challenges in writing research questions is that they must be at once general enough to make the study feasible but narrow enough in order to focus the researcher on making choices that will underpin a successful research study. Implementing literature reviews is one way that a researcher can, at once, focus his or her research question and get a sense of what kind of research has already been conducted.
This week you consider the purpose and function of literature reviews. You also consider the consequences of not conducting a literature review and thus being unaware of pre-existing literature on the topic that you are researching.
Learning Objectives
Learning Resources
Note:
To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials
section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018).
Research methods for social workers
(8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Review Chapter 4, “Conducting the Literature Review and Developing Research Hypothesis” (pp. 71-99)
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. M. (Eds.). (2014).
Social work case studies: Foundation year
. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling Social Work Research: Using Multiple Assessments
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014).
Sessions: Case histories
. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
The Logan Family
Required Media
Laureate Education Producer). (2013).
Logan family
(Episode 1) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling
Kathleen is a 37-year-old, Caucasian female of Irish descent, and her partner, Lisa, is a 38-year-old, Caucasian female with a Hungarian ethnic background. Kathleen reports that she has a long family history of substance use but has never used alcohol or drugs herself. She does not have a criminal history and utilized counseling services 10 years ago for family issues regarding her father’s alcohol use. Kathleen works as a nurse in a local hospital on the cardiac floor where she has been employed for 8 years.
Lisa reports experimenting with substances during college. She currently drinks wine on occasion. Lisa does not have a criminal history. Lisa has had ...
Transparency, Recognition and the role of eSealing - Ildiko Mazar and Koen No...
Looking AheadIn Week 4, you will submit a paper covering Par
1. Looking Ahead
In Week 4, you will submit a paper covering Parts 1, 3, 4, and 5
from the outline. This assignment will require you to synthesize
what you have learned in the first 3 weeks with what you learn
in Week 4. You DO NOT need to write an abstract at this stage.
These sections constitute the introduction and literature review
in a completed research study. This same material also
constitutes a beginning research plan or proposal.
Focusing Research Questions and Developing Hypotheses
One of the challenges in writing research questions is that they
must be at once general enough to make the study feasible but
narrow enough in order to focus the researcher on making
choices that will underpin a successful research study.
Implementing literature reviews is one way that a researcher
can, at once, focus his or her research question and get a sense
of what kind of research has already been conducted.
This week you consider the purpose and function of literature
reviews. You also consider the consequences of not conducting
a literature review and thus being unaware of pre-existing
literature on the topic that you are researching.
Learning Objectives
Learning Resources
2. Note:
To access this week’s required library resources, please click on
the link to the Course Readings List, found in the
Course Materials
section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018).
Research methods for social workers
(8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Review Chapter 4, “Conducting the Literature Review and
Developing Research Hypothesis” (pp. 71-99)
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. M. (Eds.). (2014).
Social work case studies: Foundation year
. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities
Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling Social Work
Research: Using Multiple Assessments
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014).
Sessions: Case histories
. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities
Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
The Logan Family
Required Media
3. Laureate Education Producer). (2013).
Logan family
(Episode 1) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu
Social Work Research: Couples Counseling
Kathleen is a 37-year-old, Caucasian female of Irish descent,
and her partner, Lisa, is a 38-year-old, Caucasian female with a
Hungarian ethnic background. Kathleen reports that she has a
long family history of substance use but has never used alcohol
or drugs herself. She does not have a criminal history and
utilized counseling services 10 years ago for family issues
regarding her father’s alcohol use. Kathleen works as a nurse in
a local hospital on the cardiac floor where she has been
employed for 8 years.
Lisa reports experimenting with substances during college. She
currently drinks wine on occasion. Lisa does not have a criminal
history. Lisa has had many jobs and stated that she was unable
to find her niche until recently when she took out a loan and
opened a small Hungarian restaurant serving her grandmother’s
recipes. Her restaurant has been open 1 year. Lisa reports that
while she enjoys the work and has found her niche, she must
work constantly to be successful, and she is worried the
business might fail.
Kathleen and Lisa have been together for over 15 years. They
have a close group of friends and see their families on major
holidays. They came to outpatient counseling at a nonprofit
agency to examine the possibility of starting a family together.
They were both feeling ambivalent about it, and it had been the
source of more than a few arguments, so they decided to come
to counseling to address their concerns in a more productive
4. way. They said they chose this agency because it was
recognized as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
friendly. They asked about my sexual orientation and my history
because they were concerned about my level of experience
working with the issues they were presenting.
I thanked Kathleen and Lisa for sharing this concern, and I
informed them of various programs I had worked in within the
agency, including supportive services for LGBT youth in
schools and in the community. I also shared our agency
philosophy and mission, which includes outcome measures and
engaging clients in feedback to evaluate practice.
I explained the tools we used to measure outcomes. The first
form measures how each of them are feeling with regard to their
life and current circumstances. There are four different scales to
measure aspects of their lives, such as social, family, emotional
health, etc. I also provided the chart on which I score the scales
and track progress. I explained that the purpose was to see
where they began to demonstrate progress with the work we
were doing.
The second form measures how well I am providing treatment. I
demonstrated the four scales that measure if the client feels
heard and understood and if we addressed in session what they
wanted to. I explained that this should address their concern
about my ability to assist them. Because we would be evaluating
both how they felt and how the sessions were going each week,
we could make adjustments on treatment and delivery style.
I informed Kathleen and Lisa that both measurement tools were
obtained from the National Registry of Evidence-Based
Programs and Practices. We use these tools in the agency to
assess the experience of the client and whether the goals of
treatment are being achieved. Lisa questioned how the
information would be used, and I told them that this information
5. would be shared with them weekly and would only be in their
chart.
Lisa and Kathleen came every week for 15 weeks. In that time,
we charted each week using both tools. The chart demonstrated
significant progress and then began to level off. During that
time, Kathleen and Lisa worked on effective communication
strategies to discuss the presenting issues. The arguments had
become less frequent and shorter in duration as both Kathleen
and Lisa learned to appreciate the other’s perspective. They
expressed that some members of their families of origin were
not supportive of their sexual orientation, and this was the main
challenge for them as a couple. They were able to identify their
strengths and not let family or societal opinions inform how
they wanted to live. They were able to see that this was their
decision.
During treatment there were times when the measurement tool
indicated that they felt we were not connecting on certain
issues. As I could pinpoint when that was and the topic we
discussed, we were able to address it in the next session to
clarify and get back on track.
Social Work Research: Using Multiple Assessments
Lucille is a 68-year-old, Caucasian female. Her husband of 43
years passed away 4 years ago after a long and debilitating
illness during which Lucille was his primary caregiver. During
their marriage, he worked at the sanitation department, and she
was a homemaker. She continues to live in the house where she
and her husband raised their three children. Lucille receives a
limited income of approximately $2,100/month from her
husband’s retirement pension and Social Security; she owns her
home and has no major outstanding debts. She receives
6. Medicare to cover her major medical expenses and a small
supplemental health plan to cover any outstanding medical
costs. Her physical health is good, and she has not had any
major illnesses or surgeries, although she has not had a
complete physical in over two years. Her favorite hobbies are
gardening and cooking. Lucille has two sons and one daughter,
each living away from home with their own families. Lucille’s
daughter and one son reside in the local area; her other son lives
in another state.
Lucille’s major concern is about her daughter, Alice (33), who
has battled substance abuse and alcoholism since adolescence.
At present, Alice is not employed and has had several
encounters with law enforcement for drug possession and intent
to sell illegal substances. Alice has admitted that she has used
cocaine as well as other substances in the past. She has made
several attempts to go into drug rehabilitation, but she has never
completed a program. Her siblings have essentially disowned
her. Alice has three children, Michael (6), Rachael (4), and
Randy (18 months), who was recently diagnosed with fetal
alcohol effects (FAE). Lucille is not certain who is the father of
her grandchildren; it is a subject Alice refuses to discuss. Alice
has repeatedly left her children alone for several hours in their
tiny apartment, and once she was gone for several days. Child
Welfare has interceded, but Alice continues to have custody of
her children. Whenever Lucille visits her daughter and
grandchildren, the living conditions are filthy, there is little
food in the house, and there is talk of constant “visitors” to the
house well into the night. Because of Alice’s instability, Lucille
has taken physical custody of her grandchildren without any
redress from Alice. Lucille’s family members are not aware of
the stress Lucille is feeling about possibly having to spend the
rest of her life raising her grandchildren, including one with a
disability. This causes Lucille to often feel “down in the
dumps,” resulting in overeating because, as she stated, “comfort
food makes me feel better.” Within 2 months, she gained 15
7. pounds.
Lucille heard about a counseling program at the local
community center for grandparents raising grandchildren. The
program provides support, group meetings, parenting classes,
individual counseling sessions with a social worker, and
referrals for other supporting services. At first, Lucille was
skeptical about attending the program. She was embarrassed to
tell others about her family circumstances; she was particularly
fearful that others would blame her for her daughter’s lifestyle
and wonder how she could now care for her grandchildren if she
could not raise her daughter properly. She already blamed
herself for her daughter’s actions, which made her bouts of
depression more frequent and difficult to overcome.
Eventually, Lucille came to the community center after some
encouragement from her neighbor. Lucille is quite concerned
about the fate of her daughter. Fearing the worst, she is
constantly worried she will get a late night phone call that her
daughter was found dead somewhere from a drug overdose or
something related to her drug life. She once believed caring for
her grandchildren was a temporary arrangement but more
recently believes this will become permanent. Although Lucille
loves her grandchildren, she is afraid that she will have to raise
them alone and is angry with her daughter for putting her in this
position. She does not know if she can do it at her age. Her
youngest grandchild will need many resources over the years,
and she does not even know where to begin to access them. She
admits feeling overwhelmed and depressed frequently, but she
does not have a wide circle of family or friends to talk to about
her concerns. She spoke to her church minister once about her
family circumstances but did not feel she got much out of it.
“He just did not seem to understand what I was talking about,”
she stated, “so I never went back.” She stated she was feeling
unable to manage her family needs and that “I just want to get
control of the ship again.”
8. After a thorough psychological assessment, the agency
psychiatrist determined that medication was not necessary for
her bouts of depression. After our initial talk, I administered a
series of baseline measures on her emotional and physical
functioning, specifically the Center for Epidemiologic Studies—
Depressed Mood Scale (CES-D), Family Resource Scale, Family
Support Scale, and the Medical Outcome Survey, SF-12v2. Our
plan is to administer these measures at 3-month intervals for 1
year to assess her emotional functioning and social progress.
Using a strengths-based approach to problem solving, I
collaborated with Lucille on a biweekly basis to define personal
goals that focused on helping her address feelings of depression
and broaden her support network for managing family
challenges. She attended monthly support group meetings with
other grandparents who discussed their challenges and
celebrated their triumphs. Lucille never missed a meeting. I
made two home visits per month to observe Lucille in her home
environment. Our individual sessions included assessing
strengths, defining/redefining needs, targeting problems and
goals, identifying resources to address needs, and monitoring
goal progress. A nutritionist also conducted two home visits to
help her with food options for herself and her grandchildren.
Lucille is an excellent cook, and the nutritionist showed her
how to reduce calories without sacrificing taste. Within four
weeks, Lucille was able to make small changes in her everyday
life. She began walking her grandchildren to the local park for
playtime, preparing her front yard for spring flowers, and
preparing Sunday dinners to reengage her family. She also
visited her family physician and learned that she has high blood
pressure, which can be controlled with proper diet and exercise,
and she has asked her son and daughter-in-law for respite once
per month so she can have some “down time.”
After 6 months, I facilitated a family group conference with
Lucille and her sons and their wives. The focus of the meeting
9. was to plan how the family would support Lucille as the
primary caregiver for her grandchildren and to define the role
other family members would play in assisting in raising Alice’s
children. There was family agreement that it was in the
children’s best interest for Lucille to seek legal counsel so she
could establish temporary custody for her grandchildren, as well
as learn the options for a more permanent relationship, such as
adoption. She also applied for disability benefits for her
youngest grandchild. Later, the family would meet to conduct
permanency planning for the grandchildren. After 9 months,
Lucille’s emotional health improved, and we decided to suspend
individual counseling, but she continues to participate in the
weekly support group meetings where she can have her blood
pressure checked by the program nurse. After 12 months in the
program, Lucille has a positive perception of her support
network, including her family; familiarity with community
resources and how to access them; a positive emotional state;
and she has lost 10 pounds and her blood pressure is normal.
Lucille has even initiated a grandparent mentoring service for
new custodial grandparents who want to partner with a
“seasoned” grandparent caregiver. Last week, Lucille found out
her daughter Alice, who she has not seen in nearly a year, is 6
months pregnant.
The Logan Family
E
boni Logan is a 16-year-old biracial African
American/Caucasian female in 11th grade. She is an honors
student, has been taking Advanced Placement courses, and runs
track. Eboni plans to go to college and major in nursing. She is
also active in choir and is a member of the National Honor
Society and the student council. For the last 6 months, Eboni
has been working 10 hours a week at a fast food restaurant. She
10. recently passed her driver’s test and has received her license.
Eboni states that she believes in God, but she and her mother do
not belong to any organized religion. Her father attends a
Catholic church regularly and takes Eboni with him on the
weekends that she visits him.
Eboni does not smoke and denies any regular alcohol or drug
usage. She does admit to occasionally drinking when she is at
parties with her friends, but denies ever being drunk. There is
no criminal history. She has had no major health problems.
Eboni has been dating Darian for the past 4 months. He is a 17-
year-old African American male. According to Eboni, Darian is
also on the track team and does well in school. He is a B student
and would like to go to college, possibly for something
computer related. Darian works at a grocery store 10–15 hours a
week. He is healthy and has no criminal issues. Darian also
denies smoking or regular alcohol or drug usage. He has been
drunk a few times, but Eboni reports that he does not think it is
a problem. Eboni and Darian became sexually active soon after
they started dating, and they were using withdrawal for birth
control.
Eboni’s mother, Darlene, is 34 years old and also biracial
African American/Caucasian. She works as an administrative
assistant for a local manufacturing company. Eboni has lived
with her mother and her maternal grandmother, May, from the
time she was born. May is a 55-year-old African American
woman who works as a paraprofessional in an elementary
school. They still live in the same apartment where May raised
Darlene.
Darlene met Eboni’s father, Anthony, when she was 17, the
summer before their senior year in high school. Anthony is 34
years old and Caucasian. They casually dated for about a month,
11. and after they broke up, Darlene discovered she was pregnant
and opted to keep the baby. Although they never married each
other, Anthony has been married twice and divorced once. He
has four other children in addition to Eboni. She visits her
father and stepmother every other weekend. Anthony works as a
mechanic and pays child support to Darlene.
Recently, Eboni took a pregnancy test and learned that she is 2
months pregnant. She actually did not know she was pregnant
because her periods were not always consistent and she thought
she had just skipped a couple of months. Eboni immediately
told her best friend, Brandy, and then Darian about her
pregnancy. He was shocked at first and suggested that it might
be best to terminate. Darian has not told her explicitly to get an
abortion, but he feels he cannot provide for her and the baby as
he would like and thinks they should wait to have children. He
eventually told her he would support her in any way he could,
whatever she decides. Brandy encouraged Eboni to meet with
the school social worker.
During our first meeting, Eboni told me that she had taken a
pregnancy test the previous week and it was positive. At that
moment, the only people who knew she was pregnant were her
best friend and boyfriend. She had not told her parents and was
not sure how to tell them. She was very scared about what they
would say to her. We talked about how she could tell them and
discussed various responses she might receive. Eboni agreed she
would tell her parents over the weekend and see me the
following Monday. During our meeting I asked her if she used
contraception, and she told me that she used the withdrawal
method.
Eboni met with me that following Monday, as planned, and she
was very tearful. She had told her parents and grandmother over
the weekend. Eboni shared that her mother and grandmother had
become visibly upset when they learned of the pregnancy, and
12. Darlene had yelled and called her a slut. Darlene told Eboni she
wanted her to have a different life than she had had and told her
she should have an abortion. May cried and held Eboni in her
arms for a long time. When Eboni told her father, he was
shocked and just kept shaking his head back and forth, not
saying a word. Then he told her that she had to have this child
because abortion was a sin. He offered to help her and
suggested that she move in with him and her stepmother.
Darlene did not speak to Eboni for the rest of the weekend. Her
grandmother said she was scheduling an appointment with the
doctor to make sure she really was pregnant. Eboni w as
apprehensive about going to the doctor, so we discussed what
the first appointment usually entails. I approached the topic of
choices and decisions if it was confirmed that she was pregnant,
and she said she had no idea what she would do.
Two days later, Eboni came to see me with the results of her
doctor’s appointment. The doctor confirmed the pregnancy, said
her hormone levels were good, and placed her on prenatal
vitamins. Eboni had had little morning sickness and no overt
issues due to the pregnancy. Her grandmother went with her to
the appointment, but her mother was still not speaking to her.
Eboni was very upset about the situation with her mother. At
one point she commented that parents are supposed to support
their kids when they are in trouble and that she would never
treat her daughter the way her mother was treating her. I offered
to meet with Eboni and her mother to discuss the situation.
Although apprehensive, Eboni gave me permission to call her
mother and set up an appointment.
The Logan Family
May Logan: mother of Darlene, 55
Darlene Logan: mother, 34
13. Anthony Jennings: father, 34
Eboni Logan: daughter, 16
Darian: Eboni’s boyfriend, 17
I left a message for Darlene to contact me about scheduling a
meeting. She called back and agreed to meet with Eboni and me.
When I informed Eboni of the scheduled meeting, she thanked
me. She told me that she was going to spend the upcoming
weekend with her father, and that she was apprehensive about
how it would go. When I approached the topic of a decision
about the pregnancy, she stated that she was not certain but was
leaning in one direction, which she did not share with me. I
suggested we get together before the meeting with her mother to
discuss the weekend with her father.
At our next session, Eboni said she thought she knew what to do
but after spending the weekend with her father was still
confused. Eboni said her father went on at length about how
God gives life, and that if she had an abortion, she would go to
hell. Eboni was very scared. Anthony had taken her to church
and told the priest that Eboni was pregnant and asked him to
pray for her. Eboni said this made her feel uncomfortable.
When I met with Eboni and her mother, Darlene shared her
thoughts about Eboni’s pregnancy and her belief that she should
have an abortion. She said she knows how hard it is to be a
single mother and does not want this for Eboni. She believes
that because Eboni is so young, she should do as she says.
Eboni was very quiet during the session, and when asked what
she thought, said she did not know. At the end of the session,
nothing was resolved between Eboni and her mother.
When I met with Eboni the next day to process the session, she
14. said that when they got home, she and her mother talked without
any yelling. Her mother told Eboni she loved her and wanted
what was best for her. May said she would support Eboni no
matter what she decided and would help her if she kept the
baby.
Eboni was concerned because she thought she was beginning to
look pregnant and her morning sickness had gotten worse. I
addressed her overall health, and she said that she wanted to
sleep all the time, and that when she was not nauseated, all she
did was eat. Eboni is taking her prenatal vitamins in case she
decides to have the baby. Only a couple of her friends know
about the pregnancy, and they had different thoughts on what
they thought she should do. One friend even bought her a
onesie. In addition, Eboni was concerned that her grades were
being affected by the situation, possibly affecting her ability to
attend college. She was also worried about how a pregnancy or
baby would affect her chances of getting a track scholarship. In
response to her many concerns, I educated her on stress-
reduction methods.
Eboni asked me what I thought she should do, and I told her it
was her decision to make for herself and that she should not let
others tell her what to do. However, I also stated that it was
important for her to know all the options. We discussed at
length what it would mean for her to keep the baby versus
terminating the pregnancy. I mentioned adoption and the
possibility of an open adoption, but Eboni said she was not sure
she could have a baby and then give it away. We discussed the
pros and cons of adoption, and she stated she was even more
confused. I reminded her that she did not have much time to
make her decision if she was going to terminate. She said she
wanted a few days to really consider all her options.
Eboni scheduled a time to meet with me. When she entered my
office, she told me she had had a long talk with her mother and
15. grandmother the night before about what she was going to do.
She had also called her father and Darian and told them what
she had decided. Eboni told me she knows she has made the
right decision.
Discussion: Research Questions and Literature Reviews
In this week's video, you meet Eboni Logan, a teenager who
reveals that she is pregnant. Eboni explains to her social worker
that no one at her school talks about methods of birth control,
as their only focus is on abstinence. Imagine that you are a
social worker in Eboni's school and you begin to notice an
increase in teen pregnancy. This causes you to wonder about the
effectiveness of abstinence-only education. This curiosity
propels you to investigate further, but you are not sure what you
should do first—develop a research question or conduct a
literature review.
For this Discussion, review the literature on abstinence
education. View the Sessions episode on the Eboni Logan case.
By Day 3
Post
your explanation about what should come first—the
development of a research question or a thorough literature
review. Justify your answer by adding your thoughts about
which process you believe to be more realistic and/or
appropriate, and why. Finally, describe potential consequences
of deciding on a research question without conducting a review
of the literature. Please use the resources to support your
answer.
By Day 5
16. Respond
to a colleague's post by suggesting two ways of avoiding the
consequences he or she described. Please use the resources to
support your post.
Assignment: Introduction to Research Proposals
Just because you thought of an interesting research question and
have a desire to conduct research does not mean that your
research will automatically be supported by faculty or funded
by an organization. In order to gain stakeholder approval, you
must submit a research proposal. Much like an outline of a
paper or a treatment of a movie script, the research proposal
contains several parts that begin with a research question and
end with a literature review. For this Assignment, you compile a
research proposal that includes a research problem, research
question, and a literature review.
For this Assignment, choose between the case studies entitled
"Social Work Research: Couple Counseling" and "Social Work
Research: Using Multiple Assessments." Consider how you
might select among the issues presented to formulate a research
proposal.
Be sure to consult the outline in Chapter 14 the Yegidis et al.
text for content suggestions for the sections of a research
proposal. As you review existing research studies, notice how
the authors identify a problem, focus the research question, and
summarize relevant literature. These can provide you with a
model for your research proposal.
By Day 7
17. Submit
a 5- to 6-page research proposal stating both a research
problem and a broad research question (may be either
qualitative or quantitative). Use 6–10 of the most relevant
literature resources to support the need for the study, define
concepts, and define variables relevant to the question. Include
a literature review explaining what previous research has found
in relation to your problem and question. The literature review
should also include a description of methods used by previous
researchers. Finally, be sure to explain how your proposed study
addresses a gap in existing knowledge.
Discussion: Research Questions and Literature Reviews
Diane Sharkey
Explanation about what should come first—the development of
a research question or a thorough literature review
.
I feel like I’m answering the age-old “chicken or egg” question.
However, I believe a thorough literature review should come
before the development of a research question. Granted, a
researcher or practitioner must have a problem or some broad
questions in mind before conducting a literature review.
However, that question can be modified and adjusted as the
researcher reviews the literature and finds that certain areas of a
problem have been studied enough or discovers gaps in the
information. Yegidis, Weinbach, and Myers (2018) support this
by stating “for every research problem and its related research
questions, there is an existing body of knowledge that can guide
a researcher” (p. 73).
18. Justify your answer by adding your thoughts about which
process you believe to be more realistic and/or appropriate, and
why
.
Completing a literature review first is more appropriate than
creating a specific research question because “researchers do
not know to what degree answers to the question already
existed, what methods had been used to study it, or what other
researchers had learned in the process of conducting their
research” (Yegidis et al., 2018, p. 84). Once a researcher begins
to research a broad topic, he/she can use the information found
to help narrow the focus of the question and future research.
Additionally, a literature review helps determine the variables,
further narrowing the proposed question(s) (Yegidis et al.,
2018).
Finally, describe potential consequences of deciding on a
research question without conducting a review of the literature
.
Without conducting a review of the literature, researchers don’t
know what they don’t know (or what they do know, for that
matter). Plus, deciding on a research question without
conducting a review of the literature can be a waste of time if it
is something that has been studied in depth and has a multitude
of data (Yegidis et al., 2018). Moreover, Yegidis et al. (2018)
discuss the importance of using data from the literature review
to help formulate hypotheses with supportive data about the
specific research questions.
Reference
Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018).
Research methods for social workers
19. (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Laquita Renwrick
This writer believes that a thorough literature review should
always be conducted before the development of a research
question. Literature reviews provide the researcher with
information about the topic of interest. Literature review
informs the social worker of previous research conducted and
allows for the worker to identify knowledge gaps, which would
serve as the purpose for formulating a new study and conducting
research. Information retrieved from the literature review will
then allow the researcher to build their knowledge base and
identify ways that previous research may have failed or can be
further explored, hence, tailoring the new research to current
and relevant social problems or phenomena. Literature reviews
produce focused research questions, precise and specific, that
will allow the researcher to formulate hypotheses to later be
tested (Yegidis,Weinbach,& Myers, 2018). Essentially,
literature reviews should be the preliminary step to conducting
research to showcase originality of the study and relevance to
the current profession/study discipline. Literature reviews allow
for the comparing and contrasting of prior research and to
determine the effectiveness of policies, programs, and
interventions in social work.
Formulating a research question without literature review may
misinform the study and cause the researcher to conduct
research with no credibility, content validity , and cause
duplication of previous studies. Development of a research
question can hinder the study because if the researcher has not
conducted a literature review they may discover the topic has
been effectively study and utilized for evidenced based
practices. One way this hinderance can cause concern, is when