SWK204: Social Work Research QUESTION: What are the differences between paradigms and social science theories? How are both of these used in social work? Lesson 3 Discussion 1 PEER RESPONSES Discussion Post Paradigm can be explained as a way of viewing the world by the understanding of human experience. Each view is a assumption as it can be molded to various issues. Paradigms frame what we know, what we are able to know, and how we find out. There is four social scientific paradigms that are positivism, critical, social contrarianism, and postmodernism. Social science theories is explained as statements that are interreacted that help explained I social life. Theories always have the words how, and why attached. They view all aspects of society focusing relationships, boundaries, and energy between systems. They also have four but it is theories related to substance abuse of systems, conflict, symbolic interaction, and utility theory.  They tend to focus on the specific type interactions. Paradigms and social science theories can be used interchangeably, but are different in such that a paradigm is an assumption or framework behind a theory, whereas a theory is m ore specific and refers to a set of concepts and relationships. A paradigm is a way of viewing the world and a theory explains the why and how of a phenomenon. A paradigm for example may be the way someone views something in the world such as having a baby out of wedlock. Some may see this as something that is bad or something that will cause them to be seen as irresponsible while others may see this a being independent and brave. In theory, the perspective of functionalism this would be seen as a negative as the family structure should be nuclear and balanced as society see the whole family as mom and dad working together. These two concepts are used in social work to understand people and human interaction with society. Lesson 3 Discussion 2 QUESTION : Describe your experiences or use of a social science theory and how the theoretical emphasis helped you.  Please provide examples. PEER RESPONSES Discussion Post The only experience I could think of I could think of that I believe goes with a social science theory. The experience is of a old child I used to visit for my current job. He was being raised by his grandma then his mom came back into the picture. She took him away for a month which changed him as his behavior and personality. He used be so outdoorsy and loved to visit the crick that they lived by them but because of his mom coming and trying to take him he got scared of the water and that she was coming take him. Theoretical emphasis that relates to my experience as it associates with the attachment theory that has a understanding of the psychological benefits which the child having a secure attachment vs. an insecure attachment. The grandma that was raising him with dad is a secure attachment. Him not wanting to be near his mom and fearing that she was going take hi.

1. SWK204: Social Work Research
QUESTION: What are the differences between paradigms and social science theories?
How are both of these used in social work?
Lesson 3 Discussion 1
PEER RESPONSES
Brelle Menendez
Discussion Post
Paradigm can be explained as a way of viewing the world by the understanding of human
experience. Each view is a assumption as it can be molded to various issues. Paradigms frame
what we know, what we are able to know, and how we find out. There is four social scientific
paradigms that are positivism, critical, social contrarianism, and postmodernism.
Social science theories is explained as statements that are interreacted that help explained I social
life. Theories always have the words how, and why attached. They view all aspects of society
focusing relationships, boundaries, and energy between systems. They also have four but it is
theories related to substance abuse of systems, conflict, symbolic interaction, and utility theory.
 They tend to focus on the specific type interactions.
Nicole Gibney
Paradigms and social science theories can be used interchangeably, but are different in such that
a paradigm is an assumption or framework behind a theory, whereas a theory is m ore specific
and refers to a set of concepts and relationships. A paradigm is a way of viewing the world and a
theory explains the why and how of a phenomenon.
A paradigm for example may be the way someone views something in the world such as having
a baby out of wedlock. Some may see this as something that is bad or something that will cause
them to be seen as irresponsible while others may see this a being independent and brave. In
theory, the perspective of functionalism this would be seen as a negative as the family structure
should be nuclear and balanced as society see the whole family as mom and dad working
together.
These two concepts are used in social work to understand people and human interaction with
society.
Lesson 3 Discussion 2
QUESTION : Describe your experiences or use of a social science theory and how the
theoretical emphasis helped you. Please provide examples.

2. PEER RESPONSES
Brelle Menendez
Discussion Post
The only experience I could think of I could think of that I believe goes with a social science
theory. The experience is of a old child I used to visit for my current job. He was being raised by
his grandma then his mom came back into the picture. She took him away for a month which
changed him as his behavior and personality. He used be so outdoorsy and loved to visit the crick
that they lived by them but because of his mom coming and trying to take him he got scared of
the water and that she was coming take him.
Theoretical emphasis that relates to my experience as it associates with the attachment theory
that has a understanding of the psychological benefits which the child having a secure attachment
vs. an insecure attachment. The grandma that was raising him with dad is a secure attachment.
Him not wanting to be near his mom and fearing that she was going take him again is a insecure
attachment as she is back out of his life. The theory guides an understanding of how these
attachments promote emotional deficits for clients. Â It could be considered a therapeutic
relationship and how to begin working with them. (1).
Resources
(1) https://micpp.org/about-us/our-theoretical-emphasis/
Corina McCallum
The social science theory I have had experience with is socialization.  For twenty years I
owned and ran a childcare facility.  I taught the children as I taught my own
children.  The lessons were to help them become respectful, caring, and responsible wherever
they went.  They were never taught gender roles what was good for the goose was good for
the gander in our home/childcare facility.  I did not allow the children to feel they had to or
could not do things because of their gender nor their abilities.  Here we all gave it a
try.  We did not raise our children to feel a man is a breadwinner and the woman is the
homemaker, as some theories tend to make us feel that are the roles of mom and dad.  I feel
that we did society a favor by socializing some great humans to be a apart of society.  Not to
toot my own horn the children came to me as infants stayed until they aged out at 12, I still
continued to follow them onto high school. Most are college age or a college graduate and I am
proud to say they make me proud.
Lesson 4 Discussion 1
QUESTION : What are some ethical concerns in social work research? How would you
prevent them from occurring? Have you done research? If yes, what ethical concerns if
any did you have?

3. PEER RESPONSES
Brelle Menendez
Discussion Post
Some ethical concerns from voluntary participation which allows research subjects to feel free to
choose a participate without any pressure. It’s important that those participants know that
there are no negative consequences or repercussions for the refusal to participate. Need to be
considerate of their needs and not just of the research. Informed consent refers to a situation in
which all participants receive and understand the need of all the information to fully decide
whether they want to participate. The information includes the study’s benefits, risks,
funding, and institutional approval. Anonymity means that you don’t know who the
participants are and you can’t link any individual participant to their data. Anonymity can be
tricky as it may not be collecting any personally identifying information for example, names,
phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, physical characteristics, photos, and videos. In
many cases some might dwell as it may be impossible to truly anonymize data collection.
Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but you remove all identifying
information from your report. All participants have a right to privacy, so you should protect their
personal data for as long as you store or use it. Even when you can’t collect data
anonymously, you should secure confidentiality whenever you can. As a researcher, need to
consider all possible sources of harm to participants. Harm can come in many different forms.
Psychological harm: Sensitive questions or tasks may trigger negative emotions such as shame or
anxiety. Social harm: Participation can involve social risks, public embarrassment, or stigma.
Physical harm: Pain or injury can result from the study procedures. Legal harm: Reporting
sensitive data could lead to legal risks or a breach of privacy. Plagiarism submitting another
person and claiming it works. Although it can be unintentional, copying someone else’s work
without proper credits when it is completed. It’s an ethical problem in research
communication because you may benefit by harming other researchers. (1). Self-plagiarism is
when you republish or re-submit parts of own papers or reports. They benefit from presenting
ideas as new and original even though it has already been published elsewhere else. You may
also be infringing on your previous publisher’s copyright, violating an ethical code, or
wasting time and resources by doing so
To prevent this to happen to you need to cite sources you have used in any of your research
papers. Repot all the data thought you have collected. I have done several research papers. I
rather to talk about things in my own words which can help me at times but not always as when
it is on topic that is more complex.
Resources
· https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/research-ethics/
Nicole Gibney

4. Some ethical concerns in social work research are being sure that the participant understands the
information that they will be asked or will be giving to the researcher, that this may be
uncomfortable and cause certain feelings to arise. Being sure that the participant has provided
informed consent and to what extent their confidentiality will be protected. By providing the
participant with the information that will be gathered, the purpose of the research, and the right
to be able to remove the informed consent and stop participating at any time; this will prevent
ethical concerns from occurring.
I have not done any research thus far, but look forward to learning more and maybe conducting
some small research in the future
Lesson 4 Discussion 2
QUESTION : Have you or someone you know participated in a research study? What
ethical concerns if any were present during the study? Did you or the person you know
enjoy the experience?
PEER RESPONSES
Nicole Gibney
I believe that my mom was part of a research process for a medication for COPD. If I remember
correctly, as it was some time ago, this was a study that she was given a medication that could
have been a placebo. I don't recall her condition getting better, so we assumed the medication she
received was not the actual medicine. She did have to give consent and was also explained the
risks associated with a trial medication; if indeed she was not given the placebo. I don't think that
she felt any certain way about whether the experience was enjoyable or not; if anything, I think
she was hopeful. Unfortunately, my mom passed away a couple of years ago but she was so
brave to have fought this terrible lung disease for many years.
Corina McCallum
My oldest son Scott was a quadriplegic, he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at birth and used a
wheelchair from the age of 4 until he passed away at 26.  The reason for the explanation is
that all his life we were presented with research studies, I guess society felt he was a great
candidate giving his situation.  Research studies are important for things to move forward and
change but I never felt my son should have been a guinea pig.  Ethical concerns were always
a question in my mind because I felt that his life was not as valuable to those doing the research
as he was to us.  I recall the time when he was 15 he was having terrible pains in his leg and
one hip, we took him to the ER and they did x-rays.  A team of surgeons came into see us to
tell us there is a great research program that Scott would be a perfect candidate for, so I listened
it all sounded really good and a great way to ease some of his muscle pains.  Scott’s hip
was popped out of socket and fused onto the outer bone, the surgeon said they would do surgery
to fix it, and it would be interesting to research and follow him to see if it popped out again and
fused somewhere else.  I asked if the surgery would make him walk the response was No so

5. my response was no. Sorry for the long story but I felt I had to explain to get to the point or at
least I hope I got to the point!
Second , read through your classmates' posts. Find three people who listed at least one of the
same reasons you did. Reply to their post with a different specific example of that type of tattoo.
Ch’Lecia’s post:
# 1- People getting tattoos in memory of someone.
EX: I had a family friend that passed away last year and her mom, uncle and his wife all got
tattoos a quote that’s just for her, her date of birth and date of departure.
# 2 - People getting tattoos for healing or overcoming something
EX: I Â have a friend that has a Medusa tattoo which indicates that she has overcome being
sexually assaulted.
# 3- Â People get tattoos just because/ no meaning at all
EX: I myself have a tattoo that has no meaning at all, that i found on Pinterest and  i just
thought that it look good
April’s post:
1 reason that a person would get a tattoo in the remembrance of a love one.
example: I have a tattoo of my son fathers name and the date he died. The other one that i have in
remembrance of him was before he died we decided to get matching tattoos, so I still got mines
in remembrances of him.
2. reason, people get tattoos is because of a fashion statement.
example: a lot of people are into sleeves, a covering of a whole arm to me they do it for a fashion
statement.
3. reason Gang related
a lot of people who is affiliated with gang will mark their bodies with some kind of symbols that
symbolize their gang.
Danielle’s post:
1. Some people get tattoos to symbolize something they went through and overcame.

6. Example: One of my friends got a semicolon tattoo on her wrist, symbolizing she tried to commit
suicide in the past but instead of committing she stayed and finally went to get mental help. Now
she's doing so much better.
2. Some people get tattoos of a deceased family member or  friend to always remember them.
Example: My father passed away in 2021 and after he passed, I went & got a tattoo of his
birthdate  & the date he passed along with some roses and a watch. Its one of my favorite
tattoos because it makes me feel like he still here with me sometimes.
3. Some people get tattoos of their children's name and/or birth date.
Example: A girl I know have both of her baby's names tatted on her arm. One of the names is her
first child she had but she had a stillbirth. The other name is her second child, whom she calls her
"rainbow baby".
MY POST:
Pre-writing Tattoo Writing Assignment
Reason 1: People get tattoos as a way of expressing their identity.
Example: Pierre Aubameyang a soccer player who has tattooed the African map behind his back.
He originated from Angola a country in the southern part of Africa. He expresses his African
identity using the tattoo on his back. He says that the tattoos show people around the world as
well as people around him that he is African and proud of it.
Reason 2: People get tattoos as a way of improving self-esteem and keeping memories.
Example: Â My cousin Mike has a tattoo of the NBA team he supports on his left shoulder. He
says this makes him remember the beautiful memories of when his team won the NBA
championship back in 2008. His tattoos are art showing the trophy won by the Bolton Celtics
team in 2008.
Reason 3: People get tattoos as a way of honoring their loved ones who have passed on.
Example: My friend Jane, has a tattoo of butterflies on his arm. Jane told me she uses got tattoos
as a sign of remembering her fallen mother. In her culture butterflies represent human souls. This
is a symbolic tattoo that reminds her of the good times she had with her mother.