The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest professional social workers organization globally with over 130,000 members. It works to protect social workers, develop professional standards, and enhance well-being for people and communities through advocacy. NASW addresses various social problems like homelessness, HIV/AIDS, racism, and sexism. It conducts research and provides services for issues like homelessness in Michigan, which the summary will evaluate using qualitative and quantitative methods.

1. SOCIAL PROBLEM RESEARCH 4
Social Problem Research
February 24, 2020
Running head: SOCIAL PROBLEM RESEARCH 1
Social Problem Research
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) boasts
over 130,000 members, making it the largest professional social
workers’ membership organization globally. The organization
protects, develops, and promotes professional social work
practice and the welfare of its members. It also deals with the
creation and maintenance of professional standards and seeks to
enhance the well-being of people, families, and communities
within the society through advocacy practices. Furthermore, it
aims to improve the quality of life of all people in the nation
through the practical tackling of social problems such as
homeless, HIV/AIDs and other infections, racism and sexism,
etc. It enhances the well-being of individuals and groups
through its charitable organization, National Association of
Social Workers Foundation (NASWF), which was founded in
2001.
Working under the auspices of NASWF, NASW has the goal of
rapidly assisting with social crises response, promotion of
[practice-based and evidence-based research, supporting

2. education and research, etc. In a nutshell, NASW provides
intervention to various social problems, including tackling the
issue of homelessness. Hence, this program will address the
problem of homelessness in Michigan. The program evaluation
will be conducted using both qualitative and quantitative social
research methods.
Therefore, first, how do I know that I have a legitimate research
problem in Michigan? Homeless people refers to those who lack
regular, fixed, and adequate residences to spend in at night, or
those whose primary residences are temporary, or any place that
is not recommended for people to get sleeping accommodation
or those who live in temporary and supervised shelter. Homeless
people do not have stable housing in both rural and urban areas
and come from various demographic backgrounds. They also
face several health concerns. Hence, it poses a severe public
healthcare concern that needs a quick and structured social work
service.
Apart from the qualitative underpinning, homelessness is as
widespread in Michigan as it is in the entire US. Over 744,313
people, including children, women, and men, were homeless in
the US by 2005 (Social Work Policy Institute, 2010). Globally,
over a billion people lack adequate housing, of which 100
million are entirely destitute of homes. About 5.4 million
families are at risk of becoming homeless because of sufficient
income to afford to pay their rent. It is highly probable that
over 66,051individuals in Michigan are considered homeless,
with the statistics including 41,338 unsheltered and 24,713
sheltered homeless people. The majority of the people
considered homeless in Michigan are adults.
Delineating the subparts of the homelessness as a social
problem in this research project would be a complicated
process. The evaluation criteria follow the procedures of needs,
program theory, implementation, impact or effectiveness, and
efficiency assessments (Shackman, 2015). The reason is that the
problem is caused by an amalgam of several complex sets of
structural and personal circumstances that make people

3. miserable and force them to choose between medical expenses,
shelter, food, and other crucial basic needs. Consequently, there
is a higher probability that they would drop the choice of
housing altogether. Other reasons include joblessness, housing
unavailability and inequality, public assistance availability
decrease, substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence,
and overall healthcare system failure.
My research project would employ subsets in the discussion
about the problem. The critical homeless population subset in
Michigan includes veterans, former foster youths, those with
mental needs, and families, including children and women.
Therefore, social workers have a significant role to play in
providing remedial services to these varieties of homeless
populations' subsets (Social Work Policy Institute, 2010). My
tentative social research question or topic would be 'the impact
of social work practice in tackling the problem of homelessness
amongst former foster youths in Michigan.' Of course, planning
the research would encompass coming up with the project,
initial literature review, methodology choosing and
development, data collection and analysis, conclusion and
interpretation. I would test for the validity and reliability of the
methods and outcomes using appropriate tools (HubPages Staff,
2012). The final part of the criteria would be the creation of the
final hypothesis

4. References
HubPages Staff. (2012, March 4). Scales for Measurement of
Variables. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from HubPages:
https://hubpages.com/education/Scales-for-measurement-of-
variables
Shackman, G. (2015, February 1). What is Program Evaluation?
A Beginner's Guide. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from
gsociology.icaap.ord:
http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/evaluationbeginnersguide.p
df
Social Work Policy Institute. (2010, March 24). Homelessness.
Retrieved February 21, 2020, from Social Work Policy Institute:
http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/research/homelessness.html
Planning Theories
Planning, concerning program planning, refers to the
justification and elaboration of an acknowledged strategy
instead of conceiving one (Campbell, 2010). Planning is
essential in the human services realm such as vocational
education, as it is the main means of acquiring resources.
However, vocational training is affected by constrained
planning because the state and local planning resources are
dedicated to rationalizing programs that are minimally funded.
Nonetheless, the planning theories (radical, trans-active,
advocacy, synoptic, and incremental), provided by Hudson and
Friedman, have provided some insight on how decisions can be
made more rationally (O'Conner, Fauri, & Netting, 2008). This
paper will mainly focus on synoptic planning and incremental
planning theories.

5. Hudson states that the synoptic method of planning is a
prevailing tradition and other approaches represent reactions or
modifications to this theory (Leedy & Ormrod, 2016). He has
provided four elements to synoptic planning, which includes
setting goals, identifying alternative policies, assessing the
means against the end, and implementing decisions. The current
efforts in vocational education planning mainly focus on
‘empiricizing’ the theory – that is, using the labor demand and
supply, student, and program data to forecast and improve
extrapolations of needs for contraction or expansion of existing
processes and programs. However, there are few efforts to
incorporate formal planning methods in the goal-setting phase.
Also, the consideration of alternative policies does not only
function informally but also within the pre-created legislative
and historical bounds.
Netting states that policy decisions are better comprehended and
accomplished using incremental planning, as it utilizes the
‘push and tug’ of existing institutions in the bargaining
practices (O'Conner, Fauri, & Netting, 2008). Incrementalists
insinuate that synoptic planning is reductionist, it is insensitive
to the existing capabilities of institutional performance, and it
does not identify the public interests. However, the incremental
approach is a fair estimate of how vocational educational
planning occurs. The incremental theory needs little data
collection, central control, and decision making. It does not
only identify the political aspect of the process, but also
recognize that the expectations, values, and goals are mostly the
cradle of conflict.
In conclusion, the planning literature above indicates that the
human services realm emphasizes certain methods of planning.
The planning theorists have established approaches that can
address the contemporary issues affecting vocational education.
However, only the alternatives to these dominant methods of
planning can enable a better link to planning and evaluation.
References
Campbell, J. J. (Director). (2010). What is program evaluation?

6. [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from What is Program Evaluation?
8 (Links to an external site.)
O'Conner, M. K., Fauri D. P., & Netting E. (2008). Comparative
approaches to program planning (1st ed.). Retrieved from
https://redshelf.com
Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod J. E. (2016). Practical research:
Planning and design (11th ed.). Retrieved from
https://redshelf.com
Planning Theories
Planning, concerning program planning, refers to the
justification and elaboration of an acknowledged strategy
instead of conceiving one (Campbell, 2010). Planning is
essential in the human services realm such as vocational
education, as it is the main means of acquiring resources.
However, vocational training is affected by constrained
planning because the state and local planning resources are
dedicated to rationalizing programs that are minimally funded.
Nonetheless, the planning theories (radical, trans-active,
advocacy, synoptic, and incremental), provided by Hudson and
Friedman, have provided some insight on how decisions can be
made more rationally (O'Conner, Fauri, & Netting, 2008). This
paper will mainly focus on synoptic planning and incremental
planning theories.
Hudson states that the synoptic method of planning is a
prevailing tradition and other approaches represent reactions or
modifications to this theory (Leedy & Ormrod, 2016). He has
provided four elements to synoptic planning, which includes
setting goals, identifying alternative policies, assessing the
means against the end, and implementing decisions. The current
efforts in vocational education planning mainly focus on
‘empiricizing’ the theory – that is, using the labor demand and
supply, student, and program data to forecast and improve
extrapolations of needs for contraction or expansion of existing
processes and programs. However, there are few efforts to

7. incorporate formal planning methods in the goal-setting phase.
Also, the consideration of alternative policies does not only
function informally but also within the pre-created legislative
and historical bounds.
Netting states that policy decisions are better comprehended and
accomplished using incremental planning, as it utilizes the
‘push and tug’ of existing institutions in the bargaining
practices (O'Conner, Fauri, & Netting, 2008). Incrementalists
insinuate that synoptic planning is reductionist, it is insensitive
to the existing capabilities of institutional performance, and it
does not identify the public interests. However, the incremental
approach is a fair estimate of how vocational educational
planning occurs. The incremental theory needs little data
collection, central control, and decision making. It does not
only identify the political aspect of the process, but also
recognize that the expectations, values, and goals are mostly the
cradle of conflict.
In conclusion, the planning literature above indicates that the
human services realm emphasizes certain methods of planning.
The planning theorists have established approaches that can
address the contemporary issues affecting vocational education.
However, only the alternatives to these dominant methods of
planning can enable a better link to planning and evaluation.
References
Campbell, J. J. (Director). (2010). What is program evaluation?
[Motion Picture]. Retrieved from What is Program Evaluation?
8 (Links to an external site.)
O'Conner, M. K., Fauri D. P., & Netting E. (2008). Comparative
approaches to program planning (1st ed.). Retrieved from
https://redshelf.com
Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod J. E. (2016). Practical research:
Planning and design (11th ed.). Retrieved from
https://redshelf.com