Research Questions and Literature Review

Research Questions and Literature Review

Research Questions and Literature Review

There will be times when a social worker is presented with a case where they are not familiar with the surrounding psychosocial issues. Because social workers are on a continual journey in learning, it is important to read pertinent literature. This Discussion provides an opportunity to visit Walden Library and strengthen your skills in identifying and locating an empirical research article.

To prepare:

• Select one of these three groups: (1) an immigrant individual from a racial or ethnic minority group, (2) a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individual, OR (3) an individual who is physically disabled.
• Review the Walden Library resources listed in the Learning Resources.
• Then conduct a library search for an empirical study focused on one of the groups above and the unique psychosocial factors or issues a social worker should be aware of when working with that group

Post:

• Post the APA-style reference for the article you found in the library.
• Describe four specific psychosocial factors that should be taken into account in order to understand the psychosocial context when working with the group you selected. (Two of these factors should be psychologically related and two of these factors should be socially related).
• Identify and explain a psychosocial intervention that addresses one of the four specific psychosocial factors you described above.
• Identify 1 to 2 outcomes you might measure if you were to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
• Evaluate one advantage of using a psychosocial framework in social work practice with the group you chose.

***SOCW 6301 WK4 DISCUSSION  Psychosocial Theory and Diverse Groups

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.

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.

Research Questions and Literature Reviews

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.