This book addresses issues related with researching sensitive topics in social work, focusing on marginalized, vulnerable and hard to reach people. It covers the definition, characteristics, challenges and opportunities of sensitive research, its philosophical roots and methodological debates, and the skills and values that are required along with the ethical, political and legal issues involved in conducting social work research. This book will cover innovative research methods appropriate for research on sensitive topics involving vulnerable people. It shines light on how to use traditional research methods sensitively, and how to generate data while minimizing the harm that can potentially be caused to research participants and researchers.
The term ‘sensitive research’ is applied to a wide range of issues and settings. It is used to denote projects that may involve risk to people, stigmatising topics, and/or require a degree of sensitivity on behalf of the researcher. Rather than take the notion of ‘sensitive research’ for granted, this collection unpacks and challenges what the term means. This book is a collective endeavour to reflect on research practices around ‘sensitive research’, providing in-depth explorations about what this label means to different researchers, how it is done – including the need to be sensitive as a researcher – and what impacts this has on methods and knowledge creation. The book includes chapters from researchers who have explored a diverse range of research topics, including sex and sexuality, death, abortion, and learning disabilities, from several disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, anthropology, health services research and interdisciplinary work. The researchers included here collectively argue that current approaches fail to adequately account for the complex mix of emotions, experiences, and ethical dilemmas at the heart of many ‘sensitive’ research encounters. Overall, this book moves the field of ‘sensitive research’ beyond the genericity of this label, showing ways in which researchers have in practice addressed the methodological threats that are triggered when we uncritically embark on ‘sensitive research'. The chapters in this book were originally published in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology and the journal Mortality.
Bringing key developments and debates together in a single volume, this book provides an authoritative guide for students and practitioners embarking on qualitative research in social work and related fields. Frequently illustrated with contemporary and classic case examples from the authors’ own empirical research and from international published work, and with self-directed learning tasks, the book provides insight into the difficulties and complexities of carrying out research, as well as sharing ‘success’ stories from the field. Shaw and Holland have long experience of writing for practitioners and students and in making complex concepts accessible and readable, making this an ideal text for those engaging in qualitative social work research at any level. Ian Shaw is a Professor of Social Work at the University of York and at the University of Aalborg. Sally Holland is a Reader in Social Work at the School of Social Sciences in Cardiff University.
This book is a comprehensive guide to the methodological, ethical and practical issues involved in undertaking research on sensitive topics. Raymond M Lee explores the reasons why social research may be politically or socially contentious: its relation to issues of social or political power; its capacity to encroach on people's lives; and its potentially problematic nature for the researcher. Issues examined include: the choice of methodologies for sensitive research; problems of estimating the size of hidden populations; questions of sampling, surveying and interviewing; and sensitivity in access and the handling of data. The book also discusses the political and ethical issues at stake in the relations between the researcher and the researched, and in the disclosure, dissemination and publication of research.
"In the field of social work, qualitative research is starting to gain more prominence as are mixed methods and various issues regarding race, ethnicity and gender. These changes in the field are reflected and updated in "The Handbook of Social Work Research Methods, Second Edition". This text contains meta analysis, designs to evaluate treatment and provides the support to help students harness the power of the Internet. This handbook brings together leading scholars in research methods in social work." --Book Jacket.
Thoroughly revised and expanded, this new edition of Understanding Research for Social Policy and Social Work shows readers the importance of research, how to interpret it, and how to effectively carry out and report research of their own. This landmark textbook is an essential guide to the methods, approaches, and debates that are required knowledge for students, policymakers, and practitioners.
Get accurate information on social work concepts—anytime, anyplace! The Social Work Student's Research Handbook keeps the information you need on essential classroom concepts and principles right at your fingertips. Practical and easy to use, this comprehensive handbook provides instant access to the nuts and bolts of social work research. The handbook is a perfect resource to help students integrate research into projects, theses, and dissertations, and to help practitioners refresh, review, and organize their professional processes. The Social Work Student's Research Handbook is a complement to the dense and heavy research books available that cover a lot of material—and have the pages to prove it! It helps you sort through the narrative, details, and examples to get straight to the heart of each issue when it counts. It provides the tools you need to get through the learning process and is an essential aid for reference use with professional literature; for selecting a problem for social work study; identifying a design type; developing or selecting an instrument; developing a sampling strategy; collecting and analyzing data; and organizing, writing, disseminating, and utilizing results. The Social Work Student's Research Handbook includes concise, usable information on: problem formulation working from questions or hypothesis assumptions design options (exploratory, descriptive, experimental) evaluations (practice, program) data analysis (qualitative, quantitative) and much more. In addition, each chapter ends with a summary of major points to remember and a self-test exercise. The Social Work Student's Research Handbook is an invaluable resource for MSW students as they apply what they’ve learned in research courses toward original research projects. It’s equally handy for social work practitioners and research instructors.
An introduction to research methods specifically needed in social work and social welfare, this text outlines the major stages of research projects, covering both quantitative and qualitative methods.
This book presents a novel and accessible way to learn about designing and conducting social research. Unlike traditional social research methods books, it provides a ‘real world’ account of social researchers’ experiences and learning achieved through conducting research in a variety of fields. It contains an eclectic collection of research and advice for conducting research from social researchers with varying backgrounds. Suggestions are made in relation to gaining access to research sites, conducting research on sensitive topics such as suicide, child sexual abuse and homelessness, ensuring the inclusive participation of participants with intellectual disabilities and children. Also included are discussions of conducting practitioner research, conducting research on individual change, psychoanalytically informed research, documentary research and post qualitative research. Other chapters focus on criticality in research on topics that have become politicised and moralised, ensuring that research conducted is credible and how knowledge in research is constructed through both the theoretical framework used and how it is conducted. Bringing together a diverse collection of social research projects, Designing and Conducting Research in Social Science, Health and Social Care will be of interest to students, educators and researchers in the social sciences and professionals in related areas.
This book will inspire the next generation of social work and human service practitioners to integrate research into their everyday social justice practice. Through highlighting the centrality of values to the task of research and the possibilities for enacting social justice through our research practice, it argues for respectful, meaningful, and just relationships with the people with whom we do research and build knowledge; acknowledges the ongoing impact of colonialism; respects diversity; and commits to working towards social change. With First Nations Worldviews – ways of knowing, ways of being, ways of doing – weaved throughout the text, this book seeks to both reclaim ancient knowledges and disrupt Western research traditions. Divided into three sections, this book provides a strong rationale for the importance of research skills to social work and human service practice; a step-by-step guide on doing social research aimed at novice researchers; a series of examples of applied social justice projects Bringing the authors’ passion for finding new ways of ‘doing’ research and contesting traditional research paradigms of objectivity and the scientific, it advocates for knowledge building that is participatory, emancipatory, and empowered. It will be required reading for all social work and human service students at both the undergraduate and master's level as well as professionals looking to put research into practice.
