Monette/ Sullivan/ DeJong/Hilton, Applied Social Research: A Tool for the Human Services, 9e Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1: Research in the Human Services Chapter Outline Research in the Human Services Goals of Research Applications of Research Evidence-Based Practice Diversity and Research: The Impact of Diversity and Difference on Research Parallels and Linkages between Research and Practice Steps in Conducting Research Steps in Practice Intervention The Plan of the Book Changes to the Ninth Edition The “needs assessment” focal area has been replaced with the “policy planning and implementation” focal area. The former section on “Special Issues: Research on Minorities and Women” has been relabeled and rewritten with the broader focus on “diversity and difference”. Research in Practice 1.2 is new, being an introduction to the CSWE core competencies. Suggested Lecture Topics 1.
THE RESEARCH–PRACTICE CONNECTION. It is likely that some students will reach the research methods class without any previous contact with the basics of the scientific method. This topic, therefore, makes a good opening lecture to serve as a review of, or introduction to, the unique features of the scientific approach. A key point to emphasize is the reliance of science on verifiable evidence and the implications this has for what constitute suitable issues for scientific inquiry. For example, questions of values, ethics, esthetics, and faith may not be scientific issues unless they can be treated factually. This point is particularly important in human service and applied settings where research is often conducted to answer policy questions. Although research can tell us what is likely to be the result of different policies, it cannot, in and of itself, tell us what policy should or should not be adopted. Three excellent sources for material on the philosophical basis of science are Russell Keat and John Urry, Social Theory as Science, Taylor and Francis e-Library: 2010; George Couvalis, The Philosophy of Science: Science and Objectivity, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: 1997; and John Kemeny, A Philosopher Looks at Science, Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand, 1959. The research-practice connection is not without its problems. An excellent source for confronting this issue head-on is the book by Irwin Epstein, Clinical Data-Mining: Integrating Practice and Research, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 1