Social Work Policy Analysis
Practice Questions
Course Introduction
Social Work Policy Analysis explores the processes and frameworks involved in evaluating and shaping social policies that impact individuals, families, and communities. The course examines the historical, economic, and political contexts influencing policy development and implementation, as well as the role of social workers as advocates for change. Students learn to critically analyze policy objectives, design, and effectiveness using ethical principles and evidence-based approaches, considering the implications for diverse populations and the promotion of social justice. Through case studies and policy evaluation exercises, participants gain practical skills for influencing policy at local, national, and global levels.
Recommended Textbook
Empowerment Series Essential Research Methods for Social Work 4th Edition by Allen Rubin
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Chapter 1: Why Study Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Safeguards against selective observation in science include A) use of a research design.
B) colleagues.
C) committing oneself ahead of time to make a specified number of observations.
D) all of these.
E) none of these.
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following statements is (are)true regarding practice effectiveness?
A) It is safe to assume that well-trained social workers will be effective regardless of which interventions they employ.
B) Social work practice consists largely of interventions and procedures that have not yet received adequate testing.
C) Knowledge of research methods and knowledge of practice are separate and unrelated.
D) All of these.
E) None of these.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Evidence-Based Practice
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Q1) All evidence-based practice questions should ask about a particular intervention in advance of the search for evidence.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Evidence-base practice:
A) Is a list of empirically supported interventions that practitioners should employ regardless of their practice judgment.
B) Is a process for making practice decisions based on integrating the best research evidence with practice expertise and knowledge of client attributes.
C) Is a process for making practice decisions based solely on research evidence.
D) Assures practice effectiveness.
Answer: B
Q3) Critical thinkers will:
A) Be willing to question and alter their own beliefs based on new experiences.
B) Be willing to question what those in authority assert as fact.
C) Question unstated assumptions underlying accepted practice wisdom.
D) All of these.
Answer: D
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Quantitative, qualitative, and Mixed Methods of Inquiry
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Q1) Which of the following statements is true about quantitative and qualitative methods?
A) Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to use open-ended items.
B) Qualitative studies are more likely than quantitative studies to use open-ended items.
C) Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to use interviews with probes.
D) Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to be labor intensive and more time-consuming in data collection.
Answer: B
Q2) The key feature of the social justice mixed methods design is the requirement that qualitative inquiry must precede quantitative inquiry.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Factors Influencing the Research Process
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Sample Questions
Q1) It is sometimes difficult for IRB panelists to decide whether to approve a proposed study.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Explanatory studies are designed to find answers to which of the following questions?
A) Are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
B) Why are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
C) Who watches soap operas?
D) All of the above.
Q3) Explain why attrition can be an important problem in panel studies and how it can distort the results.
Q4) Critical social science researchers view research as a way to marshal ammunition in support of their social change efforts.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss exploratory,descriptive and explanatory purposes for doing research.Describe a social work research study that illustrates each purpose.
Q6) How are theory and research linked? Give examples.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Ethical Issues in Social Work Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ethical issues are distinguished from political issues in research in that
A) ethics deals more with the substance of research.
B) politics deals more with the methods of research.
C) formal codes of accepted political conduct are not comparable to the codes of ethical conduct.
D) ethics deals more with the use of research.
Q2) The ethical issues are always readily apparent in research projects.
A)True
B)False
Q3) As soon as you tell subjects that you are doing research,the ethical issue of the researcher's identity is no longer a problem.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following can harm subjects?
A) having them face aspects of themselves that they do not normally consider.
B) asking them to reveal their unpopular attitudes.
C) asking them to identify their deviant behavior.
D) allowing them to easily identify themselves in the final report.
E) All of these.
Q5) Illustrate how ethics and politics can affect social work research.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Culturally Competent Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compensation for participants in research should
A) be as large as your budget permits.
B) be large enough to provide an incentive yet not so large that it becomes coercive. C) always be in the form of money.
D) never be in the form of money.
Q2) Studies that do NOT include adequate representation from specific minority and oppressed populations in their samples are NOT generalizable to those populations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain the difference between linguistic,conceptual and metric equivalence.
Q4) A good way to ensure that your data analysis is culturally competent is to combine all minority groups together as one category to compare to the majority group in the data analysis.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Conceptual equivalence ensures metric equivalence.
A)True B)False
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Chapter 7: Problem Formulation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Concepts are mental images that summarize collections of seemingly related observations and experiences.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Give an example of a relationship that you think might be spurious,and discuss how you would attempt to ascertain whether it is indeed spurious.
Q3) Concepts are:
A) empirical measurements.
B) variables.
C) mental images.
D) hypotheses.
E) definitions.
Q4) If we find that test performance improves as level of anxiety increases from low to moderate amounts and then worsens as level of anxiety increases beyond moderate amounts,then we have found what type of relationship?
A) positive.
B) negative.
C) curvilinear.
D) causal.
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Chapter 8: Measurement in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry
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Q1) Explain why if a scale is found to be valid,we can assume that it is reliable.
Q2) Each alternative form of measurement (written self-reports,interviews,direct behavioral observation and examining available records)is vulnerable to measurement error.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The weakest form of validity is:
A) face validity.
B) criterion validity.
C) construct validity.
D) content validity.
Q4) A measure has discriminant validity when:
A) it discriminates between groups.
B) its results do not correspond as highly with measures of other constructs as they do with other measures of the same construct.
C) its results correspond to the results of other methods of measuring the same construct.
D) its content validity is less than its criterion validity.
Q5) Describe how qualitative studies attempt to deal with reliability and validity.
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Chapter 9: Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement Instruments
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Q1) Qualitative measures rely on interviews that are usually open-ended with in-depth probes.
A)True B)False
Q2) Identify measurement principles that always apply to quantitative and qualitative approaches to asking people questions.Then identify differences between the two approaches in the style of asking questions.
Q3) The following exemplifies an improper way to ask a question: "Are you satisfied with this textbook and with your research instructor's teaching style?
A)True B)False
Q4) The following answer categories about gender are exhaustive and mutually exclusive: Male ________ Female ________
A)True B)False
Q5) Construct a brief questionnaire about an issue of interest to you that includes at least one contingency question.
Q6) How does qualitative interviewing differ from quantitative interviewing?
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Chapter 10: Surveys
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Q1) The primary function of the probe is to
A) loosen up the respondent.
B) get the correct answer from the respondent.
C) get the respondent to answer a question more fully.
D) indicate an understanding and interest in the respondent.
Q2) Which of the following is (are)an advantage of the social indicators approach to needs assessment?
A) unobtrusiveness.
B) inexpensiveness.
C) Reliable data am readily available.
D) unobtrusiveness and inexpensiveness
Q3) In general,strengths of survey research include
A) making large samples feasible.
B) showing causality.
C) flexible uncovering of deeper meanings for each respondent .
D) directly measuring what people actually do, not just what they say.
Q4) For any survey to have any value,the response rate must be at least 50 percent.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Give a comparative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of survey research.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Sampling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches
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Q1) The unit about which information is collected and which provides the basis of analysis is called the A) universe.
B) sampling unit.
C) unit of analysis.
D) sampling frame.
E) element.
Q2) Using probability sampling,each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Describe deviant case sampling,and give an example of a study in which it would be useful.
Q4) To obtain samples of the same size from strata of varying sizes,it would be necessary to use
A) simple random sampling.
B) systematic sampling.
C) proportionate stratified sampling.
D) disproportionate stratified sampling.
E) quota sampling.
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Chapter 12: Experiments and Quasi-Experiments
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Q1) Which of the following statements is true about case-control designs?
A) They rarely are feasible.
B) Data must be collected at multiple points in time.
C) Retrospective data are collected about past differences that might explain differences in outcome.
D) We usually can be highly confident about their internal and external validity.
E) We usually can be highly confident about the direction of causal influence.
Q2) Explain what is meant by internal and external validity.
Q3) For a causal relationship to exist there must be evidence
A) of a relationship between variables.
B) that one variable precedes the other in time.
C) that a third variable did not cause the changes observed in the first two variables.
D) all of these.
Q4) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectional studies and the case control design.
Q5) Time series designs with many measurement points control for maturation.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Single-Case Evaluation Designs
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Q1) In a single-case design with a student at high risk for dropping out of school,a good measurement plan to assess whether our intervention is effective would be to monitor whether or not he/she drops out of school.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In single-case experiments,direct observation is always better than using self-report scales or available records.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Explain why it is important to obtain a stable baseline,if possible.Explain your answer in connection to threats to internal validity.
Q4) Suppose our research methods cause the client to improve.This would be termed A) unobtrusive observation. B) reactivity.
C) social-desirability bias. D) generalization of effects.
Q5) Identify the major advantages and disadvantages of each of the following single-case designs:a.AB design.b.ABAB design.c.multiple baseline design.
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Chapter 14: Program Evaluation
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Q1) Identify and explain four practical pitfalls commonly encountered when carrying out experiments and quasi-experiments in social agencies.
Q2) Describe the impact managed care has had on program evaluation.
Q3) Describe the components of a logic model that might fit a program with which you are familiar.
Q4) Discuss the value of pilot studies in program evaluation.
Q5) Which of the following statements is/are true about carrying out experiments and quasi-experiments in social agencies
A) The intervention being tested might not be implemented in the intended fashion.
B) The control condition might be contaminated by interaction between clients in the experimental and control groups.
C) Practitioners might violate the research protocol for case assignment to make sure that clients receive the intervention being evaluated.
D) Reluctance by outside agencies to refer clients might hinder obtaining a sufficient sample size.
E) All of these.
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Chapter 15: Additional Methods in Qualitative Inquiry
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Q1) Which of the following statements is true about participatory action research?
A) It is distinguished by its social action aims.
B) The researcher serves as a resource to those being studied.
C) It often involves poor people.
D) All of these.
Q2) Discuss the differences between positivist,social constructivist and empowerment standards for evaluating qualitative studies.
Q3) Field notes should record what you "know happened," NOT what you "think" has happened.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An informant is one of your colleagues who attempts to gain membership into the group being studied.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Ethnography focuses on providing detailed,accurate descriptions of the way people in a particular culture live and the way they interpret the meanings of things.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Analyzing Available Records: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
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Q1) In comparison to coding the manifest content of communication,coding the latent content
A) has a disadvantage in terms of validity.
B) has an advantage in terms of reliability.
C) is better designed for tapping the underlying meaning of communications.
D) has an advantage in terms of specificity.
Q2) Secondary analysis refers to the analysis of data collected by another researcher for a purpose similar to your research interests.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Corroboration in historical research is best done using the same type of source,NOT different types of sources.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Historical research can involve quantitative as well as qualitative methods.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of secondary analysis.
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Quantitative Data Analysis
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Q1) Coding refers to:
A) the assignment of a number or numeral to the attributes of a variable.
B) the assignment of a row in a data matrix to each questionnaire item.
C) the assignment of a number or numeral to each questionnaire item.
D) transferring variables to the computer.
E) the assignment of a variable to a computer column.
Q2) At what level of measurement is the variable ethnicity?
A) Nominal.
B) Ordinal.
C) Ratio.
D) Interval.
Q3) Whereas univariate analysis and subgroup comparisons focus on the descriptions of the people under study,the focus of bivariate analysis is on the relationships among the variables themselves.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The mean is almost always sufficient in portraying the typical case in a distribution.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 18: Qualitative Data Analysis
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Q1) The grounded theory method begins with A) Hypotheses
B) Patterns
C) Observations
D) Theory
Q2) Qualitative researchers do NOT use the computer to:
A) Record and store data
B) "Find" or "search" text for passages containing key words
C) Type code words alongside passages in their notes so that they can later search for those keywords.
D) Analyze data
E) Qualitative researchers use the computer to do all of these.
Q3) Describe how memoing,is used in qualitative analysis
Q4) The search for the intentional or unintentional meanings attached to signs is called semiotics.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Memoing is appropriate at several stages of data processing.
A)True
B)False
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