SWK6401 Social Work Practice and Evaluation

Abstract

¶The need to evaluate our social work interventions in a systematic way has become a necessity. It is essential to know empirically which interventions work with specific client systems. The first imperative is to do no harm. Responsible practitioners need to evaluate the effects of what they do, if only to protect their clients. ¶The purpose of Social Work Practice and Evaluation Research, a required generalist course, is to impart to students an understanding and appreciation of a scientific, analytic approach to building knowledge for practice and for evaluating service delivery. Students will learn the relationship between single-subject research and practice, the fundamentals of the language of social work research, the elements of research designs, data analysis techniques used in single subject research, skills required to use research literature and how to communicate research concepts. ¶Research is presented as a logical extension of service delivery, rooted in the ethical imperative not to harm clients and to ensure that the methods employed in service delivery are effective. The course demonstrates the connection between foundation practice and research in that students will learn how to objectively measure the impact of interventions taught in foundation practice. ¶The course affords students opportunity to develop quantitative and qualitative evaluative skills, especially those that can be used to assess their own practice methods and outcomes. The culminating experience of the course is an evaluative study conceptualized, formulated, designed, executed, and analyzed by the students. ¶Course lectures, readings, and lab assignments have been designed to assist students toward this end.