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Empowerment Series: Essential Research Methods for Social Work, 4th Edition

Allen Rubin, Earl R. Babbie

  • Copyright 2016
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2015-01-01T00:00:00+0000')}}
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Empowerment Series: Essential Research Methods for Social Work 4th Edition by Allen Rubin/Earl R. Babbie
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Overview

Rubin and Babbie's ESSENTIAL RESEARCH METHODS FOR SOCIAL WORK provides students with a concise introduction to research methods that offers illustrations and applications specific to the field, as well as a constant focus on the utility of social work research in social work practice. Outlines, introductions, boxed features, chapter endings with main points, review questions and exercises, and Internet exercises provide students with the information and practice they need to succeed in the course. Part of the Cengage Empowerment Series, the fourth edition is up to date and thoroughly integrates the core competencies and recommended practice behaviors outlined in the current Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) set by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

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Meet the Authors

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Allen Rubin

Allen Rubin has been doing and teaching research since 1976, when he received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught social work research at the University of Texas at Austin from 1979 through 2013 and at the University of Houston from 2013 through 2024. Renowned in social work, Dr. Rubin has written several research texts, published numerous research studies on social work practice and is a past president of the Society for Social Work and Research.

Earl R. Babbie

Dr. Earl Babbie is the Campbell Professor Emeritus in Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University in Southern California. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979 and took time off from teaching and research to write full time for eight years. He then joined the Chapman University faculty in 1987. Credited with defining research methods for the social sciences, Dr. Babbie has written several texts, including THE PRACTICE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH, as well as numerous research articles and monographs. For 25 years he has been active in the American Sociological Association, where he served on the executive committee. He is also a past president of the Pacific Sociological Association and the California Sociological Association. Dr. Babbie received his A.B. from Harvard and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

What's New

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  • NEW: This edition provides increased coverage of reliability and validity in measurement, new developments in online surveys, and intent-to-treat analysis regarding attrition in outcome studies.
  • NEW: In Chapter 2, the section on formulating an evidence-based practice (EBP) question includes examples of EBP questions about effectiveness, predictors of desirable and undesirable consequences, understanding client experiences, and assessment tools. Expanded coverage of systematic reviews and meta-analyses makes searching for evidence more feasible. There's also an expanded list of Internet sites for reviews and practice guidelines.
  • NEW: Chapter 4 has increased coverage on objectivity and paradigms. It also has significantly expanded coverage of longitudinal studies, including more discussion of panel attrition as well as content that compares cross sectional studies to the three types of longitudinal studies.
  • NEW: Chapter 14 on program evaluation includes more content on accountability, the importance of demonstrating that programs are effective and not harmful, and the connection between accountability and professional ethics. New sections cover logic models, evidence-based practice, and the utility of meta-analyses and effect-size statistics. There's also a section on the utility of pre-experimental designs, including why pre-experimental designs are commonly used in program evaluation and why their limitations are less problematic in a program evaluation context.
  • NEW: Chapter 17 on quantitative data analysis also includes expanded coverage of effect sizes, including a new section on odds ratios and risk ratios.

Features

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  • Rubin and Babbie's ESSENTIAL RESEARCH METHODS FOR SOCIAL WORK provides essential research methods content with clear, accurate coverage in a reader-friendly writing style.
  • Social work-specific illustrations and examples illustrate how students can apply research to practice.
  • The text offers a balanced presentation of quantitative and qualitative research methods, illustrating how these two methods can complement one another. It also covers mixed methods inquiry (the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods within the same study) and includes examples of each type of mixed methods design.
  • The book offers significant coverage of evidence-based practice, with a chapter completely devoted to the topic as well as discussion of this subject in various other chapters.
  • Icons in each chapter indicate how the contents pertain to the core competencies delineated in the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS).

Table of Contents

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Part I: AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY IN SOCIAL WORK.
1. Why Study Research?
2. Evidence-Based Practice.
Part II: THE RESEARCH PROCESS.
3. Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods of Inquiry.
4. Factors Influencing the Research Process.
Part III: ETHICAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES IN SOCIAL WORK RESEARCH.
5. Ethical Issues in Social Work Research.
6. Culturally Competent Research.
Part IV: PROBLEM FORMULATION AND MEASUREMENT.
7. Problem Formulation.
8. Measurement in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry.
9. Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement Instruments.
Part V: SAMPLING AND SURVEYS.
10. Surveys.
11. Sampling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches.
Part VI: DESIGNS FOR EVALUATING PROGRAMS AND PRACTICE.
12. Experiments and Quasi-Experiments.
13. Single-Case Evaluation Designs.
14. Program Evaluation.
Part VII: ADDITIONAL QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS.
15. Additional Methods in Qualitative Inquiry.
16. Analyzing Available Records: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods.
Part VIII: DATA ANALYSYS.
17. Quantitative Data Analysis.
18. Qualitative Data Analysis.
Appendix A: Using the Library.
Appendix B: Writing Research Proposals.
Appendix C: Writing Social Work Research Reports.
Appendix D: Random Numbers.
Appendix E: Using Effect Sizes to Bridge the Gap Between Research and Practice.
Glossary.
Bibliography.
Index.

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  • ISBN-10: 1305646991
  • ISBN-13: 9781305646995
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  • ISBN-10: 035769063X
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  • ISBN-10: 1305101685
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Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

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ISBN: 9781305646995
MindTapV2.0 for Rubin/Babbie's Empowerment Series: Essential Research Methods for Social Work, 4th Edition, is a personalized teaching experience with relevant assignments that guide students to analyze, apply, and improve thinking, allowing you to measure skills and outcomes with ease. MindTap provides a unique digital experience that combines all activities and assessments in an easy to use and flexible experience that engages, elevates thinking and promotes conceptual understanding. A valuable combination of quality text material paired with engaging activities prepares students to master course objectives and begin to prepare for licensure and practice. Activities are developed around helping students master skills and core concepts via case studies, videos, self-assessments, discussion, and quizzes. Analytics and reports provide a snapshot of class progress, time in course, engagement and completion rates.