SINGLE CASE RESEARCH STUDY

SOWK 625: SINGLE CASE RESEARCH
STUDY

PLO
4:
EPAS
2015 This assignments fulfills mastery for Competency 4: Engage In
Practice-informed Research and Research-informed Practice
Advanced generalist social workers
use quantitative and/or qualitative research methods to evaluate their
practice and/or agency outcomes. They apply the principles of logic,
scientific inquiry, and culturally informed and ethical approaches to enhance
social work practice. Advanced generalist social workers use evidence to
inform practice. They are able to translate research findings into effective
practice. Advanced generalist social workers:
•
Use
the evidence-based process to identify and apply effective advanced practice
intervention for all clients.
•
Use
research methods to evaluate practice effectiveness and/or agency outcomes.

•
Use
the scientific inquiry process to enhance social work practice.

INTRODUCTION

The Social Work Code of Ethics states that social workers’
primary responsibility to clients is to promote well-being. However, it is
often difficult to assess if interventions are helpful, harmful or having no
effect at all. Therefore, it will be necessary at times to conduct
single-subject case studies in the field. This assignment will prepare
students to conduct this type of research in the future.

Assignment
Summary: Design and implement a single-subject research project. This
assignment is intended to be completed by the student with the “client” being
the student. It is necessary to carry
out this study to complete this assignment, and requires you to complete a scale each week for data collection.

The paper should include all the
sections described below. It should be written in APA format using paragraphs
and citations. DO NOT simply answer the questions in bullet form. Make sure to USE THE HEADINGS LISTED IN
BOLD BELOW. Each section should be
a minimum of one paragraph, except for the literature review which should be
approximately 1-2 pages in length.

PAPER OUTLINE

Students will complete the
“Research Competence Scale for Students” (RCSS) on a weekly basis starting in
week two through week seven. This
instrument measures student perceptions and anxiety about research.
● The research question used for
this project is: “What can be done to reduce anxiety in social work students
who take research courses?”
● The research problem is: “student
anxiety about taking social work research courses”
By the end of the term, students
will complete a mixed methods, single subject design project using their own
responses on the RCSS. This will
include analysis of data collected from the instrument. Data analysis will include quantitative and
qualitative methodologies and interpretation.
A written report on the results and findings will be the product of
this project. There are six (6)
components to this project: problem description, literature review, method,
results, discussion and conclusion.
APA style writing and formatting, cover page, and citations and
references must be included. An
example paper, entitled, “The effects of a supported employment program on
psychosocial indicators for persons with severe mental illness,” can be found
at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampaper.php

Problem Description
The first part of the paper should
include a description of the issue with a brief discussion of the problem
using supporting literature (2 peer-reviewed sources). This section should also include a
hypothesis based on the research question and problem stated above.
Literature Review
Students will provide evidence of
the problem using scholarly literature and will make connections to social
work practice. A minimum of 4 articles
from peer-reviewed journals published within the last 5 years must be used for
the literature review.
Method
This section will describe the
rationale for the application of the single subject design and describe the
specific procedures (steps) for identifying, selecting and analyzing data
collected to understand the research problem.
This section of the paper should address how data was collected and
generated and how it was analyzed. The
following sub-headings should be used in this section:
Research
Design
– Mixed-Methods Single Subject Design using which type of design? (i.e. ABAB,
AB, ABA, ABAC, etc.). Describe in
detail.
Sample – this is a description of the
participant (you!)
Measure – Students will use the RCSS
instrument. Describe the instrument
and any psychometric information about the instrument. You will need to do some online research
about psychometric properties in order to write about it.
Procedure – this is a description of the
data collection method. It should be a
detailed, step-by-step description of the process.
Data
Analysis
– This is a description of how you will analyze your collected data.
Ethical
Considerations
– this is where you will discuss precautions taken to protect human subjects
and discuss researcher bias.
Results
This section should describe what
you found when you analyzed your results.
It should simply state the findings of the research arranged in a
logical sequence without bias or interpretation. There should be at least one table and one
graph in this section. Do not copy and
paste the tables from the output screen in SPSS. These tables are not formatted in APA
format. Follow APA format for tables
and graphs. Instructions for creating
APA formatted tables and figures can be found in the course readings.
Discussion
The discussion section of the
paper is where the results are interpreted and an explanation of the
significance of your findings, in light of what you already know from the
literature review, are described. This
is where you should explain new understanding or insights about the
problem. The discussion should connect
the findings with the research question and problem. It should explain how your study has moved
the understanding of the research problem forward.
Conclusion
The conclusion is not just a
summary of the main topics or restatement of the research problem. This is where a synthesis of key points
should appear, a link to social work practice can be made, and where
recommendations for future research should be stated.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Here are
some resources that might be helpful:
● Outcome-informed evidence-based
practice Text website: https://ormebook.com/

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