Is schizophrenia an important issue in treating older adults in the community (broad, non-specific, not clear)?

The topic of Research is
1. is providing housing first model actually making a difference in the homeless population
2. people who are homeless usually have a dual diagnosis makings services hard to be received and given.

First, what is the
difference between a research question and a hypothesis. Well, a research
question “explains” the purpose of your research proposal. In other
words, what issue or problem are you trying to answer by completing your
program or practice evaluation? A hypothesis is more specific than a research
question and “predicts” something in your research proposal based on
specific hypothesis statements. These hypothesis statements identifies
what problem or issue you are trying to answer in your program or practice
evaluation.
Now let’s talk about the
more specific components of each…….

Research Questions
A majority of students
tend to make the same mistake when developing a research question for their
study. More specifically, they tend to develop research questions that are
topics (and not a research question), too broad, not based on observable
evidence, not relevant to social work, not feasible, that have already been
answered, and that do not express a relationship between two or more concepts.
Let’s take a look at some
of the characteristics of good research questions below, in addition to some
bad examples of research questions. More specifically, the left column
includes characteristics of good research questions and the right column includes
examples of bad research questions.

Characteristics of Good
Research Questions

Examples of Bad
Research Questions

Research questions should be a question not a
topic.

The treatment of older adults with schizophrenia
(topic, not a research question).

Research questions need to be narrow, specific,
and clearly stated.

Is schizophrenia an important issue in treating older
adults in the community (broad, non-specific, not clear)?

Research questions need to be posed in a way that can
be answered by observable evidence.

Should older adults with schizophrenia receive free
healthcare (not based on observable evidence; value judgment)?

Research questions should have potential relevance for
guiding social work practice and policy.

Can older adults who receive in-patient treatment for
schizophrenia fly a kite (not relevant to social work practice or policy)?

Research questions should be feasible to
answer.

Do older adults who are homeless and receive treatment
for 10 years adjust better to the community (not feasible; large scope; too
much time to complete)?

Research questions should pose a problem which
has not already been successfully answered by you or someone
else.

Do older adults who have Medicare insurance live
healthier lifestyles (already been answered)?

Research questions should express a relationship between
two or more concepts (e.g., is A related to B? How are A and B related to B
under conditions C and D?).

The treatment of older adults who are homeless (does
not express relationship between two or more concepts).

From the above Table,
hopefully you can get a better understanding of how to develop a proper
research question. Keep in mind that as you write this research question you
need to think about whether you plan to complete a program or practice
evaluation next term for the SWK-662 course. Take a look below at how your
research question would be developed depending on whether you plan to choose a
program or practice evaluation.

Research Question
(Program Evaluation) vs. Research Question (Practice Evaluation)

Does the No
Drug Program at the Horizons Center help to reduce drug use of
residents?
Does the Feel
Safe Program at St. Peters Residential Program help to reduce “cutting”
behavior of the residents?
Do the
employees at Franklin Hospital believe that the Employee Empowerment
program is being implemented properly?

Does client X
reduce drug use after receiving a cognitive-behavioral intervention at
the Horizon Center?
Does client Z
reduce “cutting” behavior after receiving a solution-focused
intervention at the St. Peters Residential Program?
Does employee
Y feel more empowered after being involved with the Employee Empowerment
Program at Franklin Hospital?

From the examples given
above in the two columns you should be able to see the difference between
writing a research question for a program evaluation and practice evaluation. A
program evaluation has a broader focus that includes evaluating an actual program
within an agency and a practice evaluation is specific to one (or sometimes two
or more clients within an agency). Keep in mind that a properly constructed
research question will make it much easier for the person reading your research
proposal to understand what you are trying to achieve.
Regardless of whether you
choose to write a research question for a program or practice evaluation during
this course, you can always change it later on during the SWK-662 course.
Now let’s get to know a
little more about how to develop a proper hypothesis….
Hypotheses
Below are eight of the
most important characteristics that should be included in the development of a
proper hypothesis.
1.
Hypothesis should be testable statements
about probable relationships among independent and dependent
variables.
2.
Hypotheses should be translatable into
operational definitions. Remember that each term in your hypothesis will need
to be made operational for testing.
3.
Hypotheses are statements you have reason to
believe are true but for which there is inadequate evidence (That is
the uncertainty factor).
4.
Hypotheses must be specific. Do not
settle for a general hypothesis if it can be broken into more precise
sub-hypotheses.
5.
Hypotheses can only be confirmed by
the presence of evidence; they cannot be refuted on the basis of
lack of evidence.
6.
The criterion for confirming your hypotheses needs to
be clear.
7.
Try to relate your hypothesis to the
exiting body of knowledge on the subject so you can build on
and contribute to it.
8.
Hypotheses are stronger when based on
theories stated in general terms and previous empirical studies.
From the aforementioned
information about hypotheses, you should be able to get a better understanding
of how to develop a proper hypothesis. Keep in mind that as you write this
hypothesis you need to think about whether you plan to complete a program or
practice evaluation next term for the SWK-662 course. Consider the information
below about how your hypothesis will be developed depending on whether you plan
to choose a program or practice evaluation.

Hypothesis (Program
Evaluation)

Hypothesis (Practice
Evaluation)

The residents
at the Horizon Center who receive 8 weeks of the No Drug Program will
have significantly fewer positive drug screens compared to residents at
the Horizon Center who do not receive the 8-week No Drug Program
The residents
at the St. Peters Residential Program who receive 12 weeks of the Feel
Safe Program will have significantly fewer “cutting’ incidents compared
to residents at the St. Peters Residential Program who do not receive
the 12-week Feel Safe Program.

Client X will
have significantly fewer positive drug screens after receiving an 8-week
cognitive-behavioral intervention compared to before receiving the
8-week cognitive-behavioral intervention (hypothesis for a practice
evaluation).
Client Z will
have significantly fewer “cutting” incidents after receiving a 6-week
solution-focused intervention compared to before receiving the 6-week
solution-focused intervention (hypothesis for a practice evaluation).

From the examples given
above in the two columns you should be able to see the difference between
writing a hypothesis for a program evaluation and practice evaluation. A
program evaluation has a broader focus that includes evaluating multiple
participants within an agency and a practice evaluation is specific to one (or
sometimes two or more clients within an agency). Keep in mind that a properly
constructed hypothesis will make it much easier for the person reading your
research proposal to understand what you are trying to “predict” in your
research study.
Regardless of whether you
choose to write a hypothesis for a program or practice evaluation during this
course, you can always change it later on during the SWK-662 course.
After developing your
hypothesis, you have a couple of more steps that you need to complete which
include:
1.
Identifying your independent variable (IV);
2.
Identifying your dependent variable (DV);
3.
Defining your IV; and
4.
Defining your DV
Identifying your
Independent and Dependent Variables
Generally, in research, a
variable is something that you can manipulate and measure. The IV is a
variable that is being manipulated by the researcher in order to observe its
effects on the DV (almost always the research problem that you identified). The
IV is almost always the program (for a program evaluation) or intervention (for
a practice evaluation). The DV is a variable that is “dependent” on the IV. The
DV is almost always the research problem that you identified during the problem
formulation process (e.g., drug use, suicidal behavior, or lack of employment).
Below are the same
hypotheses from above, except this time the IV and DV are in bold for each:
·
The residents at the Horizon Center who receive 8
weeks of the No Drug Program (IV) will have significantly
fewer positive drug screens (DV) compared to residents at the
Horizon Center who do not receive the 8-week No Drug Program;
·
The residents at the St. Peters Residential Program who
receive 12 weeks of the Feel Safe Program (IV) will have
significantly fewer “cutting” incidents (DV) compared to
residents at the St. Peters Residential Program who do not receive the 12-week
Feel Safe Program;
·
Client X will have significantly fewer positive
drug screens (DV) after receiving an 8-week
cognitive-behavioral intervention (IV) compared to before receiving
the 8-week cognitive-behavioral intervention (hypothesis for a practice
evaluation); and
·
Client Z will have significantly fewer “cutting”
incidents (DV) after receiving a 6-week solution-focused
intervention (IV) compared to before receiving the 6-week
solution-focused intervention (hypothesis for a practice evaluation).
From the examples above,
you should be able to see that the IV . You should also be able to see
that the DV in all the examples above (i.e., program & practice evaluation)
is the research problem.
Defining your Independent
and Dependent Variables
Now that you have a
better understanding about how to identify both your IV and DV, it is time to
“operationally define” each one. The operational definitions are
going to help you and the reader to better understand how you plan to “measure”
the concepts you are trying to study. More specifically, the concepts
you identified in your hypothesis are usually broad and abstract. These concepts
will need to be better understood and measured at some point in the data
process, and so you will need to make these concepts more specific and
concrete, especially for the dependent variable. The concepts in your
hypothesis can be explained and measured using a number of operational
definitions, and so you need to decide how you plan to “actually” explain and
measure your variables.
Now, take a look at the
hypothesis below and I can walk you through the process of identifying your IV,
DV, and then operationally defining both the IV and DV:
“The residents at the
SPARC Center who receive 6 weeks of the No Drug Program will
have significantly lower levels of drug use compared to
residents at the SPARC Center who do not receive the 6-week No Drug Program.”
First, you need to identify
your IV and DV of the above hypothesis. Remember, earlier we said that your IV
is either the program (for program evaluation) or intervention (for practice
evaluation) that is being manipulated by the researcher. So, from the
hypothesis it should be easy to see that the IV is the No Drug Program.
Earlier we also said that the DV would be the research problem that you
identified, and so this would be the levels of drug use.
Second, now that you
identified both the IV and DV you need to operationally define them. For the IV
you could operationally define it as 6 weeks of the No Drug
Program that includes 6 weeks of a CBT intervention that will help residents to
work on their thinking and behavior toward drug use. In the case of the DV you
could operationally define the level of drug use as the amount urine screens
that come back positive for each resident. You could also measure levels of
drug use by asking family members.
Below are more examples
of research concepts and how you could potentially operationally define each
one:

Research Concept (& Type of Variable)

Operational Definition

Empowerment Program (IV)

Residents receive 6-weeks counseling to help them
become more empowered, followed by 2-weeks of groups to work on their
interaction skills

Safeway Program (IV)

Clients receive 6-weeks of individual counseling while
at the same time receiving 6-weeks of group counseling.

Women’s Growth Program (IV)

Clients connect with and spend time with another female
resident for 4-weeks followed by 4-weeks of group counseling.

Levels of Anxiety (DV)

Measured with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

Levels of Depression (DV)

Measured with the Beck Depression Inventory

Domestic Violence

Have clients complete a Domestic Violence Questionnaire
(DVQ asking about their experiences with domestic violence.

Upon successful
completion of this discussion, you will be able to:
·
Analyze quantitative and qualitative research methods and
research findings (PLO 4; ILO 6)
·
Synthesize information from a variety of sources to
purposefully plan and develop a research practice focus (PLO 4; ILO 6)

Resources
·
Textbook: Social Work Research Proposals: A
Workbook – Section 7
·
File: Research Proposal I Guide,
Page 10

1.
Review the rubric to make sure you understand the
criteria for earning your grade.
2.
Develop at least two research questions and two hypotheses
directly related to the content you have completed so far in this course. When
constructing your questions and hypotheses, consider the guidelines stated in
the “Introduction” section of this Discussion;
3.
Respond to at least two other students and give them
feedback on each of their research questions and hypotheses. As part of
this feedback, pick what you believe to be the strongest research question and
hypothesis and let the student know why you believe it is the strongest
research question and hypothesis;
4.
For your hypothesis, you will need to identify both the
independent variable (IV) and dependent variables (DV), in addition to
identifying and defining your operational definitions of both your IV and DV;
and
5.
Post your actual research question and hypothesis that
you chose to the discussion board.

Last Completed Projects