SW 540: Research in Social Work Practice

This course is designed to enable students to learn and develop critical thinking skills required in scientific inquiry.  Students are expected to utilize principles of logic, scientific inquiry, social work ethics, and judgment to distinguish and appraise problems; utilize scholarly literature to understand and direct their study; devise and employ an appropriate research strategy; organize, evaluate, and integrate relevant research data; and develop relevant resolutions to presented problems for the client systems being studied. The course curriculum includes an overview of the basic social research methodologies utilized within the social sciences.  Students are required to complete research projects with systems of varying sizes.  Students will also be better able to recognize the impact that diversity (i.e., race, culture, gender etc.) has on the research process as well as identify the rationale for advancing human rights and social economic justice within their practice based on their own research observations.