Discussion: Research Questions and Literature Reviews

In this week’s video, you meet Eboni Logan, a teenager who reveals that she is pregnant. Eboni explains to her social worker that no one at her school talks about methods of birth control, as their only focus is on abstinence. Imagine that you are a social worker in Eboni’s school and you begin to notice an increase in teen pregnancy. This causes you to wonder about the effectiveness of abstinence-only education. This curiosity propels you to investigate further, but you are not sure what you should do first—develop a research question or conduct a literature review.

For this Discussion, review the literature on abstinence education. View the Sessions episode on the Eboni Logan case.

Post your explanation about what should come first—the development of a research question or a thorough literature review. Justify your answer by adding your thoughts about which process you believe to be more realistic and/or appropriate, and why. Finally, describe potential consequences of deciding on a research question without conducting a review of the literature. Please use the resources to support your answer.

Logan Family Episode 1 Program Transcript

MS. WARRICK: Hi, Ebony. It’s good to see you. I saw you at the track meet. Nice job on the 100 meter dash.

EBONY: Oh, thanks. Thanks for seeing me, Ms. Warrick.

MS. WARRICK: So what’s on your mind?

EBONY: I’m pregnant.

MS. WARRICK: Are you sure?

EBONY: Two months.

MS. WARRICK: Oh, Ebony. Why? Did you want to get pregnant? Didn’t you use protection?

EBONY: Nobody talks about birth control here. All they teach is abstinence. I made a mistake.

MS. WARRICK: Do you know who the father is?

EBONY: Darion, my boyfriend. We’ve been going together for about four months. MS. WARRICK: Have you told him?

EBONY: He told me to do whatever I want to do. I know what that means, though, but he won’t say it. He thinks we’re too young to have a baby.

MS. WARRICK: Have you told your family?

EBONY: My mom. She wants me to have an abortion. Says I’ll ruin my life if I have a baby now. But not my dad. He says it’s god’s choice, not mine. I don’t know what to think. I’m all mixed up. What do you think I should do?

Assignment: Introduction to Research Proposals

Just because you thought of an interesting research question and have a desire to conduct research does not mean that your research will automatically be supported by faculty or funded by an organization. In order to gain stakeholder approval, you must submit a research proposal. Much like an outline of a paper or a treatment of a movie script, the research proposal contains several parts that begin with a research question and end with a literature review.

For this Assignment, you compile a research proposal that includes a research problem, research question, and a literature review.

For this Assignment, choose between the case studies entitled “Social Work Research: Couple Counseling” and “Social Work Research: Using Multiple Assessments.” Consider how you might select among the issues presented to formulate a research proposal.

Day 6- Submit a 5- -page research proposal stating both a research problem and a broad research question (may be either qualitative or quantitative). Use 6–10 of the most relevant literature resources to support the need for the study, define concepts, and define variables relevant to the question. Include a literature review explaining what previous research has found in relation to your problem and question. The literature review should also include a description of methods used by previous researchers. Finally, be sure to explain how your proposed study addresses a gap in existing knowledge.

References:

Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018). Research methods for social workers (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

· Review Chapter 4, “Conducting the Literature Review and Developing Research Hypothesis” (pp. 71-99)

·

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

Social Work Research: Couples Counseling

Social Work Research: Couples Counseling Social Work Research: Using Multiple Assessments

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].

· The Logan Family