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NewSocialWorker
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March 27, 2005
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Reviewer's Comments:
Summary:
little book with big goals
Steinberg, Dominique Moyse. (2004). The Social Work Student’s Research Handbook. The Haworth Social Work Practice Press, Inc: New York, 171 pages, $39.95 hard cover, $17.95 soft cover.
Reviewed for THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER by Jerry Finn.
Handbook n : a concise reference book providing specific information about a subject or location. —Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
When I was in college, I always wanted a note taker—someone who would listen to the lectures and read the book, and then write clear, somewhat (but not too) detailed notes, that highlighted the important ideas, issues, concepts, vocabulary, and “how-to’s” in the course, especially Research Methods. I wanted a sort of Cliff Notes of the course written by someone who had enough understanding of the material to know what was important and who was comfortable enough with the material to write it in clear, understandable English. Of course, I’d have to take the course and read the text, too. The notes would be for studying and review. I mostly got my wish with The Social Work Student’s Research Handbook by Dominique Moyse Steinberg, but 30 years too late for me.
The Social Work Student’s Research Handbook is a little book with big goals, and it achieves them well. The author seeks to:
• Provide a brief handbook that can serve as a “consultant,” reminder, reference, and clarifier when conceptualizing, reading, or engaging in social work research.
• Highlight and distill “major points and choices that must be kept in mind or need to be understood in order to move from one methodological step to the next” in the social work research process.
• Reduce students’ anxiety about research through clear and organized explanation, social work-related examples, and discussion in a user-friendly, “chatty” tone.
• Provide exercises to allow self-testing and reinforcement of research methods concepts.
It is also important to be clear about what this book is not trying to do. Just as reading Macbeth in Cliff Notes is not the same as reading the original play, reading this book is not the same as reading a research methods text or taking a course. The author is not trying to teach research methods in its entirety, or to replace more detailed texts that provide greater depth in theory, practical guidelines, and examples.
The book, therefore, is intended as a supplement to research methods textbooks to reinforce concepts and provide another (more concise) way of expressing similar ideas. It is a reference to be used by social work students and practitioners when needing to review aspects of research, for example, to promote understanding of a journal article or jog the memory about research design when evaluating a program or writing a grant proposal. The brief review of statistics will be a clear and helpful reminder to many.
As promised, in 22 brief chapters, Dr. Steinberg summarizes the major ideas, vocabulary, and choices that comprise most research methods texts today. These include a discussion of:
• Problem formulation
• Literature review
• Research questions and hypothesis development
• Definition and operationalization of variables
• Research designs
• Application to practice evaluation and program evaluation
• Measurement issues of reliability and validity
• Sampling strategies and issues
• Data collection using qualitative and quantitative research
• Data analysis, including commonly used descriptive and inferential statistics.
Research ethics are not discussed, but the reader is referred to material related to ethics.
Each chapter is organized to promote ease in finding material and highlighting important topics. Chapters begin with a listing of “Key Concepts.” Topics are highlighted with subheadings, and text is kept short and precise. Outlines and diagrams are often used to enhance readability and clarity. Each chapter includes “Major Points to Remember” (a summary of a summary). Finally, each chapter ends with “Test Yourself” questions and exercises to allow students to practice the material and assess their understanding of the chapter.
The book is a clear, well-written and anxiety-minimizing “handbook” that facilitates review of social work research concepts and methods. If I could change the text to be more useful to me (and perhaps others), I would eliminate the exercises at the end of each chapter. Since this is not a textbook and many students will probably not do the exercises on their own, I would like to see more “models.” In Chapter 1, for example, I would like to see a model of good problem formulation. In Chapter 2, I’d like to see a model literature review. In each chapter, I’d like to trade the exercises for references and Internet links to good examples of what is being discussed. Providing these links on a Web site or disk would really be helpful.
This book is recommended for social work students who would like a clear, organized, concise summary of the research methods coursework. In addition, it will be useful for social workers in practice who wish to design research projects for agency evaluation or grant proposals and need a refresher on their research methods to appropriately design studies. Finally, the handbook is a useful guide to help social workers assess evidence-based practice research studies in the social science literature.
Reviewed by Jerry Finn, PhD, Temple University School of Social Administration.
This review appeared in the Winter 2005 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine.
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