SW
8103 Project Seminar I
Fall,
2003
Instructor: Denny Falk Office hours:
220
Bohannon Hall Tue,
726-8862 (office) &
by appointment
724-7407 (home) (sign
up sheet on office door)
e-mail: dfalk@d.umn.edu
Web URL: http://www.d.umn.edu/~dfalk
Research page URL:
http://www.d.umn.edu/~dfalk/research
Course
Overview
This
third course in the research sequence builds on the beginning competence of
understanding social research that was acquired in SW 8101 Introduction to
Research or in an undergraduate social work research course. This course is taken either simultaneously or
subsequent to SW 8102 Advanced Research, with both courses preparing students
to develop a research proposal that will serve as a basis for completing the
Masters Research Project. SW 8104
Project Seminar II follows this course and provides support and additional
skills for implementing the research project and writing up the report. A separate sheet explains the relationship between
SW 8101, SW 8102, SW 8103 and SW 8104 and the Masters Research Project. The relationship of this course to the rest
of the advanced generalist curriculum will be discussed in class.
The
broad goals of this course are for students to apply key research concepts to a
particular community-based research need and to successfully complete a
proposal for the Masters Research Project.
Issues addressed in this course include research topic selection,
literature reviews, formulation of research questions or hypotheses, methods of
collecting data, methods of data analysis, and research proposal
development. Upon completion of this
course, students should be able to:
1. Select a
specific, community-based research topic, and focus this topic for a research
project;
2. Complete a
literature review;
3. Formulate
specific research questions and/or hypotheses, for a research project;
4. Select an
appropriate research design, instruments, and methods of analysis;
5. Complete a
proposal for a Masters Research Project to their Supervisor’s satisfaction; and
6. Submit and
receive approval for their Institutional Review Board (Human Subjects) form.
Course Format
We
will incorporate a variety of learning activities in attempting to accomplish
the goals and objectives described above. Class sessions will be in seminar format and
involve the instructor reviewing and explaining key concepts and working with
students to apply these concepts to their research topics. A reading list appears below and an extensive
bibliography of additional readings is in the Masters Research Project Handbook.
Students will also be encouraged to participate in additional learning
activities outside of class.
Students are encouraged to participate
actively in the class. If you have ideas
on how a certain topic might be presented or addressed, please express them; if
you aware of learning resources that are not being used, please suggest
them. If we work together, I think this
can be a very interesting and rewarding class.
The
primary readings used for this course will come from:
The Masters Research Project Handbook (2003-04 Edition)
Rubin, A. and
Babbie, E. (2000). Research Methods for Social Work (4th Edition).
Weinbach, R.
W. and Grinnell, R. M. (2004). Statistics for Social Workers (6th Edition).
The
Masters Research Project Handbook k will be distributed in class and both
of the texts are available in the UMD bookstore under SW 8102. Additional readings will come from materials
provided in class or available on reserve in the library, including the
following materials:
American
Psychological Association (2001). Publication
Manual of the APA 5th Ed.).
A chapter on
“Writing a Research Proposal” by K. Moss, in Grinnell, R. W. (1988). Social
Work Research and Evaluation (3rd Edition).
Student
Evaluation
The
requirements of this course include the following:
seminar attendance
critique of previous Masters
Research (Plan B) papers
development of timetable for
research project
presentation of research topic
presentation of research
question/hypothesis
presentation of research design
presentation of final progress
report
completion of research proposal
This
course is graded on a pass-fail basis.
Satisfactory completion of each of the requirements above will be
necessary to complete the course. See
"Guidelines for Requirements" for additional information about the
bases for evaluation.
Students
may demonstrate competency related to the broad goals of this course through
alternative means by working with a learning contract. Please see Denny if you would like more
information about this option.
Policy on Incompletes, Disabilities, Evaluation of Course
and Instruction, and Ground Rules for Discussion
These policies
and practices are the same for SW 8103 as for SW 8102. Please see the syllabus for SW 8102 for
information on these topics.
Tentative
Schedule: SW 8103 Project Seminar I
Class Date Topic
1 9/2 Introduction
to the course; distribute materials
2 9/9 Overview
of the Masters Research Project Masters
Research
Handbook
3
9/16 Writing
the research proposal; working with the G88
429-444
community; formulating the research
problem R&B
1-170
4 9/23 Completing
the literature review R&B
601-631
R&B
560-600
Human
Subjects form (review on the Web prior to class); read two ap-
Preview
timetables; research topic, and research question proved Mas-
ters papers
9/30 No
class; individual consultation with Denny by appointment
Critique of previous Masters Research (Plan B) papers due
5A 10/7 Presentation
of tentative research topic; R&B
171-246
(or) Research topic form
due
5B 10/14 Timetables due
10/21 No class; individual consultation
with Denny by appointment
6A 10/28 Presentation
of tentative research question/hypothesis;
(or) Preview
research methods R&B
247-464
11/11 No class; individual consultation
with Denny by appointment
7A 11/18 Presentation of tentative
research methods W&G
all
12/2 No
class; individual consultation with Denny by appointment
8 12/9 Final
progress report; summary and conclusion;
evaluation
of the course
Final progress report form due
Masters
Research Proposal draft is due by
Note: All class members
will meet together for class sessions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8. About half of the students will meet together
for sessions 5, 6, and 7 so we will have time to discuss individual research
topics, questions, and methods more fully.
Group A will meet October 7, October 28, and November 18; and Group B
will meet October 14, November 4, and November 25. We will split students into Groups A and B in
late September.
1. Because
of the seminar nature of the course, attendance
is required at all class sessions. The
instructor also recognizes that other life events (e. g., illness) may prevent
you from attending every session. Please
schedule an individual meeting with Denny to make up for any session that you
miss.
2
You will be asked to critique
two previous Masters Research (Plan B) Papers that you read. Criteria for critiquing the paper and a form
to submit will be provided.
3. The
timetable for the research project
includes a list of the various tasks that remain for you in completing your
research project and the anticipated dates of completion for each of these
steps. Leave a column to fill in the
actual date that the step was finished.
Because of the nature of the research process, the timetable is usually
a dynamic guide that changes as the time required to complete the research
tasks become clearer. A sample will be
provided in class.
4. You
will be asked to present your research
topic in class and turn in a copy of
a completed form used to organize your thinking about the topic. You will be asked to describe the general
topic of your research and to identify and define key concepts associated with
this research topic.
5. The
research question/hypothesis will be
presented to a group in class and handed in to the instructor. Criteria for a quality research
question/hypothesis will be discussed in class.
6. The presentation of the research methods involves describing the tentative 1) population
and sample, 2) general research design, 3) data collection procedure, and 4)
data analysis plan that you could use in you research project. A form to turn in to the instructor will be
provided, and this requirement will be discussed further in class.
7. The presentations
of a final progress report describe the progress the student has made in
completing the research project according to the timetable developed. The report includes a discussion of
limitations or difficulties encountered and how these were addressed. The focus is not so much on whether or not
one is rigidly adhering to the timetable, but rather on providing an
opportunity to be affirmed for the progress made and to receive support for
moving on to the next steps.
8 The
research proposal will be completed when the criteria for a proposal in the
Masters Research Handbook (or the separate handout) have been achieved. Students who plan to complete the Masters
requirement through completion of an expanded Personal Practice Model do not
have to work with an agency to develop the research proposal and will be able
to complete an abbreviated proposal for this course. The research proposal in particular will be
discussed more extensively in class.
Each of the items described briefly above will be discussed in class and can be clarified further in discussions with Denny. Forms and samples will be provided for most requirements.