Social Work
TASK
Purpose: Submit their research proposal as a final product of this course. Through this assignment, student will demonstrate that they will be able to:
- Select a researchable topic and develop problem statements and research question and hypothesis.
- Explain the use of critical thinking skills in the examination of beliefs, assumptions and generalizations when conducting social work research.
- Understand the research fundamentals and research designs to develop scientific inquiry as a producer of social work research and employ evidence-based interventions as a consumer of social work research.
- Explain how ethnic-based research is linked to African American culture and behavior.
See the following guideline and complete your research proposal.
CHAPTER I
- Problem Statement
- General Problem identifies the need for the study. Provide current statistics and research to support that the problem is real and exists NOW.
- General population group or sample who are affected by this problem are identified.
- Specific “Problem” in the given context will be proposed for your research.
- The background information needs to be included. It indicates the root of the problem being studied, its scope, and the extent to which previous studies have successfully investigated the problem, noting, in particular, where gaps exist that your study attempts to address. To narrow down and develop your inquiry to a research question, students are required to search and read the related scholarly writings.
- Purpose of the Study
- The general purpose of the study and specific study questions that you plan to investigate through this study
- specific research question and hypotheses for each specific question
- The central focus of the study
CHAPTER II
- Literature review
- After identifying the problems and research questions, you should investigate the literature thoroughly about the issue and synthesize the findings from various studies.
- Choose at least two study issues (e.g., Independent Variable and Dependent Variable) and synthesize relevant study findings about the issues using scholarly articles.
- Per each study issue, you need to include at least 5 scholarly articles.
- Provide explanations in depth rather than statistics alone.
- Afrocentric Perspective
- Description of Afrocentric Perspective (definition, core values, tenets, etc.)
- Application of Afrocentric Perspective to the selected research topic
- How can we define the problem differently?
- What strategic plan may be needed to recruit and retain more African American participant for your study given the characteristics of African American culture?
- Given your target population (e.g., African American), if the problems are viewed from their own perspective, how the social reality can be interpreted differently?
- What cultural values (or beliefs) and historical context should be considered in your research design and interpretation of the findings? Why?
