You are on page 1of 38

SOAD9206 Social Work

Research in Practice Settings



Lecture 2: The Research Question
and questionnaires
Terms you will come across in
the literature:
Qualitative
Quantitative
Mixed methods

Deductive
Inductive
Deductive Approach hypothesis
Theory testing
Theorising comes before
research and research
then functions to produce
empirical evidence to test
or refute theories (May
1997:30)
Research aims at
validating an hypothesis
Build up
theory
Test
theory
Deductive hypothesis
examples
Passive smoking has a negative impact
on health
Obesity puts people at greater risk of
diabetes
CBT helps people manage mild
depression
Unemployment has a negative impact
on health
Inductive Approach Research
Question
Theory Building
one that examines
particular aspects of
social life and creates
theory in relation to
previous data
Seeks to generate
theoretical propositions
from the data collected
Observation??
research
theory
Inductive research question
examples
What are the social issues affecting
people with diabetes?
What are the needs of residents in the
area?
How do people experience our social
work service in X location?
What are the issues associated with fuel
poverty?


With inductive approaches, we are at an advantage in
social work because we are immersed in the work

It is best to begin, I think, by reminding you, the beginning
student, that the most admirable thinkers within the scholarly
community you have chosen to join do not split their work from
their lives What this means is that you must learn to use your
life experience in your intellectual work: continually to examine
and interpret it. In this sense craftsmanship is the centre of
yourself and you are personally involved in every intellectual
product upon which you may work.
- C. Wright Mills, The Sociological
Imagination
The research question is
what exactly?
The question which will guide all
aspects of the research, from its
inception to dissemination
narrows down the field of interest
Is very, very specific

Narrowing down is crucial in
creating a research question
Need to consider
Who
What
Why
When
How and so on
time
Adapted from Dunk-West 2013, p. 132
Things to consider when creating the research
question (DCruz & Jones 2006)
Why and how the research has come
about
The you in the asking (DCruz & Jones;
Alston & Bowles 1998)
Who gets to ask the questions?
Constraints such as budget, time,
availability of participants (Sarantakos
2005, p. 131)




Research Question

The investigator uses research to answer a
specific, or a number of specific questions
using a participant sample

What are the current experiences of newly
arrived refugee children in South Australia?
We will now move on to consider a
particular method questionnaires and
how to ask questions within them
In social work we are used to asking
questions, building rapport and so on
these skills are transferrable to research
questionnaire construction is a very demanding task which
requires not only methodological competence but also
extensive experience with research in general and
questioning techniques in particular (Sarantakos 2013, p.
241).
Questionnaires
Questionnaires can produce both
quantitative and qualitative data

The quantitative derives from asking
straightforward questions

The qualitative is more of an exploration
of general views
Hypothesis: university resources
meet student requirements

5- point Likert scale:


I am happy with the library facilities
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly strongly
agree agree neutral disagree
disagree
Research question: how do students
experience university resources?
Example of qualitative question:

In your own words, please tell us how you have
experienced university resources (including the
library, student areas and so on):
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________
Questionnaire Methodologies
In what social context is the questionnaire
utilised?

Face-to-face
Telephone
Online
Emailed to respondent by the researcher
Interview (structured)



Questionnaire Methodologies
Sampling within the different contexts:

Face-to-face: could be self-selecting,
snowball, opportunity
Telephone: Will generally be
opportunity, random
Websites: Self-selecting, often in
response to advertisement

Advantages of questionnaires
What is good about the questionnaire
method?

It is quick
It is cheap
It tackles what we want to measure fairly well,
as long as it is reliable and valid
Useful for reaching large numbers of
participants
Good coverage, particularly online

Problems with questionnaires
What is not so good about the
questionnaire method?
Participants can be put off long
questionnaires
May not tap into true opinions (biases,
validity)
May not reflect experience very well at all if
there are no qualitative questions (qualitative
critique)
Balance of power (researcher-participant)
Problems with questionnaires
Social desirability bias

Showing how much you know

Our empathy, helping behaviour example- we
want to show we are nice, empathic, helpful
people

Does this truly reflect how we are as people?


Problems with questionnaires
Response Acquiescence:

Just saying yes to everything!

General tendency to agree rather than
disagree

Can happen when questionnaires are very
long
Problems with questionnaires
The balance of power

Particular issue in face-to-face,
interview style questionnaires

The possibility of power imbalance
leading to biased responses
Resolving power imbalances
To help resolve the balance of power the
researcher should always:

Spend time building rapport (similar to
initial counselling sessions)- tuning in,
empathy, use social work skills
Resolving power imbalances
Resolving the imbalance of power

Treating the participant as a colleague not
a subject of experimentation (respect)-
what researchers should always
remember is that the people they have
asked are probably the experts as they
have been chosen for a specific reason
in the first place

Problems with question types
Problems with question types:

Some questions can be poorly worded
They can lead or confuse participants
This in turn leads participants to leave
sections blank and their overall
questionnaire is worthless for data
analysis

Problems with question types

Double-barrelled- I believe whaling and seal culling
should be banned

Which does the researcher want to know about-
whaling or seal culling?

Here two questions are effectively being asked in one

There is the possibility the participant has very
different views about the two areas of whaling and
seal culling
Problems with question types
Overly complex questions:

Often too long

Rule of thumb: Keep questions below
10-15 words


Problems with question types
Jargon:

Using words which the participants may
be unsure of, simply because they do
not study your subject

E.g. institutionalisation
Problems with question types
Using negatives, particularly double
negatives:

I do not think that Tony Abbott was
incorrect in his environmental policies


Problems with question types
Highly emotive language:

It is a disgrace that social workers do
not receive the money they rightly
deserve

Problems with question types
Leading questions:

As it sounds, the researcher leads the
participants to the answer

Dont you think the needs of people
would be better served if social workers
had more money?
Problems with question types
Invasion of privacy

Do you have a criminal record?

Problems with question types
Balance of scaled items (Coolican,
2004)

How much have you enjoyed the course?

Very much, quite a lot, a lot, a little, not
much, didnt like it at all


Problems with question types
Sensitivity of scale items to level of
measurement (Coolican, 2004)

Research example: want to know the
degree to which participants believe
either a female victim is PARTLY
responsible for the attack by wearing
provocative clothing, whilst alone in a
street
Problems with question types
Researcher asks the question:

Who do you think is more responsible:

The man OR
The woman?
Problems with question types
Better question:
On a scale of 1-10 (not responsible at all- entirely responsible), how
responsible for the attack do you feel was:
The man
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The woman
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Example of methods,
including questionnaire
http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/
enduringlove/methods

You might also like