Exam 8: Conducting Research That Evaluates Services

The first task in the conclusions section of the research report is to summarize the results of your study in regard to the research question.

The comparison group evaluative research design is better than the one-group pretest-posttest design because you are in a better position to ______.

Evaluative studies are different from others because evaluative studies will always have a(n) ______.

Analyzing the target behavior is most helpful for the research when selecting the ______

The one-group pretest-posttest research design addresses maturation as a threat to internal validity.

What are two of the guidelines for stating the study hypothesis for an evaluative study? Prepare a study hypothesis that fulfils this requirement.

In human service evaluation, the concept of input refers to the ______.

What should be the focus of the first sentence of the conclusions section of a research report on an evaluative study? Present an imaginary first sentence of a conclusions section that fulfills this expectation. Ans. The focus of the first sentence of the conclusions section of an evaluative research report would be the results of the study. While the conclusions section will typically have information on the strengths and limitations of the study as well as the implications of the results for social work practice, the initial focus of this section should be the results. For example, the first sentence might say "The data from this study supports the conclusion that cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in the reduction of depression for women suffering from postpartum depression."

A good definition of the target behavior in evaluative research is most helpful for the researcher in selecting the ______.

Which of the following would be considered a single-subject research design?

What is the study sample you could employ to evaluate practice in a familiar agency? What is the study population for this study? Can you generalize your study findings to the study population on a scientific basis? Explain why. What information would you need in order to generalize your findings on a logical basis?

The mechanism for determining if chance is a reasonable explanation of the data you have analyzed in regard to pretest and posttest scores for depression is ______.

Suppose you are evaluating the effectiveness of your strengths-based school social work tutoring services in the improvement of the likelihood that your at-risk middle school students will graduate from high school. You will provide your services in hourly sessions that are given three times per week for 8 weeks. These tutoring sessions will be offered by school social workers with the BSW degree. The students' grades in school will be measured as the outcome of the service. What of the following would be the best way to characterize the goal of this service?

Describe an evaluation of practice you might undertake in a given agency. What research design might you employ in this study? Does this design address maturation as a threat to internal validity? Explain why you believe that maturation should or should not be of special concern in this situation.

Practical significance is an informed opinion about whether the data results were noteworthy.

What is practical significance? What is statistical significance? Can you have practical significance from the results of your evaluative study if you do not have statistical significance? Explain.

The study hypothesis should assert causation, such as "the posttest scores for depression will be lower than the pretest scores because the treatment addresses the cause of depression."

In evaluative research, there is only one criterion for determining if your data supported your hypothesis: you can report that your data supported your study hypothesis if the data went in the predicted direction.

If your target behavior is depression, you would focus the statement of the objective on depression, and you would measure depression.

In an evaluative study, you can conclude that your service was effective if your data on client outcome ______.