Deck 3: The Role of Ethics in Evaluations

Question 1

Craig is planning to evaluate the effectiveness of a vocational rehabilitation program. He wants to explore the proportion of clients who successfully obtain employment, as well as the duration in months that employment is maintained. Currently, the program serves 250 clients from a medium-sized metropolitan area. What is one thing that Craig can do to ensure that the evaluation appropriately incudes and represents some of the diversity of the metropolitan area?

A) Ensure measurement reliability and validity
B) Include all 250 clients in the evaluation
C) Determine how effective the program is for single-parents
D) Use an experimental method to negate issues of bias

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Ethics is important in all social work research, including evaluation studies, as the principles serve to protect research participants, or clients, from experiencing harm as a result of the research. Additionally, these principles provide guidelines for the professionals responsible for the funding, planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs and practices. What professional association establishes ethics for social workers?

A) NRA
B) MSW
C) NAACP
D) NASW

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The leadership team of Agency A is planning to evaluate the effectiveness of three of its programs. They want to ensure that the programs' clients do not experience any harm as a result of the evaluations; therefore a thorough description of the research is explained to each individual. Clients will not be included in the research if they do not explicitly agree to the terms of participation. What ethical safeguard is considered here?

A) Informed consent
B) Social justice
C) Empowerment
D) Collaboration

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Concerning the vignette and

A) Citations for the literature review
B) Results from past evaluations
C) Agency budget for next fiscal year
D) General purpose for evaluation

Question 5

Social worker students at a local college want to evaluate a women's program. They have designed the methodology to answer research questions and test hypotheses and are confident that the outcome measure will appropriately present the relevance and effectiveness of the program. Before starting the evaluation the students need to obtain approval from the college's ethical entity. What is the name of this entity?

A) Institutional standards board
B) Institutional review board
C) Office of the provost
D) NASW

Question 6

The American Evaluation Association has established ethical standards exclusively for evaluation activities. As an association, it deems five principles that serve to guide the evaluation process. One of the principles specifies that evaluators are to prevent participants from being harmed and having their privacy invaded. What is the name of this principle?

A) Respect for all people
B) Social Justice
C) Competence
D) Common sense

Question 7

Jill wants to plan an evaluation for a family preservation program. She has managed the program for six years and has completed annual evaluations for the past four. Her management philosophies, which also influence her evaluations, are to promote social justice in the provision of services. How can Jill ensure that social justice is acknowledged during the program evaluation?

A) Evaluation is qualitative
B) Evaluators are from diverse populations
C) Evaluators are completely objective
D) Evaluation takes into consideration disadvantaged groups

Question 8

A sociologist named Laud Humphries conducted a research project in 1970 named the Tearoom Trade. The goal of the research was to determine the demographics of males who engaged in same-sex behaviors. Mr. Humphries was a participant observer, whereas his role as "watch-queen" was to notify the men if law enforcement was approaching the public restroom facilities. None of the men knew his true identity as a researcher and as such his methodology involved ethical concerns. Which concern most likely occurred in the Humphries study?

A) Crime
B) Deception
C) Morals
D) Professionalism

Question 9

Researchers employed with a pharmaceutical company are studying the efficacy of one of the company's anti-depressant medications. The researchers have a substantial amount of experience as they have studied the effectiveness of many of the company's medications. The CEO of the company is thrilled when she learns that the new antidepressant is found to reduce depression. What ethical concern may be present here?

A) Psychological harm
B) Informed consent
C) Emphasis on medication
D) Conflict of interest

Question 10

Maria conducted an evaluation for a domestic violence program and found that the interventions may be harmful as some of the clients reported more violence during and after participating in the program. One client claimed that the clinician encouraged her to immediately leave her partner, and as a result she is reportedly being stalked and receiving threats from her partner. Ethically, how can Maria help this client?

A) Providing access to support services
B) Contact the program's administrators
C) Nothing, it will convolute the evaluation
D) Confront client's partner