Clinical Social Work Research

Hi All -

Here is how to authenticate your license for SPSS

(1) Launch the license wizard by going to Start on your PC and then find SPSS. Then drag your cursor over and you should see "Launch License Wizard." Click on that.
(2) That should launch the wizard and you should see a button that says "Start." Click it.
(3) A screen should show up that says "Use the Authorization code that you received with the product ..." There should be a box that says "Methods" with 4 choices. Choose "Use Authorization via Internet to get License." Your authorization code is the one I handed out on the sheet in class yesterday. If you didn't get the sheet or you lost it, talk to a classmate to get the code.
(4) Click the "Next >" button at the bottom of the screen
(5) You should now see a screen that has the phrase "Your SPSS product can be authorized for you by directly connecting ...."
(6) In the Authorization Code box on this screen enter the code I handed out in class. Be sure to type it exactly as shown. It is case sensistive. This should activate the "Next > " button and allow you to click it.
(7) Click the "Next >" button at the bottom of the screen.
(8) You should see the message "You have successfully licensed your SPSS product ... Click the "Finish" button ...
(9) Click the "Finish" button and you are now done.

If you do not have access to the internet on your machine, then you need to choose (in step 3 above) "Use Authorization via Phone to get License." This will open up a screen that will tell you exactly what telephone number to call and what to tell them when you get someone. The SPSS phone number, in case it doesn't show up on your screen, is 800-521-1337 and tell them that you are attempting to authorize your license. They will ask you for the lock code displayed on your screen. Tell them that code and then tell them the authorization code I gave you. They will then tell you what license code to enter. Enter it and hit "Next >." You will then be at step 8 above. Follow the rest of the steps.

At this point, you may close the wizard.

Posted by tmwitten at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi Everyone -

Well, here we are, already through Lecture 5 (one third of the way through the first semester of your 2nd year). Who would have thought it! So, let's summarize what we have completed to this point.

(1) We have gone over the basics of how to do a literature search. We have covered VCU literature searching, literature searching on the web through Highwire and PubMed, general and specific internet search engines and internet metasearch engines of different kinds. You should now have a solid grip on how to use these basic methods and be able to use such search engines as Highwire, PubMed, Ovid, InfoTrak, Silver Platter, WebSpirs and such internet engines as Dogpile, Clusty, Kartoo and Exalead.

(2) We have gone over the essence of what research is all about and the basic stages of research. You should be able to summarize the steps involved in research and what the important factors are associated with each of those steps.

(3) We have briefly covered the history of ethical issues in research and talked about some of the ethical problems arising in research. You have been answering weekly dilemmas addressing some of those issues and you have been pursuing the completion of your CITI examination or have already completed it by now.

(4) We have focused on the formulation of a general research question, narrowing the research question, creation of the null hypothesis (the hypothesis of no change/difference) and the alternate hypothesis (the hypothesis of difference or change) and we have focused on how to correctly state these so that they are scientifically sound.

(5) We have been introduced to the basics of SPSS. In particular, we now know how to open SPSS and examine the data and the variable pages. On the variable page, we know what the various columns mean and the very barest of basics of how to enter the variable information for each of those columns.

So, as you can see, you have learned quite a bit in a short time. Remember, I am here if you need help. Don't forget, your Step 1 - Preparing the IRB Proposal paper is due this coming week.

Have a great week
Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi Everyone-

Hopefully, by this time, you have completed the following items:

(1) Formalized a general research question
(2) Narrowed the research question
(3) Gathered literature citations in support of your research question
(4) Developed a "because" theory statement
(5) And begun to construct your null and alternate hypothesis statement

In the construction of these items, you have thought about feasibility, ethical issues related to your study, and addressed any problems associated with trying to carry out the study at your field placement if you are using field placement as part of the study. In addition, you have thought about what variables are the independent and dependent variables, what could confound your study, and what instruments you will use to perform your study (should you need instruments). As you have been reading the articles, you have been examining the "How to Read a Scientific Article" handout (it's in your syllabus) and begun to be more familiar with the kinds of questions to ask about a research project and how these questions apply to your own research project development. This unification of all of these ideas is the essence of what you should have taken home from the first four course classes. Some of you may feel a bit panicky about where you are with your work. Not to worry! We will be spending time in Lecture 5 finalizing things and I will work with you as needed.

Have a great day
Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi All-

LAST CALL - All web links due today (Friday).

(1) Continue to work on your CITI examination. When you receive your certificate, copy it and bring a copy to me.

(2) Narrow down your two research questions even more. Pick one of them and write a hypothesis statement for your question. Make sure that you have a theory that you have elaborated. See the blog page Lecture 3 - Take Home Message for a very simple example. Bring this question, theory, and hypothesis to class for further discussion.

(3) For those of you wanting to do a qualitative study, make sure that you see me before the next class.

(4) Continue to develop your literature research. In particular, begin to collate your references together in a bibliography that is in APA format. If you do not have the APA style guide, you will need to purchase it at the bookstore or find a copy of it.

(5) Review the requirements for completing your Step 1 Preparing the IRB Proposal Packet. This is found on pages 29-30 of the syllabus. Remember, your Step 1 paper is due on 3 October.

(6) Make sure you submit your Week 3 Lecture Evaluation.

(7) Make sure you submit your response to the Week 4 Research Dilemma.

(8) Bring your Article Review Guidelines (which are in your syllabus) to class.

(9) Continue to look over last week's notes so that we can continue our discussion.

Posted by tmwitten at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi Everyone-

This is a reminder to get your lecture evaluations in. I still haven't received a number of them.

A number of you have asked me to go into some more detail on "metaphors of reality." So, here we go. Consider that there are the following potential realities:

(1) Absolute Reality , which assumes that there is an absolute truth that is knowable in some way. Some people think of this as "God's" reality and therefore it is unknowable. But, for the purpose of hypothetical discussion, let's assume that such a thing does exist and may or may not be knowable by an individual.

(2) Consensus Reality , which assumes that if you put enough people in a room at the same time and ask them questions about an event that was commonly experienced and that happened in the room, most of the people will tend to agree on a certain answer.

(3) Individual Reality , which assumes that each person has an individual or personal understanding of how the world functions.

How that individual reality is internalized and then constructed through rules and categories is called an individual's "metaphor of reality." It is important to understand metaphors of reality because it is how we operate in the world. For example, one metaphor that is commonly used is "argument = war". Example, "I won that debate" or "He had cutting remarks to say" or "I rolled over his arguments like a tank." Another metaphor that is commonly used is "time = money." Example, "That cost me hours of work" or "He spent his time fiddling around." These are metaphors that we have absorbed without realizing it. We use them unconsciously. How our metaphors of reality influence our construction of research questions, hypotheses, and how we unconsciously interpret our results within those metaphors is an important understanding we, as researchers, must be aware of.

Hope that helps. See you all in class. And, the Preparing for Week 4 is now available.

Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hi All -

Today's take home messages are:

(1) Metaphors of reality. How we see the world is brought to the table when we formulate our research question, our hypotheses, and the way we carry out our research. It is critical to be aware of self when doing research.

(2) Nothing about us, without us. When carrying out research, thinking about your question as it relates to the group under study is important. Is the question important to you? Is it important to the group? How important is group input to your study, before you start? Do you need to do a focus group first?

(3) Narrow, tight questions. Once you have formulated a question, narrow it down in a focused way so that you can carry out the research in a short period of time. Look at the class slide in which we taked about different ways to narrow down a question.

(4) Feasibility. Just because you have the question, and just because it might be relevant, doesn't mean you can carry it out in 10 or so weeks. Remember, that's basically all you have. Think about such details as getting the data (sample size, recruitment), inputing data (complex surveys take time to input), analyzing the data, writing up the results, preparing the work for presentation.

(5) Theory. Don't forget to answer the because question. Your question and hypothesis need to be grounded in a theory. The theory arises from understanding the literature that you have gotten from your literature research and then subsequently have read. For example, you might say something like this - "I think that self-reported quality of life (as measured by the ABCD QOL scale) in African-American female nursing home residents over the age of 75 years will be better than a comparable age-matched Caucasian group because, in a similar study of .... by Jakobs and Lee (1999), they found that ..."

(6) Hypotheses. Remember, a hypothesis statement contains two parts, H0 - the hypothesis of no change and HA - the hypothesis of change. Hypotheses are necessary in order for us to ask highly focused questions that are then testable using statistical methods. As you progress from your general question to a narrower question to a theory and hypothesis, use the material in class to guide you so that you have a tightly focused hypothesis statement.

(7) Continue to carry out your literature review. Now that you are focusing, you may want to consider revisiting the literature to obtain articles that more reasonably address the focused questions you are forming. Remember, Ovid allows you to make merges/joins in queries. You may now wish to make use of that feature to help you obtain the literature you will need.

Posted by tmwitten at 07:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings All-
I hope that you have all finished and submitted your first 3 research dilemmas.
(1) All dilemmas must be submitted by the beginning of class 3. After that, none of the first 3 dilemmas will be accepted.
(2) Also due by email are your 5 websites related to your area(s) of research interest.
(3) Remember to bring your research questions with you. You will be needing these for class.
(4) Lastly, please remember to bring your syllabus or the "How to Read A Scientific Article" part of the syllabus with you for class today.

I will be at least 15 minutes late for class. Please wait for me. I am coming from the medical campus and will not be able to predict the bus schedules. I will hold class as soon as I get there. So please all wait.

Thanks
Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings Everyone-
I hope that all of you had a nice "break" and that you are now all digging back into your research work. Remember to:

(1) Identify 5 websites relevant to your research and not already in the Links list and submit them to twitten@vcu.edu. Make sure to submit both the name of the site and a web address for each of your five sites.

(2) Explore the various websites on the Links page and continue to work with the various web literature search and web search tools we discussed in the previous class. Focus on finding literature related to you ideas for research projects.

(3) Continue to read one of the 3 articles on Social Work and research from the Week 2 Downloads Section on the Week 2 Schedule page and prepare to discuss in class.

(4) Make sure to submit your response to the Research Dilemma for Week 2 and 3 before coming to class next week.

(5) Prepare your 3 research questions that you might like to investigate. Write them out and bring them to class for discussion.

(6) Continue progress on your CITI examination/certification

(7) Use the different search engines we discussed, especially OVID, Highwire, Pubmed, JSTOR, Google Scholar and some of the metasearch engines like Kartoo, Dogpile and Exalead to look for literature on your subject areas of interest

(8) Some of you have not completed submission of your Week 1 Research Dilemma or your Week 1 Lecture 1 Evaluation. Please also submit your Demography and Math Anxiety questionniares if you have not already done so. Please get this done asap.

Keep your heads focused and above water. Email me with problems or discussion or questions at any time. And above all, hang in there. You will do fine. And, guess what, it looks like Tarynn is going to have to take the CITI examination along with you to get recertified. So we are all in the same boat together on that one.

Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greetings Everyone -

The core course faculty have discussed the idea of doing qualitative research projects and have come to the decision that we will support these projects as well. I have been told that there is a way to do them without using software for analysis. Hence, I am also encouraged that such projects could be carried out. For those of you who are interested in pursuing a qualitative project, please contact me directly via email and we will discuss how to proceed.

Tarynn

Posted by tmwitten at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)