Objective: The objective of this assignment is to explore possible topics for research, to develop skills in formulating a problem, and to learn to specify a research question. This assignment provides an opportunity to think about the kinds of issues that are relevant to framing the research design project proposal you will be designing in this class. The framing of your research design project in the next assignment should build on what you learn in this assignment about formulating a research question.

Problem Statement: Think about issues or problems in an agency (your field placement, your work site, a place where you volunteer, or any other agency) which may lend themselves to research. Talk to people related to the agency (staff, clients) to help you formulate potential research areas. These issues may be related to service delivery, organizational structure, staffing or client care. Why is this problem important? Why is it important to social work? How will it contribute to the knowledge base in social work? Try to think of topics which meet the following three criteria:

1) The problem is important to your agency;

2) The problem will improve the knowledge base for social work practice in your agency; and

3) The problem will contribute to making a more effective research-based practice.

Research Question: Think about what constitutes an important question arising out of the problem that research might help answer. Tie it all together and try to come up with a specific question which can be addressed through research.

Example: Does a weekly visit from a pet decrease the level of depression among elderly nursing home residents?

Perform the following written tasks: (Answer each of the following 4 questions for each of your two topics. Each topic should take 1-2 pages.)

1) Using the criteria above, list two (2) important topics in your agency in need of research.

2) Develop a problem statement for each topic. You should address the issues raised under Problem Statement above. Be sure to indicate why the research problem is important to your agency and to social work as a profession and how empirical research can contribute to understanding them better.

3) Write a specific research question for each of the two (2) topics.

4) For each question, specify two (2) hypotheses to be studied.

(An hypothesis is a statement of what is likely to be true according to available evidence. It often takes the form of a proposition that specifies a relationship between two or more concepts or variables. For instance: weekly pet visits decrease depression among elderly nursing home residents; or weekly pet visits are related to depression levels of nursing home residents.)

(F00132Ass1.doc)