Research

1.      Following the guidelines presented in class and below, use the library’s online search resources to conduct foursearches for peer reviewed research articles found in social science journals. One article must be policy related; one must address diversity and difference in social work practice; one must address adolescent behavior in the ecological environment; and the fourth must address social and economic justice. If you have trouble accessing the online resources, talk with the librarian. Your articles must focus on childhood through adolescence. In citing references to research, you are to follow the American Psychological Association’s (APA) format:

·         Provide complete reference information for the articles which include the author’s name, year of publication, title of article, journal name, volume number, and page numbers.

·         Briefly describe the publication policy of the journal in which your article was published.

Conduct a subject search:

·         If the article reports the results of a research study, what type of study is it?  Be as specific and complete as possible. For instance, is the research quantitative or qualitative? Is the study descriptive, correlational, or experimental?

·         Who were the participants of the study?  What is their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation if applicable, etc?  How were they selected?  Do they constitute a representative sample of the population?

·         What variables were investigated in the study?  If age was a variable, how was it investigated (e.g., cross-sectional study, longitudinal study)?

·         If the study involves quantitative data, what type of statistics were used?

Provide a one-page summary of each article. Include the following:

·         What was the study’s major hypothesis or research question?

·         What were the major conclusions?

·         What were the limitations of the study?