research methods work booklet

• Technical Support
• Find My Rep

You are here

Research Methodology Best Practices for Rigorous, Credible, and Impactful Research

• Herman Aguinis - The George Washington University
• Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

SAGE 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 www.sagepub.com

Supplements

This is an interesting, fresh approach, describing the development of research methodologies throughout the years… Much better than my current textbook.

This book is easy to read and teach. Students can understand the language and be able to use it with their own research. It is both modern and has history of research within it. Overall, students would benefit in early research to using this book.

I can think of no other research methods book I've recently used that devotes this much attention to theory and I think this attention is well-deserved.

The discussion or parsimony, falsification, and precision within this book are particularly welcomed and map precisely how I teach these topics.

I like that there is a chapter devoted to making connections to theory. This is novel. I have not seen such a chapter in similar texts, and it is important. Often junior scholars ask questions for the sake of simplicity or curiosity but lack the skills to link their inquiries to theory. This chapter is a useful contribution!

A high-level but readable textbook presenting research design and methods in an approachable way. The text would be appropriate for graduate level psychology, organizational behavior, or decision sciences courses in research methods.

I would describe this book as a long-form publication that provides knowledge on methodological best practices in social and behavioral science disciplines. The writing is explicit and bridges the gap between knowledge and applicability and presents a comprehensive review of the research process from beginning to end.

The text combines research methods and statistics and could work very well for graduate-level programs with combined coursework.

• Comprehensive, ground-breaking coverage of research methods from start to finish by renowned author, editor, and researcher Herman Aguinis.
• Research Methods "Best Practices" , synthesized from decades of work on methodological research, help students and researchers conduct rigorous and impactful research, from picking research topics to disseminating research.
• Systemic chapter formats throughout detail why the particular methodological topic is important and demonstrate that the best-practice recommendations are actionable and implementable.
• Core chapter topics—such as contributing to theory, planning your research, and sampling and measurement— clearly explain basic steps while offering cutting-edge information for experienced researchers .
• Unique chapters on Transparency, Reproducibility, and Replication and Enhancing the Impact of Your Research give time-tested advice on how to best contribute to the body of knowledge in the social and behavioral science.
• Checklists and tables throughout the book help students see best practices at each stage of the research process at a glance.
• The modular approach of this text ensures instructors and readers can cover only the topics most relevant to their students and to themselves, saving time while strengthening their research.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1 How to Understand the Current Methodological Landscape

Chapter 2 How to Conduct Ethical Research

For instructors

Please select a format:

Select a Purchasing Option

Related products.

Foundations of Social Work Research

(4 reviews)

Rebecca L. Mauldin

Copyright Year: 2020

ISBN 13: 9781648169915

Publisher: Mavs Open Press

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by LaToya Smith-Jones, Adjunct Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 3/26/24

The textbook covers various topics that are familiar to the Social Work profession. There are relatable examples given within the book, which allow Social Work students to understand discussions through the lens of an actual practitioner. Each... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook covers various topics that are familiar to the Social Work profession. There are relatable examples given within the book, which allow Social Work students to understand discussions through the lens of an actual practitioner. Each section provides an area where research vocabulary is listed and reviewed, as well as examples to deepen the understanding of the vocabulary used.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information presented in the textbook is presented with accuracy. Bias was not noticed within the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The information presented within the textbook was up-to-date. Classical studies were also included in the textbook. The classical studies allow the students to understand the historical influence regarding the research process.

Clarity rating: 5

The textbook provides examples and a separate vocabulary section in order to understand the jargon and technical terminology. individuals who do not have a research background will be able to comprehend the information written.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook is consistent regarding terminology and framework. Each section builds upon the previous section.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section is broken up according to the topic of the chapter. Each chapter is broken up in sections, which allows for an easier read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The chapters are presented in a logical and clear fashion. The information presented within the textbook builds upon itself. Students are first introduced to background information regarding the topic and then they are given information regarding the application of the information shared.

Interface rating: 5

There were not any interface issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There were not any grammatical errors noted.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Information within the text was inclusive and included examples of various ethnicities and backgrounds.

The textbook is excellent to use for students who do not have a research background. The manner in which the information is presented and laid out assists with aiding students' understanding.

Reviewed by Quentin Maynard, Assistant Professor, University of Southern Indiana on 11/30/22

This text covers topics that social work students need to understand to be consumers of research. The author and contributors include current real work examples to help emphasize the different topics. Integrating the chapter on Real World Research... read more

This text covers topics that social work students need to understand to be consumers of research. The author and contributors include current real work examples to help emphasize the different topics. Integrating the chapter on Real World Research throughout the text might help emphasize to students that engaging in research is necessary to our profession, even as practitioners.

The content was accurate and error-free.

The content of the text was up-to-date and included information relevant to social work research. Since the main author solicited contributions from colleagues at their institution, updates and changes would likely be relatively straightforward.

The book seemed accessible for individuals with limited research experience. Key words were defined in the text and included in a glossary at the end of each section and the text.

The text was consistent in style and organization. Chapter subsections have specific learning objectives allowing students to know what will be covered in each chapter. Doing this reduces bloat and increases clarity for readers.

The text did not appear to be structured in a way that was overwhelming or difficult to follow.

The structure of the book was logical.

The digital pdf and the online versions of the text were intuitive and easy to navigate. I did not notice any issues with the interface in either format.

No writing or grammar errors noted.

The text is culturally sensitive. It includes a content advisory at the beginning of each chapter which allows students to be aware of specific topics (e.g., racism, sexism, and poverty) discussed or mentioned in the chapter. While this text was adapted for students at a specific university, the authors include topics that reach much farther than that audience. The examples included cover a diverse set of people and situations.

This is a comprehensive text that allows students the opportunity to learn how to be consumers of social work research. While practice evaluation might not be the scope of this text, other than the chapter on Real World Research, including discussions about how students might apply the concepts of each chapter in social work practice. The structure of the book allows students to see the research that their professors are engaging in and might make research more accessible to social work students and practitioners

Reviewed by Matt Walsh, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Marian University on 12/30/21

This textbook covers all the aspects of research you would expect for an introduction to social work research. It uses classic examples of past research to highlight the importance of ethics in research. It also does a good job of discussing... read more

This textbook covers all the aspects of research you would expect for an introduction to social work research. It uses classic examples of past research to highlight the importance of ethics in research. It also does a good job of discussing both quantitative and qualitative research as well as single system designs and program evaluation. My one critique as someone who does qualitative research is that it mentions the importance of trustworthiness and rigor in qualitative research but does not mention how a research can achieve this. However, it does go into other elements like coding and it would not be hard to provide student with supplemental materials about memoing or peer debriefing as examples and to be fair, it is hard to put everything in just one chapter.

All components are accurately described and well-written. The glossary at the end of each section is helpful for key words. The text appears to be error-free and unbiased.

There are links to recent examples which highlights the real world aspect of research.

This text is clear in its description of research and its major components. Certain aspects like causality get a little advanced for a introduction to research book but there are good visual to aid in students' understanding of some of the more complicated concepts. (Please note that I am reviewing this with BSW students in mind, MSW students may not find some of these sections as overwhelming as I suspect my students might).

The book is very well structured and consistent throughout.

The text is well structured and organized as a whole and in terms of each chapter and each section with the chapters.

The topics follow the order of most other foundational research books I have seen and have a logical flow to them.

I did not find any interface issues.

I could not see any grammatical errors.

There are good examples throughout that display an effort to have inclusivity, diversity, and equity in this text.

I feel like this book would provide students with a good understanding about research and could be used interchangeably with other foundational/introduction books on the market, especially if the professor is familiar with teaching research and has already established a good foundation (quizzes, lecture slides, assignments, activities, etc.).

Reviewed by Vivian Miller, Assistant Professor in Social Work, Bowling Green State University on 1/5/21

The text Foundations of Social Work Research covers social work research comprehensively and appropriately. Across twelve chapters, the author begins by introducing research, the science behind research and how this translates to the profession of... read more

The text Foundations of Social Work Research covers social work research comprehensively and appropriately. Across twelve chapters, the author begins by introducing research, the science behind research and how this translates to the profession of social work, and the importance of understanding research as it applies to social work practice across all system levels. In addition to comprehensive chapters, the text contains a glossary, practice behavior indices, bibliography, derivative notes, and links by each chapter.

This text is an accurate text that is error free. This text is extremely well-written and includes real-life examples, drawing on written contributions from social work faculty across practice settings and populations, as well as students at the masters and doctoral levels.

Much of research methods and the process is overall static, however the author does an incredible job to provide timely, relevant, and applicable examples throughout the text to ensure that this version will not be obsolete within a short period of time.

This text is clearly written and is easy to move through. This text contains chapters and sub-chapters. I’d recommend this book for a higher-level undergraduate program or graduate program (e.g., MSW), as there is technical terminology used. Additionally, the author provides a glossary at the back of the text, hyperlinked to each chapter on the web-version. Moreover, there are definitions highlighted at center page throughout the text.

This text is very consistent. Chapters build on one another and are written in clear order.

The use of subheadings throughout allows this text to be separated into smaller reading sections. For instance, if an instructor wanted to assign reading for “Probability sampling,” this topic can be readily extracted from the full text. A student can understand this topic area despite being separated from the text as context is provided to the reader in each sub-chapter. The use of bolded words, images, examples, and hyperlinks throughout make the text easy to separate and digest.

This text is very well-organized and moves through each section in a step-wise process building on each previous content area.

There are no interface issues in the text. Images display well, as well as key takeaway and glossary charts throughout each chapter.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

This text is culturally sensitive. Examples across all system levels (e.g., micro, messo, and macro) are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Highly recommend this text for a Social Work research course.

Table of Contents

• Chapter One: Introduction to research
• Chapter Two: Linking methods with theory
• Chapter Three: Ethics in social work research
• Chapter Four: Design and causality
• Chapter Five: Defining and measuring concepts
• Chapter Six: Sampling
• Chapter Seven: Survey research
• Chapter Eight: Experimental design
• Chapter Nine: Unique features of qualitative research
• Chapter Ten: Unobtrusive research
• Chapter Eleven: Real-world research
• Chapter Twelve: Reporting research

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This textbook was created to provide an introduction to research methods for BSW and MSW students, with particular emphasis on research and practice relevant to students at the University of Texas at Arlington. It provides an introduction to social work students to help evaluate research for evidence-based practice and design social work research projects. It can be used with its companion, A Guidebook for Social Work Literature Reviews and Research Questions by Rebecca L. Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo, or as a stand-alone textbook.

About the Contributors

Rebecca L. Mauldin , Ph.D

Contribute to this Page

Open Social Work

Building information equity in social work with open educational resources and open access to research

Open Textbooks for Social Work Education

This is a curated list of social work textbooks available at OER repositories from October 2021 conducted by Matt DeCarlo and Anne Marie Gruber. They are primarily curated for higher education in the United States. If you know of any open textbooks in social work that we may have missed, please contact us via email at this site.

These are not the only OERs relevant to social work! Please see our: – Curated list of open access books from commercial publishers . – Curated list of toolkits, workbooks, and other open educational resources. [under construction] – List of announced and forthcoming social work open textbooks

Subject headings

• Community organizing (1)
• Field education (1)
• Human development (6)
• Social science theories (4)
• International social work (2)
• Introduction to social work (2)
• Management (5)
• Communication (3)
• Substance use (3)
• Research methods (6)
• Statistics (3)
• Statistics software (4)
• School social work (2)
• Social justice (8)
• Sustainability (3)

Guides for faculty

• Teaching note: Adapting, adopting, and creating open textbooks
• Introduction to OER
• 5R’s of OER
• OER starter kit
• OER starter kit workbook
• Open Education Network training
• Rubrics for evaluating OER
• Open Textbook Library
• Pressbooks Directory
• OER Commons
• Open Education Network
• OpenEd Conference
• Rebus Community

Community organizing

The community tool box.

Millions of people use the Community Tool Box each year to get help taking action, teaching, and training others in organizing for community development. Dive in to find help assessing community needs and resources, addressing social determinants of health, engaging stakeholders, action planning, building leadership, improving cultural competency, planning an evaluation, and sustaining your efforts over time.

Field education

Succeeding at your internship: a handbook written for and with students.

There are several textbooks for students whose majors include internships in human services, broadly defi­­­ned, such as case management, counseling, criminal justice, and social work. hat work led to a structured narrative about basic practical topics, such as finding an internship, getting started there, making effective use of supervision, understanding ethics, appreciating cultural diversity, becoming competent, and completing the internship. The text includes descriptions, suggestions, and exercises. It may be used as either a primary course text or, due to its relative brevity, a supplemental one.

Human Behavior in the Social Environment

Human development, child growth and development.

This text is a presentation of how and why children grow, develop, and learn. We will look at how we change physically over time from conception through adolescence. We examine cognitive change, or how our ability to think and remember changes over the first 20 years or so of life. And we will look at how our emotions, psychological state, and social relationships change throughout childhood and adolescence.

Child, Family, and Community

Over the years researchers have found the necessity to develop theories of behavior that are specific to family settings. These theories have been developed by people with a variety of areas of emphasis, from family therapists to gerontologists to child development specialists. In this chapter we will briefly discuss six such theories: Bioecological Model, Family Systems, Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Psychological Perspectives.

Human behavior in the social environment I

This textbook will explore theoretical perspectives in Social Work to help provide a foundation for organizing thoughts about client needs and issues they are seeking supports for. Theories will then be connected to important developmental, social, and cultural issues that present throughout each stage of life to create an overall picture of a client’s experience and how we can use this information to have a better understanding of how people we work with are influenced and why. Knowledge of typical development in each stage of life will also inform the Social Worker if any other supports, resources, or services may be needed.

Human Development

This course provides a bird’s eye view of major milestones and developmental tasks during each age period, starting at conception and ending with old age. As you discover age periods that you would like to learn more about, we invite you take any of the 400-level series of developmental courses covering specific developmental periods in more depth: Infancy, Early Childhood Development, Child Psychology, Adolescent Development, and Adult Development and Aging.

Human Development Life Span

Growth and development through the lifespan including physical, social, cognitive and neurological development. This course covers topics in each of these areas and provides an overview on subjects such as day care, education, disabilities, parenting, types of families, gender identity and roles, career decisions, illnesses and treatments, aging, retirement, generativity, and dying.

Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective

This textbook introduces the idea of lifespan development from a psychological perspective.

I ntercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication examines culture as a variable in interpersonal and collective communication. It explores the opportunities and problems arising from similarities and differences in communication patterns, processes, and codes among various cultural groups. It explores cultural universals, social categorization, stereotyping and discrimination, with a focus on topics including race, ethnicity, social class, religion, gender and sexuality as they relate to communication.

Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Human Social Life

The book is supported by discussion of relevant theory and research in cultural sociology. Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Human Social Life has stressed learner-centered teaching with the instructor taking on the role of a facilitator of learning. As such, it is expected the instructor will serve as the mediator between the content of this book and learners’ understanding of material on multiple and higher levels. This book does not offer a set of rules in teaching cultural sociology, but rather suggests content and applications to consider and modify as needed by the ever-changing dynamics of instructors and learners.

Human behavior in the social environment II

These materials will help students and instructors alike explore human behavior and how it is shaped and impacted by both traditional and non-traditional paradigms. This text will also support the reader in having a deeper understanding of how the environment, in all of its complexity, can affect individuals, families, groups, and communities.

It is my hope that the information contained in this book will help you, as a future social worker, approach client systems with empathy, understanding, and a compassionate curiosity that allows for comprehensive assessment, individualized approaches to treatment, and continuity of care.

Redesigning Lives: Learning How Space Impacts Residents in Affordable Supportive Housing Initiatives

Redesigning Lives: Learning How Space Impacts Residents in Affordable Supportive Housing Initiatives is a research project funded through a SSHRC Explore Grant. This research was a collaborative venture between the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology and the Faculty of Applied Health and Community Studies at Sheridan College. The goal of this research was to look at the impact that design can make to mental health and wellbeing and community-building through the lens of affordable and supportive housing. Bringing together the strengths of the two disciplines, this research looked at physical design and how it intersects with social determinants of health (SDOH).

International Social Work

Immigrant and refugee families: global perspectives on displacement and resettlement experiences.

Immigrant and Refugee Families: Global Perspectives on Displacement and Resettlement Experiences offers an interdisciplinary perspective on immigrant and refugee families’ challenges and resilience across multiple domains, including economic, political, health, and human rights. This new edition has been revised and updated from the original 2016 edition.

Intercultural learning: Critical preparation for international student travel

Intercultural learning: Critical preparation for international student travel aims to take students beyond practical preparation, to equip them with a critical lens through which to view and understand their international experiences. The book leads students toward a deeper understanding of culture and cultural difference through an exploration of challenging concepts such as imperialism, racism, privilege and intercultural practice.

As an adjunct to traditional approaches, the book adds a significant and valuable dimension to the process of preparing students for international study, increasing the potential for meaningful and transformative learning experiences.

Introduction to Social Work

Introduction to social work at ferris state.

This book was written by MSW students as their final project for their Capstone class. Students were each assigned a chapter of the book to write to show that they had achieved competency as a Master’s level social worker. Chapters were assigned based on student interest and experience in certain areas of the field.

Social Work & Social Welfare: Modern Practice in a Diverse World

This text is intended for use in introductory social work classes at the college level. Chapter topics include the foundations and history of social work and social welfare; generalist social work; ethics and values; social policy; race & ethnicity; sex, sexism, & gender; LGBTQ+ clients; poverty and financial assistance; school social work; families and children; healthcare and disabilities; substance use; mental health; criminal justice; and older clients.

A n Open Guide to IMC [integrated marketing & communications]

This Guide has been created for those with the fewest number of resources and the smallest of budgets. It is dedicated to educators, activists, non-profits, charities, advocacy groups, and social justice leaders who are putting in the work to make our world a better place. It was created by 34 Kwantlen Polytechnic University students during the summer of 2020.

Guidelines for Improving the Effectiveness of Boards of Directors of Nonprofit Organizations

The purpose of this book is to help boards of directors of nonprofit organizations improve their performance after completing the online board self-assessment tool found at http://www.boardcheckup.com . However, it can also be used as a stand-alone resource for any board seeking to enhance its effectiveness in that it also contains the diagnostic questions on which the online tool is based.

Management Communication

Communication is the heart of business. Short emails, complex reports, private chats, impassioned pitches, formal presentations, and team meetings move information and ideas around an organization, define strategy, and drive decisions. Business communication is concise, direct, clear, and compelling.

Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax resource aligns to introductory courses in Organizational Behavior. The text presents the theory, concepts, and applications with particular emphasis on the impact that individuals and groups can have on organizational performance and culture. An array of recurring features engages students in entrepreneurial thinking, managing change, using tools/technology, and responsible management.

Principles of Management

Principles of Management  is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the introductory course on management. This is a traditional approach to management using the leading, planning, organizing, and controlling approach. Management is a broad business discipline, and the Principles of Management course covers many management areas such as human resource management and strategic management, as well as behavioral areas such as motivation. No one individual can be an expert in all areas of management, so an additional benefit of this text is that specialists in a variety of areas have authored individual chapters.

Political Ideologies and Worldviews: An Introduction

Political Ideologies and Worldviews: An Introduction takes a “pluralist” approach and, in addition to being the first open textbook on its subject, also pushes back against the Eurocentric tendencies of standard textbooks by including chapters on Indigenous worldviews and Confucianism. Providing the latest scholarship on “classical ideologies” (liberalism, conservatism, socialism, anarchism, etc.), the textbook also includes innovative chapters on populism, feminism, and multiculturalism, as well as looking at the future of ideologies in a globalized world. Joining together scholars from Canada and beyond, the text also contains discussion questions to help students and readers to think further.

Social problems: Continuity and change

Social Problems: Continuity and Change is a realistic but motivating look at the many issues that are facing our society today. As this book’s subtitle, Continuity and Change, implies, social problems are persistent, but they have also improved in the past and can be improved in the present and future, provided that our nation has the wisdom and will to address them.

State and Local Government and Politics: Prospects for Sustainability – 2nd Edition

Our book represents a unique opportunity for three generations of scholars to reflect upon and collectively consider their decades’ long research, and the meaning of that research to both the broader society and to students of contemporary politics. Nicholas Lovrich served as a graduate school mentor to Brent Steel, and Brent in turn mentored Christopher A. Simon as an undergraduate and guided him to study with Lovrich. Steel and Lovrich have collaborated on research for over 30 years, while Simon has frequently collaborated with Steel and Lovrich for nearly 20 years.

Sustaining the commons

In this book you will learn about institutions–the rules and norms that guide the interactions among us. Those rules and norms can be found from traffic rules, rules in sports, regulations on when and where alcohol can be consumed, to constitutional rules that define who can become president of the United States of America. Rules and norms guide us to cooperative outcomes of so-called collective action problems. If we rely on voluntary contributions only to get anything done, this may not lead to the best results. But research also shows that coercion of people to comply to strict rules do not necessary lead to good outcomes. What combination of sticks and carrots is needed to be successful to solve collective action problems such as sustaining the commons?

Wellbeing, freedom, and social justice: The capability approach re-examined

Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice: The Capability Approach Re-Examined is both an introduction to the capability approach and a thorough evaluation of the challenges and disputes that have engrossed the scholars who have developed it. Ingrid Robeyns offers her own illuminating and rigorously interdisciplinary interpretation, arguing that by appreciating the distinction between the general capability approach and more specific capability theories or applications we can create a powerful and flexible tool for use in a variety of academic disciplines and fields of policymaking.

The Palgrave Handbook of Family Policy

Uses a multilevel structure to combine insights on family outcomes. Examines supra-national organisations such as the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank (WB), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations (UN). Brings together representatives from various academic communities to form a coherent, interdisciplinary, cutting-edge collection

Communication

Interpersonal communication: a mindful approach to relationships.

Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships  helps readers examine their own one-on-one communicative interactions using a mindfulness lens. The writing team of Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, and Katherine Thweatt incorporates the latest communication theory and research to help students navigate everyday interpersonal interactions. The 14 chapters in this book cover topics typically taught in an undergraduate interpersonal communication course: family interactions, interpersonal dynamics, language, listening, nonverbal communication, and romantic relationships, as well as exploring emerging areas such as self-compassion, body positivity, friendships, and “the dark side”. The writing takes on a purposefully informal tone to engage readers. Each chapter is broken into different sections that have unique instructional outcomes, key takeaways, and exercises, and concludes with real-world case studies and sample quiz questions. Also included is  an extensive glossary with over 350 definitions.

Message Processing: The Science of Creating Understanding

Small Group Communication: Forming & Sustaining Teams

Small Group Communication: Forming & Sustaining Teams is an interdisciplinary textbook focused on communication in groups and teams. This textbook aims to provide students with theories, concepts, and skills they can put into practice to form and sustain successful groups across a variety of contexts.

Contemporary Families: An Equity Lens

This openly licensed text, created with students, approaches the current status of contemporary families in the U.S. from an equity lens. It asks and answers the questions “What do families need?” and “How do society and institutions support or get in the way of families getting what they need?”

Parenting & Family Diversity Issues

This book has been created for students and all individuals who work with children and families (e.g., educators, parents, caregivers, direct support workers, etc.) in diverse contexts.  It is imperative to understand how and what factors may influence child outcomes across the lifespan. Therefore, key concepts related to parenting, child-rearing, care-giving, and parenting education are outlined in this textbook to provide historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives across vast settings and developmental domains. 

A primer on social work practice evaluation: How to participate in the process of evidence-based practice

This primer supports social workers in learning the basics of evaluation as it relates to engaging in evidence-based practice at the micro, mezzo and macro levels. It is designed for students who have already had an introductory research methods course who are now engaged in an evaluation project or course.

Abnormal Psychology – 2nd Edition

The book tackles the difficult topic of mental disorders in 15 modules. This journey starts by discussing what abnormal behavior is by attempting to understand what normal behavior is. Models of abnormal psychology and clinical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment are then discussed. With these three modules completed, the authors next explore several classes of mental disorders in 5 blocks. Block 1 covers mood, trauma and stressor related, and dissociative disorders. Block 2 covers anxiety, somatic symptom, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Block 3 covers eating and substance-related and addictive disorders. Block 4 tackles schizophrenia spectrum and personality disorders. Finally, Block 5 investigates neurocognitive disorders and then ends with a discussion of contemporary issues in psychopathology. Disorders are covered by discussing their clinical presentation and DSM Criteria, epidemiology, comorbidity, etiology, and treatment options.

Introduction to Community Psychology

This textbook will show you how to comprehensively analyze, investigate, and address escalating problems of economic inequality, violence, substance abuse, homelessness, poverty, and racism. It will provide you with perspectives and tools to partner with community members and organizations to promote a fair and equitable allocation of resources and opportunities.

Social Work, Sociometry, and Psychodrama: Experiential Approaches for Group Therapists, Community Leaders, and Social Workers

Is the first book on the intersection of the fields of social work, sociometry, and psychodrama. Provides an overview of integrated sociometry and psychodrama tools into practice. Summarizes Moreno’s work on sociometry, psychodrama, and group psychotherapy.

Substance use

Drugs, health & behavior.

In this open textbook, you will find seven chapters. What are Drugs? A Brief Introduction How the Body Works in Relation to Drugs Types of Drugs Commonly Misused Prescriptions, Over The Counter Medications, and Supplements Law, Regulation, and Social Policy Use, Abuse, Addiction & Treatment Prevention

Foundations of Addiction Studies

In this book, we want to bring to life the core concepts at the heart of addiction. You may have friends or family members struggling with an addiction, or you yourself may have problems with addiction. You might be interested in working to help people in recovery, or you are simply curious to know more about this issue. Whatever the case, this book will introduce key terminology and research to help you define, discuss, diagnose, and deal with this problem.

Treatment of Addictions, Individual and Group

The Treatment of Addictions, Individual and Group Alternative Training online textbook has been developed as a resource for students in the Chemical Dependency Professional Alternative Training courses at Whatcom Community College. This online textbook hosts a variety of learning resources, such as articles, links to websites, webinars, videos, and infographics that relate to course topics. This text covers evidenced based approaches and systems of care in individual and group addiction treatment. Systems of care, historical models, healthy system recovery, and new peer supports are explored.

Domestic Violence in Immigrant Communities: Case Studies

“Domestic Violence in Immigrant Communities: Case Studies” is a freely accessible eCampus Ontario Pressbook containing case studies of immigrant women experiencing domestic violence to be used as educational materials. The book highlights the complexity of domestic violence cases in immigrant communities and the different legal processes that these women encounter in seeking justice and the challenges they face in relation to re-establishing their own lives and the lives of their children. The book contains questions for reflection; a description of legal processes involved in DV cases, and a glossary of the terms used throughout the case studies.

Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services

This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) is divided into three parts: • Part 1: A Practical Guide for the Provision of Behavioral Health Services • Part 2: An Implementation Guide for Behavioral Health Program Administrators • Part 3: A Review of the Literature

Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence & Working Together Towards a Violence Free Society

This on-line book provides a wealth of information on relationship violence focusing amongst other things on definitions; the scope of the problem, theoretical frameworks, interventions and prevention strategies. It provides information on legal statutes (Provincial; Federal and International) and contains numerous links to additional resources to inform the reader. The book also highlights some emerging issues such as the importance of cultural safety; relationship violence in the work place and on post-secondary campuses. I was also interested to read the section on male victims and the dearth of services available to this segment of the population. Similarly, the importance of engaging male perpetrators if we are to effect meaningful and lasting change at a societal level.

Trauma and Resilience Among Displaced Populations: A Sociocultural Exploration

Includes cases based on the author’s own 10-year experience working in emergency contexts with displaced populations in 11 countries across the world. Focuses on the mental health of displaced populations from a uniquely psychological, sociocultural, and ecological perspective. Provides practical applications for non-specialist professionals working with displaced populations in complex institutional systems

Research methods

Foundations of social work research.

This textbook was created to provide an introduction to research methods for BSW and MSW students, with particular emphasis on research and practice relevant to students at the University of Texas at Arlington. It provides an introduction to social work students to help evaluate research for evidence-based practice and design social work research projects. It can be used with its companion, A Guidebook for Social Work Literature Reviews and Research Questions by Rebecca L. Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo, or as a stand-alone textbook.

Graduate research methods in social work: A project-based approach

Our textbook guides graduate social work students step by step through the research process from conceptualization to dissemination. We center cultural humility, information literacy, pragmatism, and ethics and values as core components of social work research.

Scientific Inquiry in Social Work

As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author’s practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature.

Social science research: Principles, methods and practices

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. This book is based on my lecture materials developed over a decade of teaching the doctoral-level class on Research Methods at the University of South Florida. The target audience for this book includes Ph.D. and graduate students, junior researchers, and professors teaching courses on research methods, although senior researchers can also use this book as a handy and compact reference.

Research Methods in Psychology: 4th edition

A comprehensive textbook for research methods classes. A peer-reviewed inter-institutional project.

Doing Human Service Ethnography

Human service work is performed in many places – hospitals, shelters, households – and is characterised by a complex mixture of organising principles, relations and rules. Using ethnographic methods, researchers can investigate these site-specific complexities, providing multi-dimensional and compelling analyses. Bringing together both theoretical and practical material, this book shows researchers how ethnography can be carried out within human service settings. It provides an invaluable guide on how to apply ethnographic creativeness and offers a more humanistic and context-sensitive approach in the field of health and social care to generating valid knowledge about today’s service work.

A Quick Guide to Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences

This resource is intended as an easy-to-use guide for anyone who needs some quick and simple advice on quantitative aspects of research in social sciences, covering subjects such as education, sociology, business, nursing. If you area qualitative researcher who needs to venture into the world of numbers, or a student instructed to undertake a quantitative research project despite a hatred for maths, then this booklet should be a real help.

Statistics Video Textbook

This video textbook covers the main topics in an introductory statistics course. It focuses on visualizing the core logic behind how inferential testing works. The core logic is visualized by showing the relationships among three kinds of distributions: (1) distributions of observed sample data, (b) sampling distributions, and (c) population distributions. After laying the conceptual foundations (e.g., variables, histograms, z tables), the core logic is explained for the z test, t tests, ANOVAs, correlation, and regression. Chi square tests are also introduced at a basic level. The content emphasizes statistics in psychology, but its relevance is general because statistics are the same across fields.

Collaborative Statistics

Collaborative Statistics was written by Barbara Illowsky and Susan Dean, faculty members at De Anza College in Cupertino, California. The textbook was developed over several years and has been used in regular and honors-level classroom settings and in distance learning classes. Courses using this textbook have been articulated by the University of California for transfer of credit. The textbook contains full materials for course offerings, including expository text, examples, labs, homework, and projects. A Teacher’s Guide is currently available in print form and on the Connexions site at and supplemental course materials including additional problem sets and video lectures are available. The on-line text for each of these collections collections will meet the Section 508 standards for accessibility.

Statistics Software

Learning statistics with jasp.

Learning Statistics with JASP is a free textbook covering the basics of statistical inference for beginners in psychology and related applied disciplines. It uses the free software package JASP. Written in a lively, conversational style, it provides the reader with a perfect balance of readability and rigor, and gives students a modern view of statistical inference in the psychological and behavioral sciences.

Learning Statistics with R: A tutorial for psychology students and other beginners

Learning Statistics with R  covers the contents of an introductory statistics class, as typically taught to undergraduate psychology students, focusing on the use of the R statistical software. The book discusses how to get started in R as well as giving an introduction to data manipulation and writing scripts. From a statistical perspective, the book discusses descriptive statistics and graphing first, followed by chapters on probability theory, sampling and estimation, and null hypothesis testing. After introducing the theory, the book covers the analysis of contingency tables, t-tests, ANOVAs and regression. Bayesian statistics are covered at the end of the book.

Quantitative Research Methods for Political Science, Public Policy and Public Administration (With Applications in R)

The focus of this book is on using quantitative research methods to test hypotheses and build theory in political science, public policy and public administration. It is designed for advanced undergraduate courses, or introductory and intermediate graduate-level courses. The first part of the book introduces the scientific method, then covers research design, measurement, descriptive statistics, probability, inference, and basic measures of association. The second part of the book covers bivariate and multiple linear regression using the ordinary least squares, the calculus and matrix algebra that are necessary for understanding bivariate and multiple linear regression, the assumptions that underlie these methods, and then provides a short introduction to generalized linear models.

R for Data Science

This is the website for “R for Data Science”. This book will teach you how to do data science with R: You’ll learn how to get your data into R, get it into the most useful structure, transform it, visualise it and model it. In this book, you will find a practicum of skills for data science. Just as a chemist learns how to clean test tubes and stock a lab, you’ll learn how to clean data and draw plots—and many other things besides. These are the skills that allow data science to happen, and here you will find the best practices for doing each of these things with R. You’ll learn how to use the grammar of graphics, literate programming, and reproducible research to save time. You’ll also learn how to manage cognitive resources to facilitate discoveries when wrangling, visualising, and exploring data. **This Book is licensed under a No-Derivatives license that does not allow for revising, remixing…basically anything other than redistributing and accessing this resource.

SPSS 23: A Basic Tutorial

This book is intended for those who want to learn the basics of SPSS. It can be used as a text in a class or by those working independently. Each chapter has instructions that guide you through a series of problems, as well as graphics showing you what your screen should look like at various steps in the process. There are also exercises at the end of each chapter for further practice and more exercises and teaching modules are on the Teaching Resources page of the Social Science Research and Instructional Center (SSRIC) website.

School Social Work

Trauma-informed school practices: building expertise to transform schools.

The primary focus is on identifying and applying trauma-informed educator competencies needed to transform districts, schools, educators, classrooms, and the field of education itself, while also including community members such as parents and board members in these processes – a total system makeover. At the conclusion of this text, the student, educator, or mental health professional will have a deeper understanding of what trauma-informed practice requires of them. This includes practical strategies on how to transform our learning communities in response to the devastating effect of unmitigated stress and trauma on our student’s ability to learn and thrive throughout the lifespan.

Trauma Informed Behaviour Support: A Practical Guide to Developing Resilient Learners

If we want to impact the world of children who have experienced trauma then we must change not only ourselves and our classroom, but we must change our schools, our organisations, and our systems of care for children. We must all speak out for these children who have no voice to bring awareness of new educational and mental health approaches to children who will become tomorrow’s failed adults unless they receive our understanding and our help.

Social Justice

Introduction to design equity.

Why do affluent, liberal, and design-rich cities like Minneapolis have some of the biggest racial disparities in the country? How can designers help to create more equitable communities? Introduction to Design Equity, an open access book for students and professionals, maps design processes and products against equity research to highlight the pitfalls and potentials of design as a tool for building social justice.

Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies

This textbook introduces key feminist concepts and analytical frameworks used in the interdisciplinary Women, Gender, Sexualities field. It unpacks the social construction of knowledge and categories of difference, processes and structures of power and inequality, with a focus on gendered labor in the global economy, and the historical development of feminist social movements. The book emphasizes feminist sociological approaches to analyzing structures of power, drawing heavily from empirical feminist research.

Global Women’s Issues: Women in the World Today

We cannot solve global challenges unless women participate fully in efforts to find solutions. Female participation in the private sector is a crucial economic driver for societies worldwide. Economic security benefits every facet of a woman’s life, with positive effects on the health, education and vitality of families. Learn about women who are changing their societies for the better. This book is based on the twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience

Slavery to Liberation: The African American Experience gives instructors, students, and general readers a comprehensive and up-to-date account of African Americans’ cultural and political history, economic development, artistic expressiveness, and religious and philosophical worldviews in a critical framework. It offers sound interdisciplinary analysis of selected historical and contemporary issues surrounding the origins and manifestations of White supremacy in the United States. By placing race at the center of the work, the book offers significant lessons for understanding the institutional marginalization of Blacks in contemporary America and their historical resistance and perseverance.

Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities & Mental Illness: What Caregivers Need to Know

This multidisciplinary resource develops topics of interest to all those who care about and for individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and mental illness. Each chapter presents current evidence informed practice knowledge. Each topic is also presented with audio enabled text boxes emphasizing ‘Key Points for Caregivers.’ For those who are interested in background knowledge, we provided the comprehensive literature base. And, for those interested mainly in ‘what to do,’ we provided text box summaries for reading and listening.

The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction

The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction  is a peer-reviewed chronological survey of the LGBTQ fight for equal rights from the turn of the 20th century to the early 21st century. Illustrated with historical photographs, the book beautifully reveals the heroic people and key events that shaped the American LGBTQ rights movement. The book includes personal narratives to capture the lived experience from each era, as well as details of essential organizations, texts, and court cases that defined LGBTQ activism and advocacy.

Narrowed Lives: Meaning, Moral Value, and Profound Intellectual Disability

What is day-to-day life like for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities who live in group homes? How do they express their desires and wishes? How do care workers think about them and treat them? Do they have basic rights to activities most of us take for granted: activities like sociability, sexuality, and moral affirmation? Narrowed Lives is an illuminating portrait of what life is like in Finnish group homes where adults who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities live their lives. Based upon ethnographic data, it documents how care workers strive to guarantee individuality and dignity against a backdrop of scarce resources and misguided policies. This book argues that the lives of people with profound disabilities need not be determined by their impairments. It calls for a re-evaluation of disability policy so that its underlying conviction of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities as equally valuable fellow humans would materialise in practice. This novel and accessible book combines ethnography and philosophy, and will be of interest to researchers and students in disability studies, special education and philosophy, as well as parents, professionals and policy makers.

Opening Eyes onto Inclusion and Diversity

In Australia and internationally much still needs to occur to promote inclusive practices in education and society with many educators not feeling equipped to recognise or appreciate diversity or cater effectively for inclusion (Hardy & Woodcock, 2015). It is into this space that a University of Southern Queensland team of researchers, practitioners, and academics intends to contribute an open textbook “Opening Eyes onto Inclusion and Diversity”. With embedded audio–visual components, the Open Textbook is designed to enhance the quality of the reader’s experience with each chapter posing key understandings underpinning inclusion and diversity. Readers are encouraged to answer questions on culture, special learning needs, varied educational contexts, gender diversity and more. The key expected outcome of this open textbook is to engage readers in making meaning of inclusion and diversity and applying their learning to their own individual contexts.

Sustainability

Climate toolkit: a resource manual for science and action – version 2.0.

The Climate Toolkit is a resource manual designed to help the reader navigate the complex and perplexing issue of climate change by providing tools and strategies to explore the underlying science. As such it contains a collection of activities that make use of readily available on-line resources developed by research groups and public agencies. These include web-based climate models, climate data archives, interactive atlases, policy papers, and “solution” catalogs. Unlike a standard textbook, it is designed to help readers do their own climate research and devise their own perspective rather than providing them with a script to assimilate and repeat.

Community resilience to climate change: Theory, research and practice

This reader is an Open Educational Resource, meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others.

Each section of this volume includes (1) an introductory summary, (2) a reading list with full text articles, (3) student exercises meant to enhance understanding and facilitate in-class discussion, and (4) additional discussion prompts or activities for instructors to use in class. The format of materials is intended to convey key concepts, while leaving ample space for student exploration, discourse, and creativity. Lessons may culminate in an applied, imaginative final project, a sample framework of which is provided at the end of Section VI.

Sustainability: A comprehensive foundation

With “Sustainability: A Comprehensive Foundation”, first and second-year college students are introduced to this expanding new field, comprehensively exploring the essential concepts from every branch of knowledge – including engineering and the applied arts, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. As sustainability is a multi-disciplinary area of study, the text is the product of multiple authors drawn from the diverse faculty of the University of Illinois: each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field.

This text is designed to introduce the reader to the essential concepts of sustainability. This subject is of vital importance seeking as it does to uncover the principles of the long-term welfare of all the peoples of the planet but is only peripherally served by existing college textbooks.

Share this:

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Get full access to Essentials of Business Research Methods, 5th Edition and 60K+ other titles, with a free 10-day trial of O'Reilly.

There are also live events, courses curated by job role, and more.

Essentials of Business Research Methods, 5th Edition

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Book description

Essentials of Business Research Methods provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to research methods and analytical techniques for business students.

Table of contents

• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Exhibits
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Business Research for the Twenty-First Century
• 2. Overview of the Research Process
• 3. Ethics in Business Research
• 4. Defining the Research Problem and Reviewing the Literature
• 5. The Nature and Sources of Secondary Business Data
• 6. Conceptualization and Research Design
• 7. Sampling Approaches and Considerations
• 8. Methods of Collecting Primary Data
• 9. Measurement and Scaling
• 10. Questionnaire Design
• 11. Basic Data Analysis for Qualitative Research
• 12. Basic Data Analysis for Quantitative Research
• 13. Testing Hypotheses in Quantitative Research
• 14. Examining Relationships Using Correlation and Regression
• 15. Other Multivariate Techniques
• 16. Reporting and Presenting Research

Product information

• Title: Essentials of Business Research Methods, 5th Edition
• Author(s): Joe Hair Jr., Michael Page, Niek Brunsveld, Adam Merkle, Natalie Cleton
• Release date: July 2023
• Publisher(s): Routledge
• ISBN: 9781000894561

You might also like

Business research methods.

by Naval Bajpai

Business Research Methods provides students with the knowledge, understanding and necessary skills to complete a business …

"Business Research Methods, 2e, provides students with the knowledge, understanding and necessary skills to conduct business …

The Business Model Book

by Dr. Adam J. Bock, Prof. Gerard George

Business models are the beating heart of your firm's value proposition. Great business models drive rapid …

Research Methodology

by Vinod Chandra, Anand Harindran

This book offers a standardized approach for research aspirants working in the various areas. At the …

Don’t leave empty-handed

Get Mark Richards’s Software Architecture Patterns ebook to better understand how to design components—and how they should interact.

It’s yours, free.

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Research methods for social workers : an introduction

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

6 Favorites

Better World Books

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

No suitable files to display here.

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station31.cebu on July 20, 2022

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

AQA GCSE Psychology: Research Methods Workbook/Booklet

Subject: Psychology

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

30 August 2023

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

This editable 32 page workbook is perfect for independent study or guiding students throughout the lesson, for experienced and new teachers alike.

On Page 2-3 is the specification, with three faces so they can RAG rate their understanding throughout the topic. It also has a column they can tick to indicate that they have revised each area. On Pages 4-6 is a glossary which could be used as revision or in lesson as a key terms test.

On each page there is space for students to complete information or activities to demonstrate their understanding and completion of the topic.

When printing, I would recommend converting the PowerPoint to PDF as this may cause some formatting issues with some printers.

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 42%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

AQA GCSE Psychology: Research Methods Topic Bundle

This contains all 15 lessons in the Research Methods topic for AQA GCSE Psychology. It also contains a Homework booklet, a Starter booklet and the entire Research Methods Workbooklet.

AQA GCSE Psychology Paper 1 Work booklets Bundle

These workbooks are perfect for independent study or guiding students throughout the lesson, for experienced and new teachers alike. This pack includes all workbooks for Paper 1 (Memory, Perception, Development, Research Methods) and are usually priced at £2.50 each. Each one includes the specification, with three faces so they can RAG rate their understanding throughout the topic. It also has a column they can tick to indicate that they have revised each area. They also include a glossary which could be used as revision or in lesson as a key terms test. On each page there is space for students to complete information or activities to demonstrate their understanding and completion of the topic. When printing, I would recommend converting the PowerPoint to PDF as this may cause some formatting issues with some printers.

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

whitney_woo

Saved me loads of time

Empty reply does not make any sense for the end user

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Book Title: Doctoral Research Methods in Social Work

Author: Mavs Open Press

Book Description: This open educational resource is currently in development. Please be aware that there might be updates throughout the semester as we continue adding and editing content, testing for accessibility, and incorporating feedback from pilot semester(s). If you need an accessibility accommodation or have questions about the use of this text, please contact OER services at [email protected].

Book Information

Doctoral Research Methods in Social Work Copyright © by Mavs Open Press. All Rights Reserved.

Social work

This open textbook is based on the open textbook Graduate research methods in social work by Matthew DeCarlo, Cory Cummings, and Kate Agnelli. This remix is still in draft form and has not yet been published.

Unless otherwise noted, all images in the book are individually licensed. Please see image credits for additional information.

• SUGGESTED TOPICS
• The Magazine
• Newsletters
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Teams
• Work-life Balance
• The Big Idea
• Data & Visuals
• Reading Lists
• Case Selections
• HBR Learning
• Topic Feeds
• Account Settings
• Email Preferences

Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Program with Real Impact

• Emilio Marti,
• David Risi,
• Eva Schlindwein,
• Andromachi Athanasopoulou

Lessons from multinational companies that adapted their CSR practices based on local feedback and knowledge.

Exploring the critical role of experimentation in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), research on four multinational companies reveals a stark difference in CSR effectiveness. Successful companies integrate an experimental approach, constantly adapting their CSR practices based on local feedback and knowledge. This strategy fosters genuine community engagement and responsive initiatives, as seen in a mining company’s impactful HIV/AIDS program. Conversely, companies that rely on standardized, inflexible CSR methods often fail to achieve their goals, demonstrated by a failed partnership due to local corruption in another mining company. The study recommends encouraging broad employee participation in CSR and fostering a culture that values CSR’s long-term business benefits. It also suggests that sustainable investors and ESG rating agencies should focus on assessing companies’ experimental approaches to CSR, going beyond current practices to examine the involvement of diverse employees in both developing and adapting CSR initiatives. Overall, embracing a dynamic, data-driven approach to CSR is essential for meaningful social and environmental impact.

By now, almost all large companies are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR): they have CSR policies, employ CSR staff, engage in activities that aim to have a positive impact on the environment and society, and write CSR reports. However, the evolution of CSR has brought forth new challenges. A stark contrast to two decades ago, when the primary concern was the sheer neglect of CSR, the current issue lies in the ineffective execution of these practices. Why do some companies implement CSR in ways that create a positive impact on the environment and society, while others fail to do so? Our research reveals that experimentation is critical for impactful CSR, which has implications for both companies that implement CSR and companies that externally monitor these CSR activities, such as sustainable investors and ESG rating agencies.

• EM Emilio Marti is an associate professor at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His research focuses on corporate sustainability with a specific focus on sustainable investing.
• DR David Risi is a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and a habilitated lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. His research focuses on how companies organize CSR and sustainability.
• ES Eva Schlindwein is a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on how organizations navigate tensions between business and society.
• AA Andromachi Athanasopoulou is an associate professor at Queen Mary University of London and an associate fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on how individuals manage their leadership careers and make ethically charged decisions.

Partner Center