Social Work Research Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Researchers should test the null hypothesis.

Statistical testing works by assuming no effect or no difference (the null hypothesis) and asking whether the data are unlikely enough under that assumption to reject it. The research or alternative hypothesis is supported indirectly, by rejecting the null.

The alternative and research hypotheses state the expected effect, but they are not what the test directly evaluates. 'Statistical hypothesis' is the general term covering both the null and the alternative.

Answer: C

(A) is true but (R) is not true.

The assertion is the standard textbook definition of positivism: the view that social phenomena should be studied with the methods of the natural sciences, through observation, measurement and verification.

The reason is false. Social science research does not insist on secondary data; it uses primary data collected through surveys, interviews, observation and experiments as well as secondary sources. So only the first statement holds, which rules out both-true and both-false options and the one making only the reason true.

Answer: A

Rejecting a true null hypothesis is a Type I error.

A Type I error is a false positive: the researcher concludes there is an effect when there is none. Its probability is the significance level, alpha, often set at 0.05.

A Type II error is the reverse, failing to reject a false null hypothesis (a false negative). Sampling error is the chance difference between a sample and the population, and non-sampling errors arise from measurement, response or processing mistakes.

Answer: B

A key characteristic of the scientific method is objectivity.

Scientific inquiry aims to reach conclusions that do not depend on the researcher's personal feelings or biases, using systematic observation, measurement and procedures that others can check and repeat.

Subjectivity, the influence of personal views, is what the scientific method tries to control. Relativity and productivity are not defining characteristics of the method.

Answer: C

The key describes social work research as intervention research.

Social work is a practice profession, and its distinctive research tests and develops interventions: designing a programme or technique, trying it out and evaluating its effects. Rothman and Thomas's work on intervention research presents this as the research most characteristic of social work.

Exploratory research, survey designs and case study designs are general research types used in every social science. Social work research uses them too, but they do not capture what is distinctive about it.

Answer: C

Triangulation design is a mixed-method research design.

In Creswell and Plano Clark's typology, the triangulation (convergent) design collects quantitative and qualitative data at the same time on the same topic, then compares or merges them to see whether the two kinds of evidence confirm each other.

A purely quantitative or purely qualitative design uses one kind of data only, and a case study is a strategy that can use either. The defining feature of triangulation design is combining both kinds of data.

Answer: A

A sample of drug abusers is obtained by the snowball method.

Drug users are a hidden population with no list to sample from, and they may avoid strangers. Snowball sampling starts with a few known members and asks each to refer others, so the sample grows like a rolling snowball through their networks.

Quota sampling fills set numbers in categories, purposive sampling picks cases by judgement, and accidental (convenience) sampling takes whoever is at hand. None of them reaches a hidden population through its own contacts as snowball sampling does.

Answer: C

Social work research mostly helps in assessing the effectiveness of social work intervention.

As a practice-oriented profession, social work uses research above all to find out whether its programmes and techniques work: whether clients' situations improve, which methods are effective and how services can be improved.

Research can also refine theories, but theories, principles and values are not themselves judged by their effectiveness in the same way. The practical question research answers for social workers is whether their interventions achieve their aims.

Answer: A

Both (A) and (R) are true.

The Assertion describes experimental research: the researcher controls the independent variable directly, deciding who receives the treatment and when, and then observes the effect on the dependent variable. This direct manipulation is what makes an experiment an experiment.

The Reason describes ex-post facto research: the cause has already happened (for example, a person's gender, a past disaster or a policy already in force), so the researcher cannot manipulate it and must work backward from the observed effect to its likely cause. Both statements are correct, so options B, C and D, which call one or both untrue, are wrong.

Answer: B

Both (A) and (R) are not true.

Quantitative researchers mostly use deductive reasoning: they start from a theory, derive hypotheses, collect numerical data and test the hypotheses statistically. Inductive reasoning, building general patterns and theory up from observations, is characteristic of qualitative research such as grounded theory. So the Assertion is false.

The Reason, that they reason inductively in order to find social realities, is also not a correct statement of how or why quantitative research works; exploring social reality as people construct it is the stated aim of qualitative inquiry. With both false, options A, C and D are wrong.