Social Work Research Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The degree to which an instrument really measures what it intends to measure is validity. A test of anxiety is valid only if it measures anxiety and not something else.

Reliability is the consistency of results on repeated use, and a construct is an abstract idea that the instrument tries to measure, so neither is the answer. 'All the above' is wrong for that reason. A test can be reliable without being valid, but it cannot be valid unless it is reliable, so the two ideas are linked but distinct.

Answer: B

The sequence of steps in the research process is selection of the topic, review of literature, collection of data, analysis, interpretation and report writing. The review of literature comes before data collection, and the report is written after the results have been interpreted.

The first option puts report writing before interpretation, and the other two collect data before the review of literature, so none of them follows the proper order.

Answer: C

The key treats both statements as true and the reason as explaining the assertion. To improve the visibility of professional social work, much of its research should be action oriented. Lack of action research is not the only reason for its limited visibility, which suggests that other reasons are also at work.

The key's code is (C). The options that call the assertion or the reason false are rejected.

Answer: D

The degree of relationship between two variables is measured by Pearson's correlation coefficient, whose value shows both the strength and the direction of the linear association. The other tests answer different questions. The t-test compares the means of two groups, ANOVA compares the means of three or more groups, and the chi-square test checks whether two categorical variables are associated at all, without giving a degree on a fixed scale. For a measure of how strongly two variables move together, Pearson's r is the standard choice.

Answer: C

A pilot study is a preliminary study conducted on a limited scale before the main study, as a small trial run of the research. It lets the researcher find out whether the design, sampling and tools work and what they will cost. Testing the tools alone, as the first option says, is only one purpose of such a trial, so it is narrower than the definition. A follow-up study a year later is a different design, and a macro-level study to test the hypothesis is a full study, not a preliminary one.

Answer: B

Operationalisation of variables means making the variables measurable: an abstract concept such as poverty or morale is defined through concrete indicators so that it can be observed and counted. Making variables simple to understand is a matter of clarity, arranging them in a logical order is a matter of presentation, and making them fit for research is vague. Only the second statement describes the actual technical meaning of the term.

Answer: D

The correlation coefficient lies between +1 and -1. A value of +1 is perfect positive correlation, where the two variables rise together in exact proportion, -1 is perfect negative correlation, where one rises as the other falls, and 0 means no linear relation. The ranges 0 to +1 and 0 to -1 each cover only half of the possible values, since negative and positive correlations both occur, and +1 to +2 is impossible, because a coefficient never exceeds 1 in absolute value.

Answer: B

The sequence is studying the existing literature, synthesising ideas, analysing the findings, and generating new theories. The researcher first reviews the literature, then synthesises the ideas drawn from it into a framework, then analyses the findings of the study, and lastly builds theory out of the analysis. Placing generation of theory before analysis, as the other options do, reverses the logic since theory comes out of analysed findings.

Answer: C

Mode is a measure of central tendency, mean deviation is a measure of dispersion, chi-square tests the association of attributes, and Karl Pearson's method gives the correlation coefficient. The code is therefore (4) (2) (1) (3). The options that pair mode with dispersion or chi-square with correlation confuse the families of statistics: central tendency, dispersion, association and correlation.

Answer: B

A census collects information from every unit of the population at a given time, which is the survey method of research: the researcher gathers data directly from respondents through a structured schedule. A case study (A) examines one unit in depth, so it is not suited to counting a whole population. Quasi-experimental designs (C) test the effect of an intervention without full randomisation, and developmental research (D) studies change over time. The answer is the survey, option B.