Quantitative Methods for Social Work Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
Quantitative Methods for Social Work provides students with a foundational understanding of statistical tools and research methodologies essential for evidence-based social work practice. The course covers core concepts such as measurement, sampling, hypothesis testing, data collection, and data analysis, with a focus on interpreting and applying quantitative findings to real-world social problems. Emphasizing ethical considerations and cultural competence, the course prepares students to critically evaluate research, assess the validity of findings, and use quantitative evidence to inform policy, practice, and advocacy in diverse social work settings.
Recommended Textbook
Essential Research Methods for Social Work 4th Edition by Allen Rubin
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554 Verified Questions
554 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Why Study Research?
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Sample Questions
Q1) Science offers total protection against the errors that nonscientists commit in casual,day-to-day inquiry.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Almost all research studies on social work practice effectiveness have agreed that it is very effective.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Explain what is meant by the statement,"Tradition and authority are the two-edged swords in the search for knowledge about the world."
Answer: No Answer
Q4) If a research study gets published practitioners can be guided by just reading its conclusions; there is no need to read the technical aspects of the study's research methods.
A)True
B)False Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Evidence-Based Practice: The Research Process
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Q1) The term evidence-based practice is an extension of the term evidence-based medicine,which predated it.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Practitioners engaged in evidence-based practice will:
A)be critical thinkers.
B)track down evidence as an ongoing lifelong part of their practice.
C)question things that are based on tradition or authority.
D)think for themselves as to the logic and evidence supporting what others may convey as practice wisdom.
E)All of these.
Answer: E
Q3) If an intervention has been supported by the best evidence,then it is safe to assume that it will be effective with a particular client.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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4
Chapter 3: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods of Inquiry
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Q1) The key feature of the social justice mixed methods design is the requirement that qualitative inquiry must precede quantitative inquiry.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Which of the following statements is true about the data interpretation phase in mixed methods studies?
A)An appropriate data analysis will always provide only one possible correct interpretation.
B)Judgments about the meaning of the findings are inappropriate.
C)Some proper data analyses yield findings that could be interpreted by rival explanations.
D)Good studies never need to have methodological limitations mentioned during the data interpretation phase.
Answer: C
Q3) Qualitative research methods are compatible with quantitative research methods. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Factors Influencing the Research Process
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Q1) How are theory and research linked? Give examples.
Q2) Explain how a study could be conducted within the critical social science paradigm using research methods associated with the positivist paradigm.
Q3) Descriptive research answers the question "what's so" and explanatory research answers the question "why."
A)True
B)False
Q4) In deduction we start from observed data and develop a generalization that explains the relationship between the observed concepts.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Critical social science researchers view research as a way to marshal ammunition in support of their social change efforts.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Discuss how two social work practice models might lead to different research studies about school social work with children who are disruptive in the classroom.
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Chapter 5: Ethical Issues in Social Work Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) The NASW Code of Ethics stipulates that social workers should:
A)use research to guide their practice.
B)critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work.
C)base practice on empirically based knowledge.
D)All of these.
E)None of these.
Q2) Science can be affected by political matters.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The ethical issues are always readily apparent in research projects.
A)True
B)False
Q4) As soon as you tell subjects that you are doing research,the ethical issue of the researcher's identity is no longer a problem.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Choose an ethical issue presented in this chapter,create a research situation in which this issue could arise,and tell how you would handle it.
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Chapter 6: Culturally Competent Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) When recruiting minority and oppressed populations in research studies,you should
A)use exactly the same informed consent procedures as with the majority population.
B)use the same types of advertisements or referral sources as with the majority population.
C)obtain endorsement for your study from community leaders.
D)avoid the use of community members as research staff.
Q2) Studies that do NOT include adequate representation from specific minority and oppressed populations in their samples are NOT generalizable to those populations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Culturally competent problem formulation involves
A)being well read in the culture of concern before beginning any investigation in it.
B)being ethnocentric.
C)making broad generalizations about the culture as a whole.
D)all of these.
Q4) Explain the difference between linguistic,conceptual and metric equivalence.
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Chapter 7: Problem Formulation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Moderating variables influence the strength or direction of relationships between independent and dependent variables.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The following is an example of a good hypothesis: "Social work practitioners who work in mental health agencies do not care adequately for the chronically mentally ill."
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following statements is/are true about the qualitative perspective on operational definitions?
A)We may not know the most salient variables before we implement the study.
B)We may not understand the variables well enough in advance to anticipate the best way to operationally define them.
C)Specifying variables only in terms of observable indicators is superficial.
D)All of these are true about the qualitative perspective.
E)None of these is true about the qualitative perspective.
Q4) Discuss how the quantitative and qualitative perspectives on operational definitions differ.
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9
Chapter 8: Measurement in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT a type of reliability?
A)inter-rater.
B)test-retest.
C)internal consistency.
D)known groups.
Q2) The tendency to give a favorable impression of oneself reduces the reliability of a measure.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Asking a group of experts whether the items on a scale appear to measure what they intend to measure is a way to assess the scale's:
A)predictive validity.
B)concurrent validity.
C)construct validity.
D)content validity.
Q4) If a measure is reliable,it must also be valid.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain why if a scale is found to be valid,we can assume that it is reliable.
Q6) Describe how qualitative studies attempt to deal with reliability and validity. Page 10
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Chapter 9: Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement
Instruments
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Sample Questions
Q1) Construct an examples that would violate each of the following guidelines for asking questions: Make items clear
Avoid double-barreled questions
Avoid biased items and terms
Q2) The length of a question has no bearing on how effectively the respondent will answer.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Assume that the following would be reasonable conversational questions/statements based on a subject's previous statement.Which is the best probe?
A)"In what ways is that a better job?"
B)"How is that a better job?"
C)"Tell me more about why that's a better job."
D)"How do you mean that's a better job?"
E)All of these are equally good probes.
Q4) Scales include multiple items that can be summed to measure a variable. A)True
B)False
12
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Chapter 10: Surveys
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Q1) Which of the following statements is/are true about mailed surveys?
A)Cover letters should be avoided so as to save costs and reduce the amount of material the respondent must read.
B)Response rates are considered good only if they exceed 80%.
C)Follow-up mailings are essential.
D)All of these are true about mailed surveys.
Q2) Probes are used more frequently in open-ended questions than in closed-ended ones.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Give a comparative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of survey research.
Q4) A demonstrated lack of response bias is more important than a high response rate. A)True
B)False
Q5) The spread of telephone answering machines has improved the quality of data collected by telephone surveys.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Identify five recommendations for conducting online surveys.
Page 13
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Chapter 11: Sampling: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches
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Sample Questions
Q1) Probability samples are advantageous to the researcher because
A)the method by which they are selected limits conscious and unconscious sampling bias, and the accuracy or representativeness of the sample can be estimated.
B)there is no sampling error whatsoever.
C)they always are perfectly and precisely representative of the population from which they are drawn.
D)all of these.
Q2) Quantitative studies should never use availability sampling because it is too risky to ever yield useful results.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following statements is/are true about qualitative sampling methods?
A)They are less complicated than quantitative sampling methods.
B)They always rely on available subjects.
C)They might involve purposively selecting deviant cases.
D)All of these.
Q4) Describe deviant case sampling,and give an example of a study in which it would be useful.
14
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Chapter 12: Experiments and Quasi-Experiments
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Sample Questions
Q1) Case-control designs have more controls for threats to validity than do most other designs for evaluating programs or practice.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Time series designs with many measurement points control for maturation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Studies that assign subjects to intervention groups on the basis of their extreme scores are vulnerable to regression toward the mean.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The design diagrammed in question 8
A)treats 0 as the new teaching technique.
B)treats 0 as the old teaching technique.
C)treats X as the scores on the research methods exam.
D)none of these.
Q5) Explain the elements of the class experimental design.Is this design especially useful in dealing with causal relationships? If yes,why? If not,why?
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Chapter 13: Single Case Evaluation Designs
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain what is accomplished by replicating single-case designs.(One part of your answer should address internal validity; another part should address external validity.)
Q2) Suppose you wish to measure progress in increasing the amount of time a child in institutional care spends studying as an indicator of the effectiveness of your groupwork intervention.Which of the following approaches most likely would be least vulnerable to reactivity problems?
A)Have the child record the amount of time and report back to you.
B)Have cottage parents run spot checks in the cottage at different intervals.
C)Interview the child each day about the time spent studying the previous day.
D)Show up at the cottage and observe the child yourself for one hour during the same period each day.
Q3) In deciding what to measure in a single-case experiment,it is usually best to A)pick something implied by how the clinical goal was operationally defined.
B)measure more than one thing.
C)choose a behavior that is more frequent over one that occurs very rarely.
D)all of these.
Q4) Discuss why it is best to have as many measurement points as possible in a single-case design.
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Chapter 14: Program Evaluation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Qualitative methods offer a number of techniques that on-site research staff members can use in attempting to observe research implementation pitfalls.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Quantitative and qualitative methods can be combined in program evaluations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Discuss how qualitative methods can be used to try to avoid or alleviate the pitfalls identified above in essay number 5.
Q4) In-house evaluators,as compared to external evaluators,are likely to have
A)greater access to program information and personnel.
B)more knowledge about program processes.
C)less independence from agency administrators.
D)all of these.
Q5) What steps should program evaluators take in order to foster the utilization of their studies?
Q6) Describe the components of a logic model that might fit a program with which you are familiar.
Q7) Describe the impact managed care has had on program evaluation.
Page 17
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Chapter 15: Additional Methods in Qualitative Inquiry
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Sample Questions
Q1) Field notes should record what you "know happened," NOT what you "think" has happened.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Qualitative researchers should wait to record observations until enough time has passed to put the events in a proper perspective.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The qualitative researcher
A)seldom approaches the task with precisely defined hypotheses to be tested.
B)attempts to make sense out of an ongoing process that cannot always be predicted in advance.
C)alternates between induction and deduction.
D)makes initial observations, develops tentative conclusions that suggest further observation, and revises the conclusions.
E)all of these.
Q4) Describe how grounded theory uses constant comparisons.
Q5) Describe how grounded theory can be used in conjunction with ethnography.
Q6) Explain why blending the emic and etic perspectives is a challenging paradox.
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Chapter 16: Analyzing Available Records: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true about negative case testing in qualitative content analysis?
A)It does NOT apply to hypothesis testing.
B)The data should be searched to find all cases that would contradict the original hypothesis.
C)It is a deductive process.
D)None of these.
Q2) In which of the following analyses is content analysis least likely to be useful?
A)themes in newspaper editorials.
B)the wording of this exam.
C)topics covered in class lectures.
D)the theme of love as discussed in song.
E)dating patterns among high school seniors.
Q3) Describe a study for which the analysis of existing statistics is the appropriate research method.What source would you use? What problems might you encounter and how would you resolve them?
Q4) Historical research can involve quantitative as well as qualitative methods.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Quantitative Data Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the table were collapsed into a bivariate table with only two rows and two columns,deleting the type of illness variable,recipients of social work services would appear to be more likely to die in the hospital.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Cohen's d effect size statistic is +1.0.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Interpret the following frequency distribution portraying client responses to the question,"How satisfied are you with the services you've received from this agency?"
Satisfaction Level f
Very satisfied 60
Moderately satisfied 50
Slightly satisfied 40
Slightly dissatisfied 40
Moderately dissatisfied 50
Very dissatisfied 60
No Answer 20 44
Q4) Define and explain how to calculate odds ratios and risk ratios.
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Chapter 18: Qualitative Data Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) Qualitative researchers seek to discover patterns by using:
A)the grounded theory method.
B)semiotics
C)conversation analysis.
D)concept mapping.
E)All of these.
Q2) Code notes:
A)Cover reflections about the dimensions of concepts
B)Cover relationships among concepts
C)Identify the code labels and their meanings
D)Discuss the deeper meanings of concepts
Q3) Describe how concept mapping is used in qualitative analysis.
Q4) If Wang from the previous question decided to look at whether grandparents who have grandchildren living with them later obtain custody of the grandchildren and then later adopt the grandchildren,Wang would be looking at:
A)Frequencies
B)Causes
C)Processes
D)Structures
E)Magnitudes
Page 21
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