Blog Post 1

Blog Post #1: Describe your experience or experiences with research as a subject. How do you feel about research? Do you see any benefits and/or downsides in using research in social work practice? What are your fears and concerns, if any? How do you think this will impact upon your motivations and work for this course?

My Thoughts: I’m looking forward to learning more about research but also feeling a little intimidated. I worked for two non-profits IFF (https://iff.org/) and CSH (https://www.csh.org/) that used research and evidence based practices to propose programs and policy changes, implement programs and most importantly influence systems change. Evidence was the most powerful and persuasive tool when talking to decision makers about why they should support a particular initiative with time/money/political capital.

I think evidence based practices are at the core of social work practice but they must be relevant to the individual or population being served. I think one downside to using research is how it is communicated. It can sound to impersonal or technical but these issues can be mitigated by basing your work on research and explaining why you think a particular approach is relevant. Instead of saying, “the research shows this is the best approach”, you could say, “the research shows this is a good approach and this is why”.

My only fear at this point is learning the correct research protocols. The “How to Write an Empirical Research Paper in Psychology”, was intimidating. However, I took note that the syllabus said “review” so I worked through the first few pages trying and then read the remainder of the document.