Scholarly Productivity of Social Work Graduate Programs

Abstract

This research compares the scholarly productivity of ten leading social work graduate programs with 35 randomly selected Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited graduate programs. The data reports that, when comparing group averages, the ten leading social work programs had greater scholarly productivity than the 35 randomly selected programs. These findings were statistically significant. However, when comparing individual programs, a notable number of the randomly selected graduate programs had much higher rates of scholarly productivity than some of the ten leading social work graduate programs. The implications of these findings for social work practice and education are discussed.     

Evaluating Scholarship Productivity in COAMFTE‐Accredited Doctoral Programs: An Update

Scholarly productivity continues to be used as a significant factor when universities make decisions about granting tenure to faculty, allocating resources, and supporting program goals. In 2009, DuPree, White, Meredith, Ruddick, and Anderson reviewed research productivity in faculty from COAMFTE‐accredited PhD programs. As an update, the purpose of this article is to re‐examine scholarly productivity trends among COAMFTE‐accredited doctoral programs through the use of several evaluation methods. Specifically, productivity was examined in the following areas: (a) family therapy journal publications; (b) publications in any type of peer‐reviewed journal; (c) h‐factor index scores; and (d) historic and recent journal publication trends.     

Determinants of Scholarly Productivity among Male and Female Economists

A model of the determinants of articles produced by male and female economists is estimated using data from a survey of members of the American Economics Association. Years of experience, coauthorship rates, gender, research-teaching orientation of the respondent's institution, and teaching loads are shown to be important estimators. Coauthorship appears to increase the overall production of articles and may help explain why collaboration among economists has increased in recent years. Males produce, on average, about seven more articles than females, with approximately 59% of gender-specific differentials left unexplained by the variables included in the model. (JEL JØ )     

Studies of Scholarly Productivity in Social Work Using Citation Analysis

Ideally, an educator’s reputation should be based primarily on that person’s scholarly publications. However, reputation is more than the sum of one’s scholarly efforts. In this article, the authors seek to add objective information to the subjective decision-making process involved in hiring, promoting, or providing tenure to educators. The authors present norms of citations—objective indicators of reputation—for professors, associate professors, and assistant professors. These norms were derived from the Citation Index of the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Four studies were undertaken to examine scholarly productivity using the same basic methodology: citation analysis. In Study 1, the authors examined a sample of educators listed in the Encyclopedia of Social Work. These experts were used as a national norm against which other educators could compare themselves. Study 2 was based on a citation analysis of deans of all graduate schools of social work. In Study 3, the authors examined “local norms” of four particular schools of social work and discussed the differences between national and local norms. In Study 4, the authors examined “personal norms” through a detailed study of the careers of three individual professors, and compared their entirely scholarly productions against the SSCI record.     

Structural Equation Modeling: An Innovation for Doctoral Social Work Curricula

Abstract

This article offers guidelines for learning and teaching structural equation modeling (SEM). The essential ingredients of an introductory course are presented on the basis of the authors' experience teaching SEM over the past two years. Also discussed are successful and unsuccessful methods of instruction, a practical way to organize the course, and a means to integrate this material into doctoral social work curricula. Teaching SEM can be a practical and worthwhile way to ensure that the profession will have well-trained researchers.     

Peer-Learning Networks in Social Work Doctoral Education: An Interdisciplinary Model

Peer-learning networks (PLN) can be valuable tools for doctoral students. Participation in these networks can aid in the completion of the dissertation, lead to increased scholarship productivity, and assist in student retention. Yet, despite the promise of PLNs, few studies have documented their effect on social work doctoral education. This article explores aspects of an interdisciplinary PLN focused on child welfare. This study used a questionnaire with scaled survey items and open-ended questions to examine the use, benefits, and challenges to participating in the PLN. After a brief review of the literature, this article presents findings from the study, discusses the implications for social work education, and concludes by explicating strategies for developing PLNs in social work education programs.     

大学毕业生非专业素养体系建构与水平评价研究

高等教育进入大众化时代,高校的人才培养质量更加为社会所关注。作为人才培养质量的重要维度,大学毕业生的非专业素养已成为高校人才培养的重要方面。加强非专业素养培养,有利于提升大学毕业生就业创业能力,增强人职匹配度,进而缓解就业压力。针对大学毕业生和用人单位的问卷调查发现,大学毕业生与企业对各项非专业素养重要性的认知顺序基本一致,但对于价值观念和能力体系认知存在差异,大学毕业生认为能力体系最为重要,而企业却认为价值观念最为重要。大学毕业生非专业素养具备情况与其职业满意度、用人单位用人满意度都呈显著正相关。要从学校、社会、家庭、大学毕业生自身四个方面加强工作力度,着力提升大学毕业生非专业素养。