Using Geographic Information System (GIS) Technology to Integrate Research into the Field Practicum

SUMMARY

This article reports on efforts to answer some basic questions arising in the introduction of technology into the social work curriculum. It involves an on-going project to integrate research into field instruction by training students to use Geographic Information System technology to identify and meet information needs of their field placement agency. Background on the project is given, with discussion of three concerns that shaped it. An explanation of how GIS works and how it can be used in the human service agency is provided, along with an account of the project's outcome. Preliminary conclusions regarding future efforts are offered.     

Breaking barriers—provision and participation in an out‐of‐school centre

This paper uses a research and development project – the A Space project in Hackney – as an exemplar for discussion of policy and practice issues arising from the recent expansion of out‐of‐school child care and study support services. In particular, the authors explore children's participation rights and multi‐agency working, two key principles upon which A Space is based. The paper suggests that current government out‐of‐school policy raises key questions about the siting, staffing, coordination and costs of future services; and that underlying these are more fundamental questions about: how children should be spending their time; and whose perspectives on this should be taken into account. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The context of program implementation and evaluation: A pilot study of interorganizational differences to improve child welfare reform efforts

This article contributes to the growing literature on evaluation and implementation science by examining the interaction between staff perceptions of organizational strength with perceptions and indicators of program fidelity. As part of a pilot project related to the evaluation of the Family to Family initiative, a survey was distributed to employees within two urban child welfare agencies with a total of 410 respondents across both sites, for a combined response rate of 72.2%. Survey results were analyzed both in terms or respondents' perception of their agency as well as in relation to measures of program performance and workload. Multivariate models show that organizational indicators are the most significant and positive predictors of perceived program implementation. Specifically, staff who positively perceived the availability of information within their agency also believed that the programs were well implemented in their agency. These findings suggest that as the value of program changes are articulated within an organization, the implementation of the initiative is perceived to improve.     

Approaches to civil society in authoritarian states: The case of China

Both civil society in China and research on Chinese civil society have developed profoundly over the last three decades. Research on Chinese civil society can be classified into two categories: a structure‐oriented approach and an agency‐oriented approach. Both approaches acknowledge the state's dominant position in restricting the political space for civil society engagement, but they differ in their understanding of state–civil society relations. A key concern within the structure‐oriented approach is to analyze how the autonomy of civil society organizations is shaped by their structural position vis‐à‐vis the state. Agency‐oriented scholars, on the other hand, reject the analytical focus on structural autonomy. Instead, they build on a more nuanced understanding of the authoritarian yet nonmonolithic context in China and analyze how civil society organizations develop specific strategies to be able to operate within their restricted political space. In particular, agency‐oriented scholars have analyzed two ways in which organizations exercise agency: by strategically developing formal or informal ties with state actors and by bringing their engagement into the public sphere to raise awareness and express their voice. What could be further developed in the agency‐oriented approach is, however, a deeper understanding of the political dimensions of civil society agency.     

Application of logic models in a large scientific research program

It is the purpose of this article to discuss the development and application of a logic model in the context of a large scientific research program within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). CSIRO is Australia's national science agency and is a publicly funded part of Australia's innovation system. It conducts mission-driven scientific research focussed on delivering results with relevance and impact for Australia, where impact is defined and measured in economic, environmental and social terms at the national level. The Australian Government has recently signalled an increasing emphasis on performance assessment and evaluation, which in the CSIRO context implies an increasing emphasis on ensuring and demonstrating the impact of its research programs. CSIRO continues to develop and improve its approaches to impact planning and evaluation, including conducting a trial of a program logic approach in the CSIRO Preventative Health National Research Flagship. During the trial, improvements were observed in clarity of the research goals and path to impact, as well as in alignment of science and support function activities with national challenge goals. Further benefits were observed in terms of communication of the goals and expected impact of CSIRO's research programs both within CSIRO and externally. The key lesson learned was that significant value was achieved through the process itself, as well as the outcome. Recommendations based on the CSIRO trial may be of interest to managers of scientific research considering developing similar logic models for their research projects. The CSIRO experience has shown that there are significant benefits to be gained, especially if the project participants have a major role in the process of developing the logic model.     

The research to teaching initiative: infusing faculty research into the MSW curriculum

Social work educators have a responsibility to facilitate student utilization of research‐based knowledge. Tremendous research based knowledge is generated at many schools, but due to multiple responsibilities, faculty often find it difficult to share their findings with fellow faculty outside of their immediate project team, or to inquire into the research efforts of their colleagues within the school. This paper describes the development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of Research to Teaching, an initiative to infuse the curriculum of a school of social work with current research findings from its faculty. The goal of the Research to Teaching initiative is to take current publications from faculty, and distill them into easy‐to‐use lecture materials including slides summarizing the content, teaching notes, discussion questions, and group activities such as skill practice, simulation, and other integrative activities. These lectures are placed on a site within the school's larger website, and are accessible to all faculty, students, alumni, and other interested individuals.     

Recommendations for the elder abuse, health, and justice fields about medical forensic issues related to elder abuse and neglect

Increased interest in pursuing criminal and civil actions against alleged perpetrators of elder abuse and neglect has revealed that efforts to assist victims and hold perpetrators accountable are often hampered by the lack of knowledge about the detection and diagnosis of elder abuse and neglect and by the lack of resources for development of research and assistance in these matters. This report sets forth recommendations for the elder abuse, health, and justice fields about medical forensic issues related to elder abuse and neglect. The recommendations were developed by a "working group" of experts representing an array of disciplines that address the problem of elder abuse and neglect pursuant to a grant project funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The project was conducted by the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, with the assistance of the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. This was the final project report submitted to NIJ; it has been updated to include information about the availability of reports and products from other grant projects that are discussed in the report.     

Recommendations for the elder abuse, health, and justice fields about medical forensic issues related to elder abuse and neglect

Increased interest in pursuing criminal and civil actions against alleged perpetrators of elder abuse and neglect has revealed that efforts to assist victims and hold perpetrators accountable are often hampered by the lack of knowledge about the detection and diagnosis of elder abuse and neglect and by the lack of resources for development of research and assistance in these matters. This report sets forth recommendations for the elder abuse, health, and justice fields about medical forensic issues related to elder abuse and neglect. The recommendations were developed by a "working group" of experts representing an array of disciplines that address the problem of elder abuse and neglect pursuant to a grant project funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The project was conducted by the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, with the assistance of the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. This was the final project report submitted to NIJ; it has been updated to include information about the availability of reports and products from other grant projects that are discussed in the report.     

Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Trinidad and Tobago Teens Using a Family-Based Program

Summary

This paper describes a family-based HIV/AIDS prevention project currently underway in Trinidad and Tobago—an English speaking twin-island nation in the Caribbean. The project involves a partnership between U.S.-based researchers and a social service agency on the Islands. It describes the development and adaptation of the intervention and reports preliminary outcomes from a pilot intervention (n= 32). Findings indicate high participant retention; statistically significant pre to posttest changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness; parent/youth discussions at home; condom self-efficacy; and parental monitoring. Findings are discussed within the context of collaborative HIV/AIDS prevention research.     

A Computer-Integrated Approach to Program Evaluation

Abstract

Outcome evaluation of group work intervention in residential agencies. Development of a management/clinical information system and related computer applications.

Program evaluation as discussed in this article describes a service delivery-focused approach to program evaluation which is actually designed and implemented in a residential treatment agency for delinquent youth, the evaluation approach represents a practical strategy which applies much of the current thinking and research in the area of user focused evaluation. The approach has been refined by incorporating the product of the authors' experiential learning and pragmatic adaptations which evolved out of field testing the model over several years.

The authors present the overall approach to evaluation and the development of the evaluation model within an agency context. The author's then describe the development of a computer-based system which is designed to serve as both a management information system and a clinical information system. Basic aspects of the computer-based evaluation system are presented. Throughout the article, the authors discuss process-related issues pertaining to the introduction of evaluation to both management and staff and movement toward the implementation of an automated evaluation system.     

L'Intervention Sociologique After Twenty-Five Years: Can It Translate into English?

The sociological intervention is a research method developed in France by Alain Touraine in 1976 to explore social movement action. Since then it has undergone significant development, both in terms of the type of social experience explored and the broader research program framing it. Despite its importance, the intervention remains little known and virtually untested within English-language sociology. This article examines key dimensions of this research method through discussing several examples, and argues that the intervention has much to offer English-language sociologists concerned with questions of agency and reflexivity, relationship, narrative and experience.     

Living Room Assessment

Abstract

Community living room programs, initially developed as part of the settlement house movement, strive to maintain a safe and welcoming atmosphere for clients with basic needs who can then be linked to concrete services. These rare programs do not generally include formal intake and termination criteria and are thus difficult to assess by quantitative means. In this project, the authors used the Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES) to perform a social climate assessment of a living room program at an urban homeless shelter. The agency board and staff were concerned that expanding numbers of clientele might deter potential and current members from participation and thus defeat the program's major purpose. This paper reports the social climate perceptions of staff and members and recommends agency program adjustments. This type of evaluation has implications for macro practice in determining whether nontraditional programs can be shown to meet certain human needs that complement those addressed by the broader social service system.     

The need for revaluation and assessment of Australian foster care programmes

This is a brief report on one aspect of a programme of applied research, in a large social welfare agency, designed to provide a basis for the evaluation of the policies, activities and structure of the agency.     

Post-evaluation determination of a program's generalizability

The literature on the generalizability of program effects focuses exclusively on the a priori development of evaluation designs which enable certain generalizations to be made. Due to a variety of factors, new questions of a program's generalizability often arise only after the completion of the formal evaluation study. This paper suggests secondary analysis procedures which can be employed using existing evaluation data to estimate a program's generalizability when followup field studies are not feasible.     

The study of women's deprivation: How to reveal the gender dimension of poverty

This paper addresses the challenge of sustaining critical and committed research within individualist academic research practices by highlighting key features of the storied character of research accounts. Three issues that are negotiated within any research project are explored: firstly, received understandings of the possibilities of theory as a tool of intervention as well as an academic requirement for, and outcome of, research. Secondly, issues of commitment, whether political or disciplinary, and the interplay (and tensions) between the two are considered. Thirdly, issues of textuality are addressed, as expressing political and disciplinary questions of genre and audience, including the variety of forms of accountability researchers are both subject to and those we (should) institute to elaborate more than academic criteria for evaluation of research practice. By framing the commentary according to adaptations of accounts of the socially situated and encultured character of narration by Walter Benjamin and Donna Haraway, some theoretical resources for analysing and countering the individualist ethos of academic research are put forward. These then give rise to further practical questions around joint action and intervention.     

Evaluation of a youth agency's supervision practices: A mixed-method approach

This research presents the findings from an evaluation and organizational development initiative that was requested by a Canadian youth agency working in a large urban setting. A team of four researchers affiliated with the Center for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) at the University of Ottawa conducted the evaluation. The purpose of the evaluation was to identify the supervision needs and challenges of coordinators and front line staff, assess the efficiency of the current supervision practices, and evaluate the supervisors’ and supervisees’ satisfaction with these current practices. A literature review was performed to help provide a clear definition of ‘supervision’ and the different professional roles it encompasses. Additionally, research evidence pertaining both to what contributes to supervision efficacy and supervisor competency was reviewed to distill the most robust findings in the existing literature. The lines of evidence consisted of a document and file review, an online employee survey, group discussions (i.e. focus groups), and interviews with key informants. The results of the evaluation helped the research team formulate recommendations to the agency for the development of enhanced supervision practices across its various service areas.     

Language,structure and agency: What can realist social theory offer to sociolinguistics?

The sociolinguistic enterprise raises fundamental questions about the nature of the relationships between social phenomena (such as social class or gender) and linguistic variation, while within social theory a persistent concern is the nature of the relationship between structure and agency. Sociolinguistics can draw on social theory for analysis of the relationship between speaker and system, the role of language in the creation, maintenance and change of social institutions, and the role of human agency in sociolinguistic phenomena. This article summarises the key tenets of a sociological realism, based on the recent work of Margaret Archer (in particular her exploration of analytical dualism) and of Derek Layder (specifically his theory of ‘social domains’). It relates these ideas to sociolinguistics, arguing that language can be seen to have a different significance, depending on which domain is the focus of the researcher's interest. The article considers the distinctiveness of this approach, contrasting it with structuralist and social constructionist accounts and with structuration. It concludes by identifying some methodological implications, suggesting that sociological realism offers a productive theoretical framework for sociolinguistics in dealing with questions of language, structure and agency.     

Use of data to assess performance and promote outcome achievement by public and private child welfare agency staff

Despite the emphasis on evidence-based practice in the literature, little is known about the extent to which child welfare workers routinely use data to assess the effectiveness of their practice, or consider an array of evidence informed practices such as peer record review, supervisory sessions or program evaluation as useful in improving their performance. This study, conducted as a part of the planning phase for a larger research and demonstration project measured frontline staff perceptions in both the public and private sectors in one state regarding these and other outcome-focused activities. Statistically significant differences were noted between public and private agency staff. In addition, the relationship between staff's use of data and their assessment of their own skill and the support provided by their agency for an array of out-of-home care practice activities are described. Implications for building the use of evidence-informed practice in child welfare are discussed.     

The Collaborative Research Education Partnership

Abstract

This article discusses the founding and operation of the Emmett J. and Mary Martha Doerr Center for Social Justice Education and Research, an endowed nonprofit organization located within the School of Social Service at Saint Louis University. The nonprofit Center provides a creative mechanism for facilitating university-community agency research. The Research Education Partnership (REP) model creates a partnership among students, community agency personnel, and faculty in funded practice research and program evaluation. Four collaborations, their benefits and challenges, are described. Students are prepared to integrate research into practice. The Center promotes and supports faculty-community partnerships for social justice.     

An organizational model to distinguish between and integrate research and evaluation activities in a theory based evaluation

Theory-based evaluation (TBE) is an evaluation method that shows how a program will work under certain conditions and has been supported as a viable, evidence-based option in cases where randomized trials or high-quality quasi-experiments are not feasible. Despite the model's widely accepted theoretical appeal there are few examples of its well-implemented use, probably due to time and money limitations necessary for planning and a confusion over the definitions between research and evaluation functions and roles. In this paper, we describe the development of a theory-based evaluation design in a Math and Science Partnership (MSP) research project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Through this work we developed an organizational model distinguishing between and integrating evaluation and research functions, explicating personnel roles and responsibilities, and highlighting connections between research and evaluation work. Although the research and evaluation components operated on independent budgeting, staffing, and implementation activities, we were able to combine datasets across activities to allow us to assess the integrity of the program theory, not just the hypothesized connections within it. This model has since been used for proposal development and has been invaluable as it creates a research and evaluation plan that is seamless from the beginning.