Appraising and using social research in the human services: an introduction for social work and health professionals

The importance of 'evidence based practice' in health and social work has been emphasised by recent policy and legislative initiatives, but how do professionals decide which research findings are valuable and relevant to them? This accessible introduction provides social work students and practitioners with the knowledge they need both to evaluate research and to apply it to their own practice. Exploring the range of research methodologies used in health and social care, from randomised control trials to surveys, interviews, experimental designs and ethnographic approaches, Michael Sheppard di

Introduction -- Appraising and using social research in the human services -- Some key issues in appraising social research -- Questionnaire design for quantitative research : structured instruments -- Surveys and sampling -- Experimental and quasi experimental designs -- The qualitative interview -- Ethnography and practice -- Content analysis and grounded theory -- Qualitative evaluation -- Multimethod research -- Afterword.