Strengths-Based Perspective

 Data Analysis in Social Work

By: Katie Henrie

           We live in a world where people want to see the proof for why something works or why they should do something. This same mindset is present in the profession of social work. The social work field aims to help people in an effective manor. In order to do that, there needs to be evidence to prove approaches and methods. There are several ways that this can be done, but the focus of this post will about how the profession of social work uses data analysis to further support the work they are doing.

Evidence Based Practice

            There is a need to be able to provide clients with research to back the methods in which they will be using with them. The term evidence-based approach has been used to label methods that have undergone vigorous research to determine its efficacy. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) state that:

Social workers increasingly are seeking information about evidence-based practices. Numerous resources are emerging to help connect research to practice and provide information that can be helpful to practitioners. Since the term evidence-based practice (EBP) is used in numerous ways, definitions will be provided that can help expand social workers understanding of EBP. resources, and publications will be identified that can be useful to inform practice and guide policymakers. Since the identification of evidence-based practices involves assessing the available body of practice-relevant research, having a robust social work research base is important.

It is clear that statistics has a place in social work to be able to provide good care but also improve good client outcomes (Drake et al., 2001).

Data Analysis

        The following is a great clip that gives a general overview and introduction to descriptive & inferential statistics. Understanding the importance that research and statistics have in social work creates a need to understand how the data analysis process works. Knowing that data is needed to be able create EBP’s one first needs to identify the what they are trying to improve. Once they have done that, they then undergo the process of collecting the data through whatever means they determine to be an effective way to conduct their study.

            After a study is done it is very important to clean and organize the data. This can be topic that is a little difficult to navigate in the social world field (Aguinis et al., 2013). It is pretty common practice to eliminate outliers from data research because they will skew the results in a way that doesn’t really show an accurate representation of the study. However, with research in the social work field it is important to remember that those “outliers” could represent the oppressed, marginalized, and vulnerable populations. That is why I hold the opinion that research should always mention if they did get rid of outliers so that those reading their paper will be able to see all of the data points that were gathered.

            The next step is to then analyze what the data means. How to does it support or cause for need of more research to be done on your topic. This part of the process is what causes the data to provide context for the original question at hand. It is then important to interpret what the means for the method and how it can be implemented into practice. It is also not uncommon to have to do further research to further understand the topic as well. This would then require a need to go through the same process that was just outlined. It is good to have a headspace that there is always something further that can be investigated. 

Conclusion

            When providing care to people in the social work field it is very important to have evidence back up the method and process that the social worker chooses to use. This will ensure that effective treatment is being delivered. The way to do this is to have statistical research done to provide evidence of the efficacy of approach. The data complied to reflect scenarios in which methods are being tried out and shown if they are proven helpful or not. This allows for the field to always be checking and rechecking its methods. Not everything is going to go to plan in a study, but that is why they are so important to be able to provide us that information. Now I’m curious to know the readers of this post thinks. What role do you think statistics play in social work? Is it worth all the burden it can cause? Do you think outliers should be kept within a data set when analysis is being done? Can’t wait to see all the conversation in the comments!

References

Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R. K., & Joo, H. (2013). Best-practice recommendations for defining, identifying, and handling outliers. Organizational Research Methods, 16(2), 270-301.

Almazan, E. P. (Academic). (2017). An introduction to descriptive & inferential statistics [Video]. Sage Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473991743

Drake, R. E., Goldman, H. H., Leff, H. S., Lehman, A. F., Dixon, L., Mueser, K. T., & Torrey, W. C. (2001). Implementing evidence-based practices in routine mental health service settings. Psychiatric services, 52(2), 179-182.

National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.-b). Evidence-Based Practice. NASW, National Association of Social Workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Research-Data/Social-Work-Policy-Research/Evidence-Based-Practice