Assignment #2:  Using Research to Understand a Population (Qualitative)

Goal: 

Students will identify and use existing qualitative research to further their understanding of a population of interest to the social work profession. 

Instructions:

To complete the assignment, you will find two empirical peer-reviewed journal articles that report on qualitative research. Use the identified articles to answer the following questions:

1.   What is the population of interest? Why is this population of interest to you? (1 

paragraph)

2.   How did you identify the articles? Specifically, what keywords did you use, how did you define your search question, and what databases did you use? Share your search history 

(1 paragraph)

3.   Summarize what you found by creating an annotated bibliography that provides a 

paragraph summary of each article. Be sure that you include a description of the 

quantitative methodologies used including 1) study design, 2) sampling strategy, 3) 

qualitative data collection techniques (200 words or less per article)

4.   Discuss any discrepancies in the conclusions presented in the articles. Are the researchers’ conclusions consistent with the findings and reasonable in light of the reported limitations? (1-2 paragraphs)

5.   What did you learn about the population of interest? (1-2 paragraphs)

6.   Discuss the implications for guiding social work decisions. (1-2 paragraphs)

The completed assignment must adhere to APA formatting guidelines.