The Research Process in the Human Services: Behind the Scenes

Understand the process of research on a daily basis with THE RESEARCH PROCESS IN HUMAN SERVICES: BEHIND THE SCENES! This human services text includes twenty original research articles that provide you with models for your own work. Each article is accompanied by commentaries from the articles' authors in which they describe how and why they came to do the research, concerns in the design and conduct of the study, their own views about the strengths and limitations of the research, advice about future research in the area, and human subjects' issues, including working with IRBs. Through this presentation, the text documents the lived experience of doing research, including its challenges, as well as its joys.

Table of Contents:
Section I: HUMAN SERVICE EXPERIMENTS, QUASI-EXPERIMENTS, AND META-ANALYSIS. Brief overview of the section by editors. Randomized experiments. 1. Increasing access to child mental health services for urban children and their caregivers. Commentary by Mary McM. McKay. 2. A community-based trial of vocational problem-solving: To increase employment among methadone patients. Commentary by David A. Zanis. Quasi-experiments. 3. The impact of ethnicity on prospective functional outcomes from community-based psychosocial rehabilitation for persons with schizophrenia. Commentary by John S. Brekke. 4. The effects of organizational climate and interorganizational coordination on the quality and outcomes of children"s service systems. Commentary by Charles Glisson. 5. Confidentiality Intervention: Effects on provider-consumer-family collaboration. Commentary by Tina Marshall. Meta-analysis. 6. Are mainstream programs for juvenile delinquency less effective with minority youth than with majority youth? A meta-analysis of outcomes research. Commentary by Sandra Jo Wilson. Section II: CORRELATIONAL/OBSERVATIONAL DESIGNS. Brief overview of the section by editors. Cross-sectional. 7. Client-service matching in substance abuse treatment for women with children. Commentary by Jeanne C. Marsh and Brenda D. Smith. Longitudinal/cohort. 8. How much is enough? Perspectives of care recipients and professionals on the sufficiency of In-home care. Commentary by Nancy L. Morrow-Howell, Enola K. Proctor, and Philip A. Rozario. 9. Predicting incarceration of clients of a psychiatric probation and parole service. Commentary by Phyllis Solomon and Jeffrey Draine. Case control designs. 10. Adverse childhood experiences:Are they risk factors for adult homelessness? Commentary by Dan Herman. 11. A comparison of homelessness and matched housed adolescents on family environment variables. Commentary by Paul A. Toro, Susan Wolfe and Pamela McCaskill. Section III: QUALITATIVE METHODS. Brief overview of section by editors. Intensive interviews. 12. Lesbian Identity development: An examination of differences across generations. Commentary by Cheryl A. Parks. 13. Dynamics of income packaging: A 10-year longitudinal study. Commentary by Allison Zippay. Focus groups. 14. Voices of African American families: Perspectives on residential treatment. Commentary by Jean M. Kruzich and Barbara J. Friesen. Ethnographic methods. 15. Social patterns of substance-use among people with dual diagnosis. Commentary by Hoyt Alverson, Marianne Alverson and Robert E. Drake. Section IV: MIXED METHODS. Brief overview of section by editors. 16. The bottom line: employment and barriers to work among former SSI DA&A beneficiaries. Commentary by Jim Baumohl. 17. Impoverishment and child maltreatment in African American and European American neighborhoods. Commentary by Claudia Coulton and Jill Korbin. Section V: USE OF AVAILABLE DATA. Brief overview of section by editors. 18.The effects of services on the recurrence of child maltreatment. Commentary by Diane DePanfilis. 19. Transracial adoptees in the media: 1986-1996. Commentary by Leslie Doty Hollingsworth. 20. Social embeddedness and psychological well-being among African Americans and Whites. Commentary by Lonnie R. Snowden.

About the Author :
Leslie Alexander is a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College. Her major areas of research include client-worker relationships and ethical issues in implementing research in community-based settings. She has served on a number of editorial boards, is a frequent reviewer for scholarly journals, and has been funded by both NIMH and private foundations. Phyllis Solomon, Ph.D., is a professor of social work who teaches in the area of research. She was the Director of a National Institute of Mental Health social work research development center; and currently serves on numerous mental health, psychiatric, and social work journal editorial boards. She is also the Principal investigator of an evaluation of PRIME (Partners Reaching to Improve Multicultural Effectiveness) which is funded by Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.

Review :
Section I: HUMAN SERVICE EXPERIMENTS, QUASI-EXPERIMENTS, AND META-ANALYSIS. Brief overview of the section by editors. Randomized experiments. 1. Increasing access to child mental health services for urban children and their caregivers. Commentary by Mary McM. McKay. 2. A community-based trial of vocational problem-solving: To increase employment among methadone patients. Commentary by David A. Zanis. Quasi-experiments. 3. The impact of ethnicity on prospective functional outcomes from community-based psychosocial rehabilitation for persons with schizophrenia. Commentary by John S. Brekke. 4. The effects of organizational climate and interorganizational coordination on the quality and outcomes of children's service systems. Commentary by Charles Glisson. 5. Confidentiality Intervention: Effects on provider-consumer-family collaboration. Commentary by Tina Marshall. Meta-analysis. 6. Are mainstream programs for juvenile delinquency less effective with minority youth than with majority youth? A meta-analysis of outcomes research. Commentary by Sandra Jo Wilson. Section II: CORRELATIONAL/OBSERVATIONAL DESIGNS. Brief overview of the section by editors. Cross-sectional. 7. Client-service matching in substance abuse treatment for women with children. Commentary by Jeanne C. Marsh and Brenda D. Smith. Longitudinal/cohort. 8. How much is enough? Perspectives of care recipients and professionals on the sufficiency of In-home care. Commentary by Nancy L. Morrow-Howell, Enola K. Proctor, and Philip A. Rozario. 9. Predicting incarceration of clients of a psychiatric probation and parole service. Commentary by Phyllis Solomon and Jeffrey Draine. Case control designs. 10. Adverse childhood experiences:Are they risk factors for adult homelessness? Commentary by Dan Herman. 11. A comparison of homelessness and matched housed adolescents on family environment variables. Commentary by Paul A. Toro, Susan Wolfe and Pamela McCaskill. Section III: QUALITATIVE METHODS. Brief overview of section by editors. Intensive interviews. 12. Lesbian Identity development: An examination of differences across generations. Commentary by Cheryl A. Parks. 13. Dynamics of income packaging: A 10-year longitudinal study. Commentary by Allison Zippay. Focus groups. 14. Voices of African American families: Perspectives on residential treatment. Commentary by Jean M. Kruzich and Barbara J. Friesen. Ethnographic methods. 15. Social patterns of substance-use among people with dual diagnosis. Commentary by Hoyt Alverson, Marianne Alverson and Robert E. Drake. Section IV: MIXED METHODS. Brief overview of section by editors. 16. The bottom line: employment and barriers to work among former SSI DA&A beneficiaries. Commentary by Jim Baumohl. 17. Impoverishment and child maltreatment in African American and European American neighborhoods. Commentary by Claudia Coulton and Jill Korbin. Section V: USE OF AVAILABLE DATA. Brief overview of section by editors. 18.The effects of services on the recurrence of child maltreatment. Commentary by Diane DePanfilis. 19. Transracial adoptees in the media: 1986-1996. Commentary by Leslie Doty Hollingsworth. 20. Social embeddedness and psychological well-being among African Americans and Whites. Commentary by Lonnie R. Snowden.