Since the first edition in 1981,Social Work Research and Evaluation has provided graduate-level social work students with basic research and evaluation concepts to help them become successful evidence-based practitioners, evidence-informed practitioners and practitioners who are implementing evidence-based programs. Students will gain a thorough understanding and appreciation for how the three dominant research methodologies--quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods--will help them achieve their professional goals, regardless of their area of specialization. Written in clear, everyday language, this edition also includes the pedagogical features that will make it easy and effective for classroom use.

This book was written for you-a graduate social work student-as an introduction to program evaluation. We selected and arranged its contents so it can be used in a beginning one-semester social work program evaluation course, a social work administrative course, or a program planning course. It is designed to prepare you to: Participate in evaluative activities within your social service organization, Become a beginning critical producer of the professional evaluative literature, Become a beginning consumer of the professional evaluative literature, Master more advanced evaluation courses and texts.

Over the course of 20 years and eight editions, the goals of the book have remained the same: to prepare students to participate in evaluative activities within their organizations, become beginning critical producers and consumers of the professional evaluative literature, and reap the benefits of more advanced evaluation courses and texts. The authors aim to meet these objectives by presenting a unique approach that is realistic, practical, applied, and user friendly. Unlike other textbooks on the market, Program Evaluation for Social Workers presents both program-level evaluation and case-level evaluation methods; assuming that neither of these two distinct approaches alone adequately reflects the realities of the field, the book demonstrates how they can instead complement each other. This integration of approaches provides an accessible, adaptable, and realistic framework for students and beginning practitioners to more easily grasp and implement in the real world.

Now in its seventh edition, this comprehensive text once again provides beginning social work students and practitioners with a proven, time-tested approach to help them understand and appreciate how to use basic evaluation techniques within their individual cases (case-level) and the programs where they work (program-level). As with the previous six editions, this text is eminently approachable, accessible, straightforward, and most importantly, practical.

The audience of this book is social work students and students in other related human service programs. It is designed to be used as a main text in introductory evaluation courses, case management courses, or applied research courses. It is also suitable as supplementary text in practice methods and administration courses that place an emphasis on accountability.-Pref.

This widely adopted text is designed to give students the basic methodological foundation they need in order to successfully complete more advanced research courses that focus on single-system designs or program evaluations. Content is clearly explained and illustrated with social work examples that students can understand. Many of the examples concern women and minorities, and special emphasis is given to the application of research methods to the study of these groups.

The audience of this edition remains the same as the previous ones, advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate work students who are taking a one-semester (or quarter) research methods course. As before [the author] emphasis continues to be on how the goals of social work are furthered by the research process.... [The author] has designed this book to give students the basic methodological foundation they need in order to obtain the advanced knowledge and skills presented in these two specialized research courses. -Pref.