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Book Review: Primer for critiquing social research: A student guide

Donald Leslie Research on Social Work Practice 2006 16: 457 DOI: 10.1177/1049731506287086 The online version of this article can be found at: http://rsw.sagepub.com/content/16/4/457.1.citation

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professional practice. And be prepared to have difficulty putting this book down once started. Carolyn Russell National Foundation for Self-Directed Care, Inc.

Van Wormer, K. (2006). Introduction to social welfare and social work: The U.S. in global perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Brooks & Cole. 458 pp. $61.95. ISBN-0-13119446-1.
DOI: 10.1177/1049731506287090

Katherine Van Wormers new introductory text, Introduction to Social Welfare and Social Work: The U.S. in Global Perspective, affords students a rigorous overview of the historical development of the profession, the etiology of key social work values, and important human behavior in the social environment (HBSE) models influencing practice. The first part of the book deals with the structure of the social welfare system in the United States, whereas the second addresses critical social problems from a developmental perspective. What distinguishes this book from some other introductory social work texts is the authors significant integration of material on social issues from a global perspective. This integration will help students recognize the global nature of social problems and how social issues in the United States are inextricably linked to those in other countries. As social workers today find themselves increasingly practicing within the context of a global economy and schema, this book is both timely and germane for introductory social work courses. The first chapter delineates the unique nature and purpose of the social work profession, including clear definitions of such terms as functionalism, cultural competence, empowerment, and welfare state. In addition, evidence of the globalization of the social work profession is supplied, supporting the authors primary contention that the powerful forces of social, cultural, demographic, and political changes associated with globalization have important implications for the social welfare state and for social work practice (p. 21). The second chapter furthers this discussion by exploring the context in which the U.S. social welfare system developed. The author identifies numerous value dimensions influencing the American welfare state, including competition versus cooperation, moralism versus compassion, and independence versus interconnectedness. The third chapter is a historical treatise (in the more traditional sense) on the development of the profession. Classic antecedents such as the Protestant Reformation, Elizabethan Poor Laws, Colonial Poor Laws, and the Settlement House Movement are examined in detail. A unique feature of this chapter is the contrasting of the nascent development of the social work profession in the United States with that of Europe. The author also identifies paradigm shifts occurring in both countries that reciprocally influenced the social development of the other. Chapter 4 serves as a bridge to modern day social problems, more specifically the global nature of poverty, hunger, and homelessness and the oppression of vulnerable cultural groups. In addition to exploring the etiology of these long-standing social problems, more specific issues pertaining to economic oppression are examined, includ- ing NAFTA, world banks, the European Union, and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. This discussion of oppression is extended to social oppression in chapter 5, where the author critically assesses welfare

reform, classism, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, and other prevalent forms of social oppression. Considerable attention is given to pertinent issues surrounding the recent significant increase in the Hispanic population in the United States. Finally, chapter 6 serves as the culmination of the authors discussion of oppression, focusing on the globalization of human rights, criminal justice systems, gay and lesbian rights, the death penalty, and concepts of restorative justice. In chapter 7, the focus of the book shifts from more structural issues to an overview of basic concepts of HBSE and an in-depth analysis of specific social problems that are highly amenable to social work interventions, such as child maltreatment and exploitation, psychopathology, and gerontological issues. Once again, these social problems are considered from a global perspective, and pertinent global examples are supplied, including the genital mutilation of children, child labor, and population imbalance issues. In addition to elaborating on these various social problems, the author reviews promising solutions to them, including kinship care, harm reduction models, and successful treatment modalities from other countries. In terms of the empirical support behind the authors assertions, sources are meticulously documented at the end of each chapter. The rigor of the works cited range from rigorous, peer-reviewed journals to popular periodicals. The author does cite from a number of top social work journals and peer-reviewed publications in allied health disciplines. There are also a number of citations retrieved from online sources and databases. Overall, the author does a credible job of supporting assertions with considerable documentation. In an introductory social work text, designed for students getting an initial exposure to the profession, I would have expected more of a discussion of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and how these ethics influence and govern social work practice. Although the author did address this area somewhat in chapter 2 and included a copy of the Code of Ethics in the appendices, I think there could have been a bit more substantive discussion on core social work values and ethics. Perhaps this can be accomplished in future editions of the text. Finally, the text is positively supplemented by the photography of Rupert Van Wormer, a doctoral student in social work at Portland State University. The dynamic and recent images contained in the book put a human face on the social problems elaborated on by the author and are judiciously placed in the text. In sum, this introductory social work text is a globally relevant, timely work that emphasizes the interconnectedness of the American social work profession and the larger world. This point is critical, as social work practice in the 21st century, perhaps more so than any other, does not exist in a vacuum. Consequently, beginning social work students can employ concepts gleaned from this text to help them become more globally conscious, culturally competent practitioners. W. Jay Gabbard Western Kentucky University

Holosko, M. (2006). Primer for critiquing social research: A student guide. Belmont, CA: Thomson. 73 pp. $22.95. ISBN 0495-00774-9.
DOI: 10.1177/1049731506287086

I preface this review by stating that I am a biased reviewer in that I have test driven earlier iterations of this primer for the past 2 years. My 457

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classes of undergraduates served as key informants assisting the author to tweak this text to its present form. The author incorporated their suggestions and those from other cognate disciplines who served as similar test classes. This is probably why this text is so appealing to students, as they were instrumental in its development. I wish to comment first on what this text not only purports to achieve but, in my experience in using it, does achieve. It is not a socalled research methods text that informs one about how to conduct research. It is a text that directs individuals in developing skills that help one to become a better consumer of research. Developing such critiquing or critical-thinking skills in turn helps students or learners to demystify the research process, to develop confidence in their abilities to appraise research, to identity the various steps involved in qualitative or quantitative studies, and to identify the numerous criteria used to analyze each step of any research study. As such, the primer serves as a supplement to a main research methods text and serves as a precursor to its content. For instance, when students critique the sample of a study using the five criteria listed in the primer, they then turn to a methods text to find answers to questions about sample size, biasness, selection, relationship to population, descriptive or unique features. The writing style of the text is also unique. It is written in a purposely casual, conversational tone that uses simple prose to describe these various criteria. The author takes the reader or user from the title of a research study through each section and subsection to the final reference list at the end of the research study. For each step in this linear process, he articulates and briefly explains, through a series of boxes, figures, and checklists, the minimal criteria one could use to critique each component of a qualitative or quantitative research study. He also injects interactive symbols such as stop signs, go signs, definitions, and something called pensive pauses, which are issues on which students need to reflect. Finally, the author offers a short template students may use to critique online articles at Wadsworth. com, with frequently asked questions and answers and an e-mail address to contact the author directly. Such stylistic features readily appeal to students. Although the author is a social work professor and thus uses social work examples to make his points, the text is applicable to any and all disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Given that the American Psychological Association (APA) sets the stylistic requirements

for 85% of published social research, the author incorporates the APAs requirements in the criteria when applicable. For instance, APA recommends that an abstract should have 120 words or 960 characters or spaces. The author then adds other minimal criteria about well-written abstracts to this. The word minimal is important here as all criteria presented are deemed as such. On my using the primer, for instance, I have added to them in various assignments as need arose. Indeed, in class discussions, students too have added to them when they wished to do so. From a content perspective, although the numerous criteria are presented in simple checklist fashion, it does not imply that they are not comprehensive. As such, the author articulates nondiscreet aspects of qualitative research; unravels the semantics of design versus methods; clarifies nuances of design issues; simplifies the essence of critiquing tables, graphs, charts, and statistics; delineates the similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods; and differentiates main research methods from techniques used to achieve these methods. For those of us who have taught research to undergraduates, we are fully aware that these are not moot or trite issues. This reduction in complication of the various elements of research, which by its nature and scientific shroud are drawn to complexity, is a notable feature of the primer. The above-noted features make it a useful tool in the teaching process. It is not useful only as a guide to assessing research studies on an overall basis, but it can also be used to assist students at various stages of the critique process. For example, early elements in the primer dealing with questions of what is or is not research can be of assistance to students in their initial selection of potential studies for examination. Similarly, using the section on research design can assist students to readily find particular types of research studies that may be required for assignments or their particular learning needs. In short, this is a well-written, very well-thought-out and useful tool for students and professors alike. It makes a significant contribution to an area of student learning in the research realm that has been previously largely unexplored. According to students, the primer makes a picture out of a puzzle and, therefore, deserves a resounding two thumbs up. Donald Leslie University of Windsor

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