Welcome to My SWK 512 Class Blog
Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
-Pema Chodron
A Little Bit About Me:
I am a first year grad student and Dominican Alumn. Taking on this new challenge has been a long time coming. My experience in Social Services, passion for education, and life-experiences have brought me to pursue my MSW in School Social Work. I am excited to get this journey started, learn and serve our underserved communities.
Blog #1: My Thoughts about Research
As for experience in research I have none, but I am eager to learn. I think that this subject can be intimidating, but it is necessary to have the fundamentals for our profession. I believe research is necessary, because in social work there are constant changes in how we can better assist our clients. I believe the downsides with research is that since our society is constantly changing, new research is needed frequently and there are a lot of considerations that you need to take in while you research a certain topic to make it valid. I wouldn’t call it fear, just concerned about research proposals and some of the readings and quizes; I want to do well in class. I believe I will just need to find a way to properly prepare for these quizes, by talking to some of my fellow classmates. I am up for this challenge!
By: Nashely Pale Published: 1/24/2020
Blog #2:
I believe I have what it takes to write an effective literature review; I am no expert at it but I believe I have the tools to do so. If I am being completely honest what scares me about literature reviews is finding the most informative and knowledgeable articles to use. I believe I can find good research articles, but the hard part is really narrowing down my topic of choice.
By: Nashely Pale 2/9/2020
Blog #3:
- What gains/new insights/perspectives have you made about the uses of research to your future social work practice? I believe I have learned that research is extremely important to stay up to date with the changes in the field. I will be going into school social work and the topic of social emotional learning is something that is still being integrated as part of the everyday teaching.
- How relevant is research to social work practice? Very relevant, one can say they go hand in hand. Research is needed so that we can learn best practices in our field and achieve the ultimate outcome.
- What could research potentially do? Research can help with the advancement of best practices in oir field. It could help professionals’ work be more effective , therefore achieving better outcomes with less effort.
- How should social workers really think about the role of research? Social workers should see the relationship between the two and see the benefits of research to their role and their client’s. They should know that as social workers it will be part of our job to conduct research.
- Do social workers have to choose between doing research and working for their clients? Are these two issues distinct or are they different sides of the same coin? They are different sides of the same coin; like I previously stated they go hand in hand. In order for you to work more effectively with your client and have them reach their full potential reseach is required. We need to stay up to date just like doctors, because our patients matter.
- I picked this meme, because I thought it was extremely relevant.
Blog #4: Biases in Research
Some biases that exist amongst women incarceration and social services are anti-feminist and government. I believe that theses exist because anti-feminist and the goverment don’t want to put forward the real numbers and evidence for what is happening in our prison system. I think biases could affect the conclusions of my data because data available could have been skewed and could directly impact my conclusions. We need to make sure to look at creditable sources and things that are reviewed and look at the topic from different perspectives.
Blog #5: Statistics
I honestly have mixed emotions about statistics, this being because I find it difficult to grow a passion for it. I find it a complex subject to grasp, but a necessarily evil if I must say. I understand the importance of statistics when it comes to research, but mathematics has been one of my least favorite subjects all throughout school. I think you need to find what interests you about statistics and how it directly impacts your field of work in other to change our views about statistics. The purpose of statistics is to show proof about certain things and therefore leave room for improvement and also show what is working and what is not. It is better and more credible to show people numbers than to just speak about things. For example, with the pandemic happening people are starting to see the severity of things and that honestly has to do with the numbers that are being shown on a daily basis or else people would not comprehend the severity.
Blog #6: Biases in the Choice of the Research Method
As a researcher I tend to lean towards qualitative research, because I enjoy surveys and interviews. I find this type of research method to be more personable and allow us to learn a lot more about the individual in a deeper level. I guess I’ve never been into numbers so quantitative research does not really appeal to me although I understand the importance of it. I think it is extremely important to understand biases in anything we do, especially if it will directly impact to our clients or field. The type of study and the question that needs to be answered can determine the type of research method used.
Blog 7: Research Designs
Blog 8: Self Efficacy and the Final Research Paper
Writing papers has always been hard for me to do especially getting started, so for this paper I am making sure I am pacing myself to avoid feeling overwhelmed with it. I made sure I organized my information from my presentation and my literature review and looking at the rubric closely. I am making sure I at least got a few of the sections done by the end of the week and spreading it out through the days and the amount I work on it a day or a week. I always turn my papers in on time, but it has been hard for me not to procrastinate and then end up overwhelming myself. My plan has been to make sure I pace myself and have it done little by little so that I can have enough time to review it before turning it in.
Blog #9: Ethics and Research
Ethical research to me meant doing everything with a good head in your shoulders and following all protocol to ensure your participants and staff’s privacy and well-being. After last week’s class lecture & discussion I understand I was thinking in the right direction, it means following protocol, sticking to ethical codes of conduct and research, but I do know that it is not always the case. I understood that sometimes things happen in research that might not be all under the code of ethics and I found out the case of how people get their names on published articles by how much they contributed or who’s idea of research it was. Knowing the ethics portion makes me think about how feasible and ethical my research study would be and what would be some ethical issues that could possibly come up.
Blog #10: The Metablog
I believe this meme describes how I am feeling after my first research methods class. I think this class was difficult, especially when it came to me studying for quizzes and remembering not to second guess myself. Writing that literature review was intense to say the least, but I am glad I was able to accomplish it and get a good grade on it and I learned a lot about a topic I was passionate about. I learned that writing a research proposal is very hard and I give props to whoever does research as their profession because it is very difficult. I did say I struggled with writing which is true, but I believe I am getting better; I am not going to lie I still managed to procrastinate writing. I did take some take aways especially when it came to writing literature reviews, conducting well thought out research and posing it as potential topic to be researched. I know research is extremely important to do in any field because we don’t have the answers to everything and practices keep evolving, so I understand the significance as it relates to social work.
Nash's Research Journey 