S W 313 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Literature Review, Spurious Relationship, Qualitative Inquiry
Document Summary
Research and practice begins with formulating a problem. The driving factor for selecting a topic should come from decisions that confront social service agencies, or from a need for information to solve practical problems in social welfare. Topic is more likely to be selected because it addressed information needed to guise policy, planning, or practice decisions. Literature review is the most important step in formulating a research question, it helps you assess the general utility of your question and provides an excellent basis for selecting a research question. Until we do the literature review, we have no way of knowing whether the research question has already been adequately answered. This is a prime source for selecting a research question. Building on prior research does not necessarily mean that your study should never depart radically from previous work. You can identify alternative conceptions of the problem or variables that had not occurred to you.
