TY - JOUR
T1 - Shaping Social Work Science
T2 - What Should Quantitative Researchers Do?
AU - Guo, Shenyang
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2014.
PY - 2015/5/3
Y1 - 2015/5/3
N2 - Based on a review of economists’ debates on mathematical economics, this article discusses a key issue for shaping the science of social work—research methodology. The article describes three important tasks quantitative researchers need to fulfill in order to enhance the scientific rigor of social work research. First, to test theories using empirical data, researchers should follow the positivistic/postpositivistic principles. Second, social work researchers should incorporate the latest advances in methods from other disciplines. Third, researchers should use quantitative methods to address the most pressing and challenging issues of social work research and practice.
AB - Based on a review of economists’ debates on mathematical economics, this article discusses a key issue for shaping the science of social work—research methodology. The article describes three important tasks quantitative researchers need to fulfill in order to enhance the scientific rigor of social work research. First, to test theories using empirical data, researchers should follow the positivistic/postpositivistic principles. Second, social work researchers should incorporate the latest advances in methods from other disciplines. Third, researchers should use quantitative methods to address the most pressing and challenging issues of social work research and practice.
KW - positivism
KW - postpositivism
KW - quantitative methods
KW - scientific research
KW - social work science
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84930160891
U2 - 10.1177/1049731514527517
DO - 10.1177/1049731514527517
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84930160891
SN - 1049-7315
VL - 25
SP - 370
EP - 381
JO - Research on Social Work Practice
JF - Research on Social Work Practice
IS - 3
ER -