Fundamentals of Social Work Research

Presenting research methods as an integrated set of techniques to investigate issues common to social work practice, this text uses real-life data to engage readers and allow them to develop a solid understanding. This brief textbook, derived from the authors’ popular The Practice of Research in Social Work, encourages students to develop skills to critically evaluate research literature.

Key Features

• Engaging writing style coupled with real, applied examples that show students why a study of research methods is relevant and interesting to future social workers
• Research with diverse populations infused into every chapter
• Evidence-Based Practice integrated throughout the text
• Ethical concerns highlighted in each chapter and ethics exercises included after each chapter
• An expansive Student Study Site with a variety of contemporary research examples and more

Fundamentals of Social Work Research is a briefer, but thoroughly re-worked version of the Engel and Schutt's The Practice of Research in Social Work 2e which will provide an engaging text for introductory social work research classes. The Practice of Research in Social Work introduced research methods as an integrated set of techniques to investigate social work practice methods and problems. The brief edition will continue to integrate substantive practice-related examples with research techniques, present ethical decision making as a part of every aspect of the research design process, and infuse content on diversity and populations at risk throughout the text. The format is appropriate for courses in social work research methods which are one quarter or one semester in length.


Congratulations to esteemed author Russell Schutt, 2007 recipient of University of Massachusetts, Boston's Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Service!

Russell K. Schutt, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Lecturer on Sociology in the Department of Psychiatry (Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center) at the Harvard Medical School. He completed his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. (1977) degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977-1979). In addition to Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, now in its 6^th edition, Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), and adaptations for the fields of social work (with Ray Engel) and criminology/criminal justice (with Ronet Bachman), he is the author of Organization in a Changing Environment, coeditor of The Organizational Response to Social Problems, and coauthor of Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice. He has authored and coauthored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and research reports on homelessness, service preferences and satisfaction, mental health, organizations, law, and teaching research methods. His recent funded research experience includes a National Cancer Institute-funded study of community health workers and recruitment for cancer clinical trials, a large translational research project for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Women's Health Network, a National Institute of Mental Health-funded study of housing alternatives for homeless persons diagnosed with severe mental illness, and evaluations of case management programs in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and in the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Hispublications in peer-reviewed journals range in focus from the effect of social context on cognition, satisfaction and functioning to the service preferences of homeless persons and service personnel, the admission practices of craft unions, and the social factors in legal decisions.