Swift Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An IRB primarily ensures research participants are protected through which core principle?
- Maximizing sample size
- Ensuring informed consent and minimizing harm (Correct answer)
- Guaranteeing statistically significant results
- Promoting researcher autonomy
Correct answer: Ensuring informed consent and minimizing harm
Institutional Review Boards enforce the Belmont Report principles, particularly ensuring voluntary informed consent and protecting participants from unnecessary harm.
Question 2: When a research instrument consistently measures the same construct across repeated administrations, it demonstrates:
- Content validity
- Construct validity
- Reliability (Correct answer)
- Sensitivity
Correct answer: Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency and reproducibility of a measurement instrument across time and conditions.
Question 3: A social worker uses a manualized treatment protocol with demonstrated effectiveness. This approach BEST exemplifies:
- Practice wisdom
- Evidence-based practice (Correct answer)
- Clinical intuition
- Theoretical orientation
Correct answer: Evidence-based practice
Evidence-based practice integrates the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and client values to guide intervention decisions.
Question 4: What type of validity is assessed by examining whether a measure covers all relevant dimensions of the construct being studied?
- Criterion validity
- Predictive validity
- Content validity (Correct answer)
- Convergent validity
Correct answer: Content validity
Content validity evaluates whether a measurement instrument adequately samples all aspects of the construct it purports to measure.
Question 5: In a single-subject design (SSD), the 'baseline phase' is referred to as:
- Phase B
- Phase C
- Phase A (Correct answer)
- Phase X
Correct answer: Phase A
In single-subject research, 'A' designates the baseline phase, during which target behavior is measured before any intervention is introduced.
Question 6: Which statistical test is appropriate for examining the relationship between two continuous variables?
- Chi-square test
- Pearson correlation (Correct answer)
- t-test
- ANOVA
Correct answer: Pearson correlation
The Pearson correlation coefficient measures the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two continuous (interval or ratio level) variables.
Question 7: Confidentiality in social work research means:
- No identifying information is collected at any point
- The researcher will not disclose participant identities without consent (Correct answer)
- All data is destroyed after the study ends
- Participants remain anonymous to all staff
Correct answer: The researcher will not disclose participant identities without consent
Confidentiality protects identifiable information shared by participants by restricting disclosure without consent, though it differs from anonymity.
Swift Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3
An IRB primarily ensures research participants are protected through which core principle?