Aim: Abuseof substances such as alcohol, prohibited drugs, and harmful medicatio
Aim: Abuseof substances such as alcohol, prohibited drugs, and harmful medication has become an increasing social issue around the world. The primary aim of this research topic is to analyse the effectiveness of rehabilitation centres in reducing the ever-increasing problem of substance misuse and also explain how the victims of substance abuserecover from their illness by living or consulting the rehabilitation centres. The idea of rehabilitation centres for such patients is indeed an extraordinary step to get speedy recovery and how Social workers can support people to identify their motivation for change. Policy frameworks that emphasise notions of ‘recovery’ from problematic substance use and a focusing on longer-term change supported by the person’s family, peers and community.
Format: This assignment requires that you write a formal research proposal that presents a research question and proposes a research design to answer it. It should be between 2,500 and 3,000 words (not including cover page, abstract, tables, and references), written in a formal academic format: one-and-a-half or double-spaced, using a 12 point font size throughout your text (preferably Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri), with one-inch margin, page numbers, appropriate headings, and in-text citations and references (preferably Harvard style).
Cover Page
Include a standard cover page with the project title, student number, and module code and title.
Abstract
Include a 100-200 words abstract that will briefly present the background of your topic, the purpose of your study, followed by a description of the research method and design.
Heading: Introduction (approx. 400 words)
This section (building on your Interest Paper) should offer a brief description of a social issue/phenomenon/area of practice, a compelling rationale why this is relevant to social workers and social work and why we should try to address the social issue or phenomenon, and a brief description of what must be learned next to address it.
Briefly describe your chosen social issue/phenomenon/area of practice. This section may include information from other sources (e.g. a scientific journal, a credible web page, newspaper article, or book) that give important background information that help the reader understand the significance of the issue.
Include why this issue is important; why you are interested to study it, and why should we care about this issue? Imagine you are competing for funding to carry out this research or convince your organisation to focus on this issue-this section should convince the funders/organisation why it is important to conduct a study focused on this issue/phenomenon/area of practice.
Heading: Literature Review (approx. 500 words)
Building on your Annotated Bibliography step:
Briefly describe what is already known or what has already been researched on your topic. This section may highlight, for example, what we know about the origins of the social issue, or what we know about its consequences.
This section might also highlight what practice frameworks, policy or interventions already exist to address this issue.
Use at least 5 peer-reviewed journal articles (books, websites, newspaper articles do not count, but you are encouraged to use them as additional sources).
Heading: Research Question, Aim and Objectives(approx. 300)
Link the discussion in your literature review about what is known in the field of research to a gap in the knowledge base or a new problematisation of the issue. This should then link closely to the research question and aim that you will be proposing.
Propose a research question and a research aim that will generate knowledge that will address the unresolved problem. This paragraph should provide a logical argumentation that shows how your research question and aim build off and extend the existing knowledge base. This should reflect an answerable question and a feasible aim.
At the end of this section, state your specific research objectives (ideally no more than 3) and your hypothesis. Your objectives should break down the research question and aim into smaller, logically connected parts that systematically address the various aspects of the problem under study. Your hypothesis is a brief statement that will present your expectations or predictions about the findings of your research.
Heading: Methods (approx. 1500 words in total including subsections)
Subheading: Research Design (approx. 400 words)
Reflect on questions of epistemology and ontology relevant to your field of study.
Describe the setting (e.g. university, placement organisation, social work area, desk research, etc.)
Describe the design of your study and the methods you will use (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods? What are some epistemological and ontological considerations that you need to address? If you are doing qualitative, are you doing interviews or focus groups (structured interviews/questionnaires, semi-structured, or open; How will you develop your interview guide?) content or thematic analysis, or extended literature review? If you are carrying out quantitative research how will you collect and analyse your data. For example, you could design a survey and use descriptive methods to analyse your data.
If your study involves research participants, describe the sampling and recruitment strategy. How do you plan to recruit participants and how many? Describe the population.
Subheading: Analysis (approx. 200 words)
For those who will choose qualitative: Briefly describe how you think you will collect data and analyse it. Will you audio record interviews or focus groups? How will they be transcribed? Will you take notes during fieldwork? How will you analyse the data (thematic analysis, content analysis, other)? It would be best to cite a source or two in this section.
For those who will choose quantitative: Briefly describe how you think you will collect and analyseyour data. Will you be using any software (Excel, SPSS, STATA,or something else)? Describe what kind of descriptive statistics you might use to describe your sample (age, gender, race, etc. with means, medians, etc.).
Subheading: Ethics (approx. 300 words)
Please describe at least 3 ethical considerations that you need to take into account in conducting your research. Then provide a plan that will allow you to address these ethical concerns as a researcher (e.g. ethics approval application). Make sure that you use relevant literature guiding your choices, such as research ethics readings, the University of Essex guidelines and procedures (e.g. guidance on ethical approval for research with human participants, research misconduct, research integrity, , and research risk assessment) the BASW code of ethics for Social Work, SWE Professional Standards, etc.)
Subheading: Strengths and Limitations (approx. 300 words)
Briefly discuss at least two strengths AND two limitations of your study methodology. You might want to also reflect on questions of internal and external validity of your study (internal validity examines whether the study design, conduct, and analysis answer your research questions without bias; external validity examines whether the study findings can be generalized to other contexts).
Subheading: Positionality Statement (approx. 300 words)
Briefly reflect on what prior connections (social, personal, intellectual, professional, etc.) do you have to your research topic, your research population, the social setting or practice area you plan to study? What prior experiences have you had that are relevant to your topic or setting? How do you think and feel about these social issues, people or social settings? What are your preconceived ideas and assumptions you make about them? What do you wish to achieve or learn by conducting this research?
Please describe what potential advantages do you think these beliefs, presumptions and experiences that you have described have for your project? What potential disadvantages do you think these might create for you, and how might you deal with these?
Concluding remarks and Academic and Professional Development (approx. 300 words)
Briefly reflect back to your topic, available research in the field, as well as aims and objectives of your research, and discuss what do you hope to learn and understand with your study and how is this related to your professional development as a future social worker.
REFERENCES
Include an appropriate reference list.
