Substance Abuse & Domestic Violence

In this paper, you will need to identify a social problem for your research inquiry. Your social problem should be relevant to social work and the transcultural perspective. The purpose of Assignment is to describe the social problem and the research question(s) that you have created for studying your social problem. In 4 – 5 pages (not including a cover page or references) you should:

Part A. Research question(s) (approximately 1 page)

• Define the problem and any terms (e.g. social support, child maltreatment, substance abuse, etc…). State the nature and scope of the problem using statistics and figures (and supported by high-quality evidence, include at least 2 references in this section). For example, if I am conducting a study on the relationship between substance use and physical abuse by parents, my main problem is physical abuse/child maltreatment. I would provide statistics on how many children are victims of physical abuse as well as information about the short and long-term consequences of abuse for children. I might also describe the financial cost of physical abuse to society.
• Narrow the scope of your problem to relate to your research questions. Introduce your specific idea and state why it is important to research. Introduce your research questions and any hypotheses (if appropriate).

For example, you might write, “Parental substance use appears to be a risk factor for child maltreatment (include citations). However, little is known about whether use of specific drugs is related to child maltreatment. Understanding how parental use of specific drugs is associated with different types of maltreatment could help target intervention where it is needed the most. In this study, I will examine….”

Part B. Brief Literature Review (approximately 3 pages)

In this portion of the assignment, you will conduct a brief and limited literature review on one aspect of your proposed research question. Since it will be impossible to conduct a full review on your topic for this limited assignment (approximately 3 pages total), you will want to carve out a small, specific topic for your inquiry. For example, you might examine research on the relationship between parental opioid use and child maltreatment. Your instructor will provide more guidance in class about selecting a mini-topic. You will need to use at least 8 high-quality peer-reviewed articles in this section of the paper, which will focus on synthesizing literature versus reporting individual findings in detail.

Part C. Significance of your study (approximately 1 page)

You should address the following three components. (i) Using literature review you conducted, you need to argue a need for studying your research question – e.g., how your proposed research questions(s) fill the gaps identified above; how your study will contribute social work practice and research.

(ii) Use practice experience/wisdom to argue significance of your research question– e.g., how practice experience informs your scientific inquiry.

(iii) Argue significance of your research question in the context of the transcultural perspectives.

Writing, citation & references will be also considered in grading (5 points):

– Language Use

• Clear, direct style, precision and clarity
• Variety of sentence patterns used correctly
• Words appropriate to tone and meaning/ avoidance of slang, trite, informal language
• Avoid excessive direct quotation/ avoid “dropped-in” quotes

– Paragraph Integrity

• Introduction functions appropriately
• Each paragraph has a focused topic sentence and clear purpose (refer to content)
• Paragraphs are organized, unified and adequately developed
• Transitions used to establish coherent flow of ideas
• Logical, coherent structure is evident

– Mechanical Accuracy

• Punctuation generally correct/capitalization correct
• Grammatical accuracy/spelling conventions observed
• Careful editing (minimal typographical errors)/ manuscript rules observed

(i.e., font, font size, margins)

– Citation & References

• Cite appropriate sources
• Citation format observed/ reference format observed