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Introduction to Social Work Research: SSW 4396

Recommended library resources for SSW 4396: Introduction to Social Work Research

What to look for

Empirical research articles refer to articles reporting on the findings of research or studies that collect and analyze qualitative and/or quantitative data, gathered from experience, experiments, interviews, observations and other senses, following the scientific method, to provide knowledge or evidence to the specific questions being studied or researched. 

A empirical or scientific research paper will often have the following sections:

  • Abstract (indexing databases will often include just the abstract)
  • Introduction and research question(s)
  • Methods or Methodology (data collection may be included or as separate section)
  • Results
  • Discussion/Interpretations
  • Conclusions based on the data
  • References

Some journals have additional Supplementary Online Information with important details of the research.

Some approaches to reading scientific/empirical papers

This short video from USU Library explains what is empirical research.

Databases with a Methodology Filter

Subjects: Social Work