Peer Reviewed Social Work Journals

QUESTION

Reflect on the importance of using articles from peer-reviewed journals compared to information from the Internet. Ask yourself who evaluates the accuracy of information that you might obtain websites like Wikipedia and what form of accountability there is to ensuring that information is up-to-date, reliable, and valid.

Review the Final Assignment: Article Review and Critique in Week 10 for this class. Note that you will have to locate an empirical research article from a peer-reviewed journal. Begin to search for an article. Practice navigating the databases in the library by searching topics of interest. (Note: At this point, you do not need to identify the actual empirical research article. The goal of this assignment is to begin getting comfortable navigating the databases in the library).

For this Assignment, complete the following:

Identify a list of 10 peer reviewed social work journals from the library that you might find helpful relative to your social work practice interests.
In a 100-150 word paragraph, discuss why using research studies from peer reviewed journals is important to the development of knowledge in social work. For example, discuss the advantages of having articles reviewed by other scholars and researchers. Then using a case illustration, describe how articles from peer-reviewed journals can help to inform your social work practice decisions with clients, communities, agencies, and/or social work policies.

ANSWER

Peer Reviewed Journals

Peer-reviewed journals, also known as refereed journals, are scholarly article collections that have undergone a rigorous review procedure or process by more than three reputable and experienced scholars in the relevant field of study before being published for use by students and scholars. Since these articles have been taken through a rigorous review and analysis process, they provide credible sources of information and knowledge. Peer-reviewed journals provide information that is factual and that is based on evidence. They are the best sources of academic information, as opposed to using websites and other sources that provide information that is not reviewed for accuracy. Peer-reviewed social work journals provide credible social work research information. For instance, suppose one intended to conduct research in the social work field, they would require to collect data from the field for purposes of the research. By using the research and data collection techniques provided by Grinnell Jr and Unrau (2005), the researcher would easily obtain the required data. The data collection and evaluation methods discussed by Grinnell Jr and Unrau (2005) are effective as they have been reviewed by several scholars in the social work field.

Peer Reviewed Social Work Journals

Barker, R. L. (2003). The social work dictionary.

Dominelli, L. (2017). Anti-racist social work. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Flexner, A. (2001). Is social work a profession?. Research on social work practice, 11(2), 152-165.

Fong, S. M. (2015). Healthy Aging through Ving Tsun Martial Exercises–What is the Evidence?. Physiolink: Hong Kong Physiotherapists’ Union Newsletter.

Grinnell Jr, R. M., & Unrau, Y. (2005). Social work research and evaluation: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Cengage Learning.

Kam, P. K. (2019). ‘Social work is not just a job’: The qualities of social workers from the perspective of service users. Journal of Social Work, 1468017319848109.

O’Connor, M. K. (2015). Social work constructivist research. Routledge.

Padgett, D. K. (2016). Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). Sage Publications.

Richards, S. (2019). Jill M Chonody and Barbra Teater, Social work practice with older adults: An actively aging framework for practice.

Turner, S. G., & Maschi, T. M. (2015). Feminist and empowerment theory and social work practice. Journal of Social Work Practice, 29(2), 151-162.