Learning Outcomes: Social Work, PhD
Learning Outcomes for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work
- Obtain knowledge of Social Work as a profession and discipline
- Graduates will be able to:
- Locate their work in the intellectual landscape of social work.
- Understand the relations among social work education, research, and practice.
- Understand how knowledge in social work is relevant to public issues, including promoting social justice and increasing equity.
- Understand the role and importance of social work values and ethics in research and knowledge development.
- Develop expertise in at least one specialized area of knowledge.
- Graduates will be able to:
- 2.Develop Core Quantitative and Qualitative Research Skills
- Graduates will be able to:
- Conceptualize significant, meaningful, and relevant social work research questions.
- Understand both the technical aspects and conceptual underpinnings of a broad range of methodological and statistical techniques.
- Demonstrate in-depth knowledge in the selection and application of the most rigorous, feasible, and appropriate methodological and data analyses for the research question(s) posed.
- Design and implement appropriate procedures for sampling and data collection.
- Graduates will be able to:
- 3.Engage in academic scholarship
- Graduates will be able to:
- Critically evaluate and review published work in students’ areas of expertise.
- Identify the strengths and limitations of their own research.
- Conduct research that is guided by theory.
- Proactively and consistently implementing plans for the responsible and ethical conduct of research.
- Widely disseminate knowledge that contributes to the advancement of social work research, practice, and policy, including writing publishable, peer-reviewed manuscripts; presenting at local, national and international conferences; and producing policy briefs /white papers.
- Graduates will be able to:
- 4.Develop Teaching Skills
- Graduates will be able to:
- Understand and apply theories of adult learning.
- Design and teach a course in a social work curriculum.
- Create a learning culture and classroom climate that is inclusive of a diverse population of students and diverse learning styles.
- Address ethical dilemmas that might arise in teaching.
- Understand the place of social work education within the larger context of higher education.
- Graduates will be able to:
- 5.Develop analytical skills to critically assess social policy and social science theories
- Graduates will be able to:
- Critically analyze paradigms and methods for social work knowledge building.
- Evaluate representative theories for and studies of social work practice.
- Understand the current research on practice effectiveness and methods for integrating research and practice.
- Understand theoretical approaches to analyzing social policy development and implementation.
- Understand selected theories and models that have been influential in the substantive development of broad-scale social policies and programs.
- Develop skills in empirically assessing policy issues and trends.
- Graduates will be able to: