Our textbook guides graduate social work students step by step through the research process from conceptualization to dissemination. We center cultural humility, information literacy, pragmatism, and ethics and values as core components of social work research.

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This textbook was created to provide an introduction to research methods for BSW and MSW students, with particular emphasis on research and practice relevant to students at the University of Texas at Arlington. It provides an introduction to social work students to help evaluate research for evidence-based practice and design social work research projects. It can be used with its companion, A Guidebook for Social Work Literature Reviews and Research Questions by Rebecca L. Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo, or as a stand-alone textbook.

This short guidebook provides information about selecting a research topic and research questions, searching for literature, reading and understanding scholarly writing, and writing a literature review to synthesize what is known and what remains to be learned about a social problem. For students who appreciate the availability of resources on the internet, it also provides links to additional materials. It can be used with its companion textbook, Foundations of Social Work Research by Rebecca L. Mauldin and Matthew DeCarlo, or as a stand-alone guide.

This video covers the topic of "History of Human Services-Part 1"

This OER textbook is designed for use in Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE) - I, which is a required course in all accredited schools of social work . This text examines human behavior throughout the life span, including stage development and common theoretical perspectives in Social Work. Theories are presented to coincide with important developmental, social, and cultural issues.

Specific OER material reviewed: Human Behavior and the Social Environment I, by Susan Tyler (2020). University at Arkansas Pressbooks. Available at: https://uark.pressbooks.pub/hbse1/
Overall rating 1-5 stars
Each area rated is between 1-5
Comprehensiveness Rating: 5
The textbook covers all relevant content areas usually included in a HBSE I textbook or course. The authors introduce a range of social work and developmental theories, perspectives and constructs which will be helpful to prepare new students for professional work.
Content Accuracy Rating: 4
The content is appropriate and largely accurate, although at times limited in depth or lacking cultural context.
Relevance/Longevity Rating: 4
The textbook content is mostly up-to-date with recent and seminal scholarly sources, concepts, data and trends. Some sources are outdated. For instance, more recent research and perspectives are warranted in content around adolescent gender and sexual identity.
Clarity Rating: 4
The text is easy to read and follow, which is ideal for students reading online. There are frequent grammatical and capitalization errors. At times, descriptions of theories and constructs are vague or lacking clarity.
Consistency Rating: 5
The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework. Each chapter is arranged similarly so that concepts are presented in a consistent format. This seems to be well formatted to help students’ expectations of learning content in an organized way.

Modularity rating: 5
Overall, the text is well written, and students will appreciate how the content is presented in an easily accessible format. Each section contains chapters that seem shorter than usual HBSE I textbooks, but that should allow instructors to be able to reorganize the chapters to align with their own style and priorities when teaching the content, as well as integrate their own material.
Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5
I appreciate the organization of the text; the sections are well organized to first introduce students to common perspectives in social work. There is a concise and succinct presentation of developmental theories following a life course perspective, starting with pre-pregnancy, and extending to late adult hood., Each section organized into physical, cognitive and psychosocial development. I very much appreciate the vignettes that start out the chapters, which I think can help with the challenges sometimes faced trying to link theory to practice.
Interface rating: 5
Overall, I think for a first semester of HBSE, this would be well received by students. Being an online textbook, it is well suited for the diverse methods of delivering content, including videos and photos. The videos will be very helpful to visual learners.
This book is easy to navigate.
Content is used effectively to emphasize the key concepts and ideas.
Grammatical Errors rating: 4
Overall, there are few typographical or grammatical errors. However, social work and theories are often capitalized throughout the book.
Cultural Relevance rating: 4
I would like to see an updated and more extensive presentation of anti-racism, colonialism, and historical trauma. I think this would be a needed addition to the text. Specifically enhanced content on the impact of racism and trauma on human development and health is important content for social work students.
Comments
We would highly consider this text for use with HBSE I students with additional content to cover the impact of trauma and structural oppression on development and health. Overall, we think students will appreciate the diverse methods of delivering content in the textbook and its readability. Informal review by several MSW students confirmed interest in utilizing a textbook that had alternate types of methods for delivering content and was accessible on their computers at no cost.

This book was written by MSW students as their final project for their Capstone class. Students were each assigned a chapter of the book to write to show that they had achieved competency as a Master’s level social worker. Chapters were assigned based on student interest and experience in certain areas of the field.

Review of textbook:  Human Behavior and the Social Environment II, by Whitney Payne (2020).  University at Arkansas Libraries. https://uark.pressbooks.pub/humanbehaviorandthesocialenvironment2/ 

In Fall of 2021, four professors from the School of Social Work evaluated the textbook:  Human Behavior and the Social Environment I, by Susan Tyler (2020).  University at Arkansas Pressbooks.  Available at:  https://uark.pressbooks.pub/hbse1/

As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter. As an open textbook, users are free to retain copies, redistribute copies (non-commercially), revise the contents, remix it with other works, and reuse for any purpose.

As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter.