The Practice of Research in Social Work

Congratulations to esteemed author Russell Schutt, 2007 recipient of University of Massachusetts, Boston′s Chancellor′s Award for Distinguished Service!

Based on Russell Schutt′s Investigating the Social World, the most successful and innovative social research text  in the last decade, The Practice of Research in Social Work introduces research methods as an integrated set of techniques for investigating social work research and practice problems.   

Key Features:

• Integrates substance and method: Each chapter focuses on a substantive research question in areas such as homelessness and domestic violence. The authors use real-life data and integrate the most contemporary treatments of the latest developments in social work research approaches. 
• Treats specific methods as part of a coherent whole, rather than a disparate collection of techniques: Throughout the text, the authors reveal how students can use a combination of methods―both qualitative and quantitative―to best explore their research question.
• Presents ethical decision-making as an integral part of the research design process rather than a disconnected step: Foundations of research ethics are introduced in Chapter Two, and each subsequent chapter concludes with a separate section on ethics in data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Integrates cultural group differences and similarities in social work research throughout: The authors stress that the diverse populations with which one works should be considered during every step of the research process.
• Provides students with multiple methods for checking their reading comprehension and preparing for exams: The text comes bundled with Student Resources on a CD-ROM, featuring Interactive Exercises, SPSS® datasets, and survey instruments that relate to the datasets. The book′s Companion Student Study site: http://www.sagepub.com/prsw offers a collection of journal articles, E-flash cards and self-quizzes.
• Provides instructors with ample materials to support different pedagogical approaches: Instructor′s Resources, which are provided on a CD-ROM, feature lecture outlines, Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides, and electronic versions of the artwork from the book to support different presentation styles. This CD also includes a dynamic textbank, suggestions for group projects, and other valuable teaching tools.

The Practice of Research in Social Work is an essential text for research methods courses in schools of social work, at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and for research methods courses in graduate counseling programs or in nursing programs. 

Rafael J. Engel, PhD, is Emeritus Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work where he taught from 1988 to 2025. He completed his PhD degree at the University of Wisconsin, MSW degree at the University of Michigan, and BA degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He was one of the three Principal Investigators (with Jeffrey Shook and Sara Goodkind) of the Pittsburgh Wage Study initiative (www.pittsburghwagestudy.pitt.edu) and Director of Research for Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh. In addition to Practice of Research in Social Work¸ he has co-authored Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Russell Schutt) and co-edited Measuring Race and Ethnicity (with Larry Davis). He has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles as well written monographs, technical reports, and research briefs and has presented numerous papers at peer-reviewed conferences. Much of this work has focused on poverty, income inequality, mental health, substance use, and gerontology. Though recently retired (August 2025), Engel continues to write about lower-wage work and assist with studies on Jewish identity as part of the Jewish Identity Research Collaborative.

Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received the 2007 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service and taught from 1979 to 2022. He is also a Clinical Research Scientist I at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University. In addition to ten editions of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and seven editions of Making Sense of the Social World, with Daniel F. Chambliss, PhD, as well as coauthored versions for criminal justice, psychology, and education, his other books include Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (2011), Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited, 2015), and Organization in a Changing Environment (1986). He has authored and coauthored more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, as well as more than 30 non-refereed articles and book chapters on social support, mental and physical health, health services, organizations, homelessness, law, and teaching research methods. His research has been funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), the National Science Foundation, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.