Social works

How well you met the assessment brief

 You have chosen a very important research topic for social work practice examining to what extent information regarding race and culture are shared and considered in the safeguarding of black and minority ethnic groups, although you did not state this as clearly by your research question - I have arrived at this by what you discussed in your proposal.  Whilst you demonstrate lots of knowledge in relation to your chosen topic, I did feel that your proposal needed further development/careful consideration to enhance clarity but also to show a robustness/understanding of the research process in using secondary data in carrying out a literature review in a systematic way as your research project.  Your methodology section was not adequate and has meant your proposal just reaching a pass.

Areas for development 

It is clear to me the work that you have put into this proposal, and the knowledge you have by the literature you have explored.  However, I did feel that the structure  and use of headings used in your proposal was not quite right at all - this affected readability and coherence.  For example, In your introduction I would have expected you to introduce your topic, why you have chosen it, why it is important to social work rationale/importance, what your research question is and then what your aims and objectives are for your proposed research - in the latter you might have included conducting a literature review and what this would achieve.  You presented a heading 'definitions but too me this seemed to explore  literature, so this confused me.  I think you might have used headings throughout your literature review (almost like themes) to improve the structure of the information you presented, but also show your process (similar to a funnel) how you were purposively using the literature to work down to your proposed research question and where this would fit with what is already known.  You needed to end your literature review with your proposed research (i..e. the research question) which would lead seamlessly into your methodology section.  

You methodology section was not thoroughly considered as it needed to be.  There were points which needed further consideration and detail - I did not get the sense from this section that it echoed what would be a robust piece of research in which a systematic approach was taken - this area will need to be significantly developed in meeting the requirements of your dissertation, for example, your inclusion and exclusion criteria, retrieving literature in the process of selecting the most relevant and up to date literature and from where and when.  I do think that for your dissertation that you need to state a clear research question and be clear about your aims and objectives.  You also need to really consider ethical considerations more which in the proposal you have not fully addressed (e.g. personal bias, working with secondary data etc).. In a literature review, your methodology is so important to show transparency and being systematic, and robust - the critical appraisal framework you mention, but did not fully discuss is important in this respect. 

For further explanation please see my detailed and specific comments in the text.

General comments

I am sure you are disappointed with your grade.  Please do come and see me in January during skills week so we can discuss this feedback and how you might use the feedback from your proposal in a constructive way in writing up your dissertation. 

 Your research has lots of potential and is an important topic which is relevant to social work.  I would strongly suggest you access the Helen Aveyard book 'Doing a literature review in health and social sciences which will go some way to support you in writing up your methodology chapter in your dissertation.  More importantly, I do think you need to consider your theoretical lens in which you attach meaning to your interpretation, as well as consider  anti-oppressive practice and social work values in thinking about your chosen topic.

Grade: C

Kellie Thompson 1st Marker

Mark agreed: 2nd marker

I would strongly advise you to follow up very carefully comments from Kellie.

 Philomena Harrison