Capstone Research Project

Running head: SOCIAL PROBLEM RESEARCH 1

Social Problem Research

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) boasts over 130,000 members, making it the largest professional social workers’ membership organization globally. The organization protects, develops, and promotes professional social work practice and the welfare of its members. It also deals with the creation and maintenance of professional standards and seeks to enhance the well-being of people, families, and communities within the society through advocacy practices. Furthermore, it aims to improve the quality of life of all people in the nation through the practical tackling of social problems such as homeless, HIV/AIDs and other infections, racism and sexism, etc. It enhances the well-being of individuals and groups through its charitable organization, National Association of Social Workers Foundation (NASWF), which was founded in 2001.

Working under the auspices of NASWF, NASW has the goal of rapidly assisting with social crises response, promotion of [practice-based and evidence-based research, supporting education and research, etc. In a nutshell, NASW provides intervention to various social problems, including tackling the issue of homelessness. Hence, this program will address the problem of homelessness in Michigan. The program evaluation will be conducted using both qualitative and quantitative social research methods.

Therefore, first, how do I know that I have a legitimate research problem in Michigan? Homeless people refers to those who lack regular, fixed, and adequate residences to spend in at night, or those whose primary residences are temporary, or any place that is not recommended for people to get sleeping accommodation or those who live in temporary and supervised shelter. Homeless people do not have stable housing in both rural and urban areas and come from various demographic backgrounds. They also face several health concerns. Hence, it poses a severe public healthcare concern that needs a quick and structured social work service.

Apart from the qualitative underpinning, homelessness is as widespread in Michigan as it is in the entire US. Over 744,313 people, including children, women, and men, were homeless in the US by 2005 (Social Work Policy Institute, 2010). Globally, over a billion people lack adequate housing, of which 100 million are entirely destitute of homes. About 5.4 million families are at risk of becoming homeless because of sufficient income to afford to pay their rent. It is highly probable that over 66,051individuals in Michigan are considered homeless, with the statistics including 41,338 unsheltered and 24,713 sheltered homeless people. The majority of the people considered homeless in Michigan are adults.

Delineating the subparts of the homelessness as a social problem in this research project would be a complicated process. The evaluation criteria follow the procedures of needs, program theory, implementation, impact or effectiveness, and efficiency assessments (Shackman, 2015). The reason is that the problem is caused by an amalgam of several complex sets of structural and personal circumstances that make people miserable and force them to choose between medical expenses, shelter, food, and other crucial basic needs. Consequently, there is a higher probability that they would drop the choice of housing altogether. Other reasons include joblessness, housing unavailability and inequality, public assistance availability decrease, substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, and overall healthcare system failure.

My research project would employ subsets in the discussion about the problem. The critical homeless population subset in Michigan includes veterans, former foster youths, those with mental needs, and families, including children and women. Therefore, social workers have a significant role to play in providing remedial services to these varieties of homeless populations' subsets (Social Work Policy Institute, 2010). My tentative social research question or topic would be 'the impact of social work practice in tackling the problem of homelessness amongst former foster youths in Michigan.' Of course, planning the research would encompass coming up with the project, initial literature review, methodology choosing and development, data collection and analysis, conclusion and interpretation. I would test for the validity and reliability of the methods and outcomes using appropriate tools (HubPages Staff, 2012). The final part of the criteria would be the creation of the final hypothesis

References HubPages Staff. (2012, March 4). Scales for Measurement of Variables. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from HubPages: https://hubpages.com/education/Scales-for-measurement-of-variables Shackman, G. (2015, February 1). What is Program Evaluation? A Beginner's Guide. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from gsociology.icaap.ord: http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/evaluationbeginnersguide.pdf Social Work Policy Institute. (2010, March 24). Homelessness. Retrieved February 21, 2020, from Social Work Policy Institute: http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/research/homelessness.html