The Computational Preacher: Bayesian Statistics and Computational Methods

Event Abstract Back to Event 2nd level modelling in fMRI analysis with a clinically depressed sample - Comparisons between classical and Bayesian methods Peter Goodin1, 2*, Joseph Ciorciari1, Susan Rossell1, 2, Matt Hughes1 and Richard Nibbs1 1 Swinburne University, BPsyC, Australia 2 Monash Alfred Psychiatric Research Centre, Australia The use of the Frequentist statistics in fMRI analysis has been the mainstay of the field for the last 25 years. Several other methods have been developed as alternatives, including those based on Bayesian statistics. Bayesian analysis methods have the benefit of allowing interrelation of data through effect size and confidence thresholds, can be more robust to outlier data and may negate the need for stringent multiple comparison correction. When examining functional differences in those with a mental illness , this can lead to detection of more subtle activation that may be of importance. Depression is a disorder that despite a common theme of symptoms is also characterised by functional heterogeneities between individuals, making inferences using Frequentist methods sometimes difficult. Utilising both Frequentist and Bayesian 2nd level analysis methods offered by SPM8 , we examined differences in activation between a healthy control sample and those with major depressive disorder during a novel emotional processing n-back task. Activation using classical methods showed small differences in more posterior visual regions however this was only detectable with liberal thresholding (p = .001 uncorrected, k = 0). In contrast Bayesian analysis (y = 0, 95% confidence) uncovered widespread differences (including overlap with those areas found with the Frequentist method) in multiple regions implicated with the disorder. This suggests that using Bayesian methods in fMRI analysis with a clinical population could be extremely useful in detecting responses that may otherwise go unnoticed or under-represented in more traditional methods, however determination of effect size importance is paramount. Keywords: Depression, fMRI, working memory, Bayesian, Frequentist Conference: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Methods Development Citation: Goodin P, Ciorciari J, Rossell S, Hughes M and Nibbs R (2015). 2nd level modelling in fMRI analysis with a clinically depressed sample - Comparisons between classical and Bayesian methods. Conference Abstract: XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00203 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 Feb 2015; Published Online: 24 Apr 2015. * Correspondence: Mr. Peter Goodin, Swinburne University, BPsyC, Hawthorn, Australia, peter@hitiq.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Peter Goodin Joseph Ciorciari Susan Rossell Matt Hughes Richard Nibbs Google Peter Goodin Joseph Ciorciari Susan Rossell Matt Hughes Richard Nibbs Google Scholar Peter Goodin Joseph Ciorciari Susan Rossell Matt Hughes Richard Nibbs PubMed Peter Goodin Joseph Ciorciari Susan Rossell Matt Hughes Richard Nibbs Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Life and Career of Matthew O. HowardJeffrey M. JensonJeffrey M. JensonUniversity of Denver Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew O. HowardView Large ImageDownload PowerPointOn December 15, 2018, social work and the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (JSSWR) lost one of its most prolific scholars, outstanding teachers, and thoughtful mentors in recent memory. Matthew O. Howard, PhD—the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor of Human Services Policy Information and associate dean for doctoral education in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—passed away following a lengthy hospitalization. As an associate editor for JSSWR, Matthew had a significant impact on improving the quality and influence of the journal. He will be sorely missed by our editorial team.Matthew was a consummate scholar who possessed a singular ability to understand and conceptualize social problems of all types. His research contributed greatly to existing knowledge of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcohol dependence, and mental health disorders. And, Matthew’s provocative articles assessing the state of social work education, practice, and research set forth ideas that will affect the trajectory of social work for years to come. His passion for knowledge—conveyed quietly and effectively to countless graduate students—was felt deeply by the many lives he touched over the course of an academic career that included appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Matthew’s training in social work coincided with my own enrollment in the University of Washington School of Social Work doctoral program in 1984. Matthew and I became immediate and close friends during our graduate studies in Seattle, and we spent hours discussing social work, class assignments, and the research projects we worked on as doctoral students. Many of these conversations occurred in an alley coffee shop in Seattle’s University District, just a stone’s throw from the School of Social Work. Known by the employees as “Matt and Jeff,” we were treated as regulars who would sit at our customary window table for what was likely far too long. It was a time of great intellectual pursuit, and I had found the perfect colleague and friend with whom to share ideas and discuss future plans. It was the beginning of a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted 34 years.Matthew entered doctoral education with a well-developed interest in understanding the etiology of alcohol and other substance use disorders. Over the nearly four decades that followed, he devoted his career to conducting basic and applied research aimed at ameliorating substance abuse dependence and co-occurring problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly well known for his basic research and intervention studies addressing the vexing problem of inhalant abuse (e.g., Howard, Balster, Cottler, Wu, & Vaughn, 2008; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011; Howard & Jenson, 1999b). Matthew’s innovative and rigorous research in this area led to three grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and to widespread recognition as one of the world’s foremost experts on inhalant abuse. In recent years, Matthew extended his work to testing mindfulness-oriented interventions for people with chronic pain and opioid misuse. His coinvestigator in much of this work was Eric Garland, professor and associate dean for research in the University of Utah College of Social Work. Eric, a former student of Matthew’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes some of the important lessons he learned under Matthew’s tutelage in an accompanying article in this issue (Garland, 2019).Matthew also made significant contributions to social work education and research. In the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Matthew traced key developments in social work during the past 30 years and reflected on a vision of the field that stretched to 2044—30 years into the future (Howard & Garland, 2015). The ideas he shared in this lecture have provided a useful framework for assessing the relatively recent history of social work and addressing the challenges in educating master’s-level practitioners and doctoral students in the future. Matthew delivered a similarly thought-provoking lecture on the current state and future of social work doctoral education at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education. Ideas presented in his lectures were coupled with action. One such example is illustrated by Matthew’s early development of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doctoral-level course on conducting systematic reviews. Students in this class often produced publishable papers as a result of Matthew’s fastidious attention to breadth and quality. In earlier work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Matthew and colleagues advanced the idea of evidence-based practice as a paradigm for training MSW social work practitioners (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003). Enola Proctor, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, was a colleague of Matthew’s at the time. She remembers Matthew as… a brilliant scholar and dear person. Highly regarded for his excellence in the classroom at the Brown School, he was demanding yet was a frequent winner of student-elected teaching awards. Matthew used his seemingly boundless energy to better the fields of addiction research and social work practice. He had my highest respect and unending affection. His passing is a tremendous loss to our field and community of scholars [and] saddens me deeply. (E. Proctor, personal communication, January 9, 2019)In 1999, Matthew and I had the good fortune to guest edit a special issue of Research on Social Work Practice that explored the utility of clinical practice guidelines for social work practice (Howard & Jenson, 1999a). Collectively, Matthew’s lectures and published papers assessing the state of social work education and practice stimulated debate and produced tangible curricula changes in schools across the country.A prolific writer, Matthew published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in his career. His written work also included 40 book reviews, editorials, and government reports. Matthew’s h-index of 55 and nearly 9,000 citations of his work to date illustrate just how much his scholarship was valued by colleagues. His written contributions will be recognized and used by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades to come.Matthew was a fellow and a board member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A proponent of interdisciplinary work, he also was a faculty research fellow in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of his passing. Matthew’s devotion to empirical research and scholarship is widely recognized. However, what may be most impressive about Matthew’s career is the recognition he received as both a scholar and a teacher. He was awarded eight outstanding teaching and mentoring awards from students and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two of Matthew’s doctoral students at North Carolina (Eric Garland, University of Utah; and Carrie Pettus-Davis, Florida State University) received Doctoral Fellow Awards from the Society for Social Work and Research. Matthew connected with his students by combining high scientific standards with a compassionate approach to helping people succeed. He was soft-spoken, but his ideas and words carried great weight and influence.Matthew’s service to the fields of social work and addiction was also exemplary. He reviewed manuscripts for more than 60 different academic journals in his career. He was on the editorial boards of more than 50 journals—including serving a JSSWR associate editor for the past several years—and he previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work Research, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases. Matthew also was vice president and served on the Society for Social Work and Research Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.The task of summarizing the life and career of a prolific and impactful scholar, teacher, and mentor like Matthew is daunting. Mark Fraser, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding editor of JSSWR, was a longtime friend, collaborator, and colleague. Reflecting on Matthew’s career, he recalls,As a scholar and a teacher, Matthew was eloquent and encyclopedic. Students flocked to his classes. A gentle spirit who treasured collaboration with others, his greatest joys came in exploring new ideas and reading recent research. In the profession as a thought leader, Matthew was a tour de force. At once, he was creative, insightful, sensitive, critical, and thorough. Matthew was—quite simply—incomparable. (M. Fraser, personal communication, January 8, 2019)Tangible accomplishments like those summarized here do not tell the complete story of a person. Matthew had an uncanny ability to effectively express his strong personal beliefs and ethical values in everyday interactions with friends and colleagues. He had a deep interest in applying the lessons gained from his own empirical work to promote fairness and equity for all people. Matthew’s invaluable input and feedback to students and colleagues about their ideas, papers, or projects came with great civility and kindness. He was an insatiable reader whose knowledge extended to topics well beyond social work or the addictions. In this sense, one could discuss a wide range of topics with Matthew with the preordained understanding that he had very likely already read much of what had been written on the topic. Matthew’s longstanding practice of underscoring written text with yellow highlighters was applied to thousands of empirical and conceptual articles and manuscripts during his career.On a personal level, Matthew enjoyed taking walks, listening to music, and reading novels and poetry. His wry sense of humor often left many of his closest friends and colleagues writhing in laughter. I was among them.JSSWR is proud to count Matthew as one of its most influential associate editors and contributors. His place as an important teacher and scholar in social work education and research is secure. Matthew’s many contributions will be discovered anew by emerging scholars for decades to come. His presence in social work and the broad field of the addictions will be missed by us all.NotesJeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Phillip D. & Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor Children and Youth at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Jeffrey M. Jenson, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208 or via e-mail to [email protected]ReferencesGarland, E. L. (2019). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Matthew O. Howard as a mentor and his influence on the science of mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1086/702654First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O. (2016, March 31). Hot topics in doctoral education. Presentation at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education, Chapel Hill, NC.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Balster, R., Cottler, L. B., Wu, L., & Vaughn, M. G. (2008). Inhalant use among incarcerated adolescents: Prevalence, characteristics, and predictors of use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 93, 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2007.08.023First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., Bowen, S., Garland, E. L., Perron, B. E., & Vaughn, M. G. (2011). Inhalant use and inhalant use disorders in the United States. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 6, 18–31.First citation in articleGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Garland, E. L. (2015). Social work research: 2044. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6, 173–200. https://doi.org/10.1086/681099First citation in articleLinkGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999a). Clinical practice guidelines: Should social work develop them? Research on Social Work Practice, 9, 283–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973159900900302First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., & Jenson, J. M. (1999b). Inhalant use among antisocial youth: Prevalence and correlates. Addictive Behaviors, 24, 59–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0306-4603(98)00039-2First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle ScholarHoward, M. O., McMillen, J. C., & Pollio, D. (2003). Teaching evidence-based practice: Toward a new paradigm for social work education. Research on Social Work Practice, 13, 234–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731502250404First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research Volume 10, Number 1Spring 2019 Published for the Society for Social Work and Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/702653HistoryPublished online February 04, 2019 © 2019 by the Society for Social Work and Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Research centers in schools of social work are growing in number and scope. In this article the authors argue that this increase is in line with the growing recognition that research and science are critical components of the mission of the social work profession. The authors examine the purposes and various models for establishing research centers in schools of social work. They highlight the phases of development in the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services at the University of Southern California School of Social Work and articulate the operational principles on which the center is based and that have driven its operation and significant growth during the past decade. KEY WORDS: center; infrastructure; organization; research; social work ********** The Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services was conceived, developed, and continues to advance in a specific historical context. Two main, and partly contradictory, perspectives of the nature of social work have been predominant: social work as an art and social work as a professional activity based on science. The assumption that social work is an art has a lengthy tradition, and goes back to values such as human beings' readiness to help others (Soydan, 1999), and later to the institutional reflection of such values in charity movements and organizations. Historically, the assumption that social work is a profession that must base its actions on science began with the genesis of modern social science during the second half of the 1700s and early 1800s. This belief was reflected in later positivist paradigms, such as the work of Mary Richmond and Jane Addams (Soydan, 1999). More recently during the 1980s and 1990s, this discourse was reactivated and became rather controversial. Hugh England's (1986) boo5k, Social Work as Art: Making Sense for Good Practice, is considered a modern milestone for this sentiment. Siporin (1988) emphasized this position further, Reamer (1993) substantiated its philosophical foundations, and Goldstein (1990) took a controversial position by suggesting that social work had become a victim of scientific promises and had turned away from its commitment to practice wisdom. The assumption that social work has to be organized around a solid base to advance its professionalism has suffered setbacks over the years. Fischer (1976) argued that the effectiveness of social casework was not supported by existing experimental evidence. The Task Force on Social Work Research (1991) found that too little research in social work was done and that what was done was mostly irrelevant and inadequate in enabling social work professionals to respond better to clients and stakeholders. Fraser and colleagues (1991) increased awareness about the lack of pertinent and good quality research in social work. Other studies during the first half of the 1990s also emphasized the poor state of the science in social work (Gambrill, 1994; Hepworth & Larsen, 1992; Wakefield, 1996a, 1996b). However, there were also proposals about how to remedy some of these problems to make social work research more pertinent, rigorous, and extensive. It is not surprising that one solution was suggested in the combination of art and science (Papel & Skolnik, 1992; Schon, 1983). A proposal from Lindsey and Kirk (1992) argued that research resources in social work should be concentrated on a few social work research schools in which a critical mass of researchers from a range of disciplines and perspectives could be gathered to address some of the central problems of our profession. At this point in time, whether or not research centers are seen by the field of social work as useful, they continue to emerge and develop around the country. This is consistent with the growing recognition that research and science are critical components of the mission of the social work profession. What is left to he considered is how these centers can be organized, can grow, and can be sustained. …

A trending approach for analysis in critical care research: Bayesian statistics.

Focus groups, originally used in fields such as marketing and consumer research, are rapidly gaining popularity as a research methodology in the social sciences. It is interesting to note that most of the scholarly work on focus groups continues to come from business rather than the social sciences. Few researchers have discussed the differing purposes and goals in social science and consumer research (Ospina, 1994; Moore, 1996). Furthermore, the literature on focus group research rarely utilizes social work knowledge of group dynamics or group facilitation skills. Rather, the literature on focus groups tends to give guidelines for leading groups, telling focus group facilitators what to do and what not to do in leading such groups. We believe that these guidelines, while generally helpful, can lead to rigidity on the part of focus group leaders. We suggest that, in social work research, focus group facilitators should use their knowledge of group dynamics and the values of individualization and empathy to modify focus group rules where appropriate. This paper describes part of a qualitative study of client/worker relationships in residential mental health settings. During the course of this research, group work principles came into conflict, at times, with recommended guidelines for focus group leaders. The paper illustrates how insights gleaned from group work theory and practice can enable a researcher to break focus group rules responsibly, thus bringing greater depth to the data gathered and allowing the researcher to be more sensitive to the needs of focus group participants.

Gross domestic product (GDP) serves as a vital indicator of a country’s economic health, influenced by factors such as unemployment rates, export-import dynamics, and inflation rates. Understanding the intricate relationship between GDP and unemployment is crucial for navigating the dynamic business environment. This study investigates this relationship in Somalia using both frequentist and Bayesian regression approaches. The frequentist approach, particularly ordinary least squares, is chosen for its widespread use and simplicity in estimating parameters by minimizing the sum of squared deviations. Meanwhile, the Bayesian approach is adopted for its flexibility in integrating prior information and updating estimates as new data emerge, providing a probabilistic framework that accommodates parameter uncertainty. Secondary data from the World Bank spanning 1991–2020 were analyzed. The results reveal a significant negative association between unemployment and GDP in both models. Comparative analysis employing mean absolute error, root mean square error, and mean square error indicates comparable predictive accuracy between the two approaches, with the Bayesian model demonstrating slight advantages. Bayesian convergence diagnostics affirm satisfactory model stability. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, aiding in the formulation of strategies to address unemployment challenges and stimulate economic growth in Somalia.The study investigates the relationship between unemployment and GDP in Somalia, employing both frequentist and Bayesian statistical methods. The frequentist approach provides point estimates and confidence intervals based on observed data, while the Bayesian approach incorporates prior knowledge and uncertainty into the analysis, yielding posterior distributions. By comparing these methods, the research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how GDP influences unemployment rates and vice versa. The results highlight the strengths and limitations of each approach, offering valuable insights for economic policymakers and contributing to the broader field of economic analysis in developing countries.

Advertisement Journals Books Search Menu Menu Navbar Search Filter Social Work Research and AbstractsThis issueNASW Family Social WorkBooksJournalsOxford Academic Mobile Microsite Search Term Search Sign In Issues About About Social Work Research and Abstracts About the National Association of Social Workers About the National Association of Social Workers Press Journals Career Network Journals on Oxford Academic Books on Oxford Academic NASW Family Issues About About Social Work Research and Abstracts About the National Association of Social Workers About the National Association of Social Workers Press Journals Career Network Close Navbar Search Filter Social Work Research and AbstractsThis issueNASW Family Social WorkBooksJournalsOxford Academic Microsite Search Term Search Advanced Search Search Menu Article Navigation Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation Volume 16 Issue 2 Summer 1980 Next > Article Navigation Article Navigation Journal Article Does social work research have a future? A book review Get access William E. Gordon, Ph.D. William E. Gordon, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Work Research and Abstracts, Volume 16, Issue 2, Summer 1980, Pages 3–4, https://doi.org/10.1093/swra/16.2.3 Published: 01 July 1980 Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Cite Cite William E. Gordon, Ph.D., Does social work research have a future? A book review, Social Work Research and Abstracts, Volume 16, Issue 2, Summer 1980, Pages 3–4, https://doi.org/10.1093/swra/16.2.3 Select Format Select format .ris (Mendeley, Papers, Zotero) .enw (EndNote) .bibtex (BibTex) .txt (Medlars, RefWorks) Download citation Close Permissions Icon Permissions Share Email Twitter Facebook More Navbar Search Filter Social Work Research and AbstractsThis issueNASW Family Social WorkBooksJournalsOxford Academic Mobile Microsite Search Term Search Sign In Close Navbar Search Filter Social Work Research and AbstractsThis issueNASW Family Social WorkBooksJournalsOxford Academic Microsite Search Term Search Advanced Search Search Menu Article PDF first page preview Close This content is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 1980 by the National Association of Social WorkersCopyright © 1980 by the National Association of Social Workers Issue Section: Research You do not currently have access to this article. 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In the practice of data analysis, there is a conceptual distinction between hypothesis testing, on the one hand, and estimation with quantified uncertainty on the other. Among frequentists in psychology, a shift of emphasis from hypothesis testing to estimation has been dubbed "the New Statistics" (Cumming 2014). A second conceptual distinction is between frequentist methods and Bayesian methods. Our main goal in this article is to explain how Bayesian methods achieve the goals of the New Statistics better than frequentist methods. The article reviews frequentist and Bayesian approaches to hypothesis testing and to estimation with confidence or credible intervals. The article also describes Bayesian approaches to meta-analysis, randomized controlled trials, and power analysis.

The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) was founded in 1994 to provide a meeting ground and support organization for individual social workers who engage in research. Over its first 14 years, SSWR has grown from a modest-sized organization that hosted an initial conference to a large and influential force that sponsors a wildly successful yearly conference. SSWR's annual conference now showcases a portfolio of awards, including a travel scholarship for a doctoral student, a named lecture, and a very competitive abstract submission process. Funding for research by social workers has grown over the years, and SSWR, in association with the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR), has become a regular provider of educational opportunities about funding sources. This article presents perspectives from the first seven presidents of the organization, who describe the growing richness and diversity of SSWR's membership and projects and the increasing visibility of research conducted by social workers. KEY WORDS: infrastructure; organization; research; SSWR ********** The Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) was founded as a membership organization in 1994 to support social workers interested in research. To preserve the history of SSWR, this article presents sections contributed by the first seven presidents, each describing, often from a personal point of view, how their efforts helped to build the organization and to contribute to the current research infrastructure in social work. PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVES Janet B. W. Williams, Founding President, 1994-1996 It was 1992. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)Task Force Report on Social Work Research (1991) had just been presented to the National Advisory Mental Health Council of NIMH. The report clearly acknowledged the significance of social work research by recognizing the breadth of critical problems with which social work deals and the increasing need for all human services to demonstrate the effectiveness of the services they provide. This report provided the stimulus and led to the funding that supported the establishment in 1992 of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR). IASWR was created by five leading social work organizations: Baccalaureate Program Directors (BPD), National Association of Deans and Directors (NADD), Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GADE), Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and NASW. SSWR was conceived in direct response to the NIMH Task Force Report conclusion that [t]hroughout the profession there is insufficient organizational support for research development. As a research social worker who was not embedded in a school of social work, I had always felt somewhat professionally isolated and hungry for interaction with nay social work research colleagues. As a faculty member in a medical school department of psychiatry, I frequently attended conferences and meetings of research-oriented groups in psychiatry but knew of no similar groups in social work. Therefore, at a psychiatry research meeting shortly after the Task Force Report was issued, I discussed these thoughts with Dr. Alan Leshner, at the time the director of the National Institute on DrugAbuse (NIDA). He agreed to support the founding of such a group and to contribute to its first conference. In 1992, at an NIMH-sponsored conference in Washington, DC (Building Social Work Knowledge for Effective Mental Health Services and Policies), I presented a plan for a new membership organization that would provide social work researchers with a base: the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWFZ). At that conference, Betsy Vourlekis also presented a report on the development of the new IASWR, as she had been appointed head of the implementation committee. At the conclusion of the conference, Betsy approached me and asked if I would delay the initiation of efforts to establish a membership group until the new organizationally based IASWR was firmly off the ground. …

This paper explores issues of reflexivity and knowledge production when cisgender researchers conduct social work research, using feminist narrative methods, to advance understanding about trans and non-binary people’s identities and experiences. Cisgender (or ‘cis’) refers to people who identify with the gender identity assigned to them at birth. The paper examines cis identity, privilege and positionality arguing for a reflexive engagement of the ways in which these influence ethical decision-making and research praxis. In this way, we speak to existing critiques that suggest that only trans and non-binary people should research their own experiences and identities. To address the neglect of gender diversity in education for social work practice and research, we propose that doing social work research with trans and non-binary communities requires cis researchers to adopt critical ethical reflexivity (CER) to scrutinise the impact of gender normativity and its effects in knowledge production for social work.

Use of Data Synthesis in Social Work

This article reports a study assessing the contribution of current social work journal publications to a cumulative body of research that is capable of informing interventions. Thirteen journals published from 1993 to mid-1997 were reviewed. Analysis was guided by the view that the focus and design of studies should correspond to and supply the knowledge needed to perform different practice tasks. Accordingly, journal research articles were classified by their potential contribution to practice decisions requiring descriptive, explanatory, or control knowledge. Research aiming at control knowledge, informing the selection and implementation of interventions, was further evaluated by whether the interventions and outcomes studied were sufficiently specified to permit reliable research replication and application in practice. Very few of the published articles were found to report research on interventions, and even fewer used designs that enable replication. Factors affecting the rate and quality of research and interventions are also discussed. Key words: functions of knowledge; intervention research; knowledge for practice; research design; research purpose Social work has long been concerned with strengthening the extent to which its research is capable of informing and guiding practice (see Greenwood, 1957; Kadushin, 1959; Kane, 1982). Over the years increasing attention has been directed toward this purpose. This attention resulted in the founding in the 1970s of the first two journals dedicated to publishing research (Social Work Research & Abstracts and the Journal of Social Service Research) and the founding about 20 years later of a journal dedicated to research on practice (Research on Social Work Practice). These advances notwithstanding, concern persists that social work researchers are not meeting the needs of practitioners. Such concern was reflected in the convening of a symposium in 1996 on psychosocial intervention research, cosponsored by the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health, as well as in the publication of a special issue on intervention research in the journal Social Work Research (September 1997). Emanating from similar concerns, this article reviews current publications in social work and assesses their potential in contributing to a body of knowledge of effective interventions. This review is based on the premise that social work practice must adhere to and be guided by effectiveness criteria. That is, interventions should be selected and used on the basis of their empirically demonstrated effectiveness. Because journal publications are a major vehicle for accumulating and disseminating professional knowledge, they constitute a primary source of guidance for practice. Accordingly, we examined the current research published in social work journals in relation to its potential for contributing to effective practice. PURPOSE OF PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE The premise that intervention should be based on relevant and valid knowledge is at the core of professional practice. Rosen (1978, 1996) has conceptualized the knowledge needs of practice as related to the purposes for which knowledge is used and its function in practice. Three types of knowledge were distinguished: descriptive, explanatory, and control. Descriptive knowledge guides practitioners in classifying phenomena they encounter into meaningful conceptual categories. Often it is used by practitioners in deciding whether and to what extent a particular manifestation or event should be of concern-that is, considered a problem. Descriptive knowledge includes information on the characteristics, indicators, or incidences of phenomena of professional concern (for example, poverty, child abuse, maladaptive behavior, mental disorders, and community violence). Descriptive knowledge, in articulation with its values, also helps to formulate social work's objectives (Rosen, 1978), informs policy decisions about which services are needed by which client groups, and aids practitioners in assessing and classifying clients and problems into professionally meaningful categories. …

Development and comparison in uncertainty assessment based Bayesian modularization method in hydrological modeling

Intensity‐duration‐frequency (IDF) curves are one of the most common rainfall statistical models used in hydrologic design and analysis projects. The uncertainties related to the elaboration of these IDF curves have nevertheless seldom been evaluated in the past. The article will recall the existing link between the IDF formulation and some properties of the rainfall series such as simple scaling and multifractal structure. Assuming that these properties are valid, the IDF curves formulation is then the product of a dimensionless (i.e., reduced) distribution function for the annual maximum rainfall intensities/depths and a duration‐dependent scaling factor. Its parameters can be evaluated in an integrated way (i.e., based on a unique pooled sample of peak intensities over a range of durations: from 15 min to 24 hr). The use of likelihood‐based Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo statistical inference methods for this evaluation provides consistent uncertainties for all the parameters of the IDF relation and for the corresponding rainfall quantiles. This methodology has been tested, via a local analysis, on a large data set of 48 rain gauge records, spread over the north central part of Algeria (25,000 km2), under various climatic regimes. The integrated approach is undoubtedly consistent with estimates from annual maximum rainfall fitted to single durations. Furthermore, credibility intervals are significantly reduced. Also, this integrated approach appears to be robust: Unlike the traditional method based single durations, it generally provides rational quantile estimates, even when short observed series are available. This is a significant advantage for engineering applications.

We tested whether it is beneficial for the accuracy of phylogenetic inference to sample characters that are evolving under different sets of parameters, using both Bayesian MCMC (Markov chain Monte Carlo) and parsimony approaches. We examined differential rates of evolution among characters, differential character-state frequencies and character-state space, and differential relative branch lengths among characters. We also compared the relative performance of parsimony and Bayesian analyses by progressively incorporating more of these heterogeneous parameters and progressively increasing the severity of this heterogeneity. Bayesian analyses performed better than parsimony when heterogeneous simulation parameters were incorporated into the substitution model. However, parsimony outperformed Bayesian MCMC when heterogeneous simulation parameters were not incorporated into the Bayesian substitution model. The higher the rate of evolution simulated, the better parsimony performed relative to Bayesian analyses. Bayesian and parsimony analyses converged in their performance as the number of simulated heterogeneous model parameters increased. Up to a point, rate heterogeneity among sites was generally advantageous for phylogenetic inference using both approaches. In contrast, branch-length heterogeneity was generally disadvantageous for phylogenetic inference using both parsimony and Bayesian approaches. Parsimony was found to be more conservative than Bayesian analyses, in that it resolved fewer incorrect clades.