Research Methods in Social Science Assessment Module Code: FND3003 Module Description: Research Methods in Social Science Assessment

This paper proposes research on these strategies with the specific objectives of establishing whether child protective systems are working; analysing variations in the social service programs and assessing the differences in the population receiving the services; and looking into law enforcement interventions such as threats of arrest. Some social service interventions are directly administered by government agencies, while others, like parenting and family education programs, are funded by the government but provided by both public and private entities.

Programme Name: BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care (with Foundation Year)
Cohort Name:
Module Code: FND3003
Module Title: Research Methods in Social Science
Assessment Title: Research Proposal
Module Tutor:
Student Number: Your UoB ID
Date of Submission: 1st April 2022
Word count: 2,305
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Social Service Interventions: Dealing with Child Malpractice
Table of Contents
Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................5
2. Aim and Objectives....................................................................................................5
3. Research Questions....................................................................................................5
4. Rationale for the Research ........................................................................................5
5. Literature Review....................................................................................................8
6. Methodology and Methods .....................................................................................11
7. Ethical Issues............................................................................................................12
8. Expected findings.....................................................................................................13
9. Temporal Plan..........................................................................................................14
10. List of References..................................................................................................17
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Abstract
Social service interventions are action programs created to improve the physical,
emotional, psychological well-being of abuse victims. Current literature on the topic
has yet to establish a useful connection between treatment administered and child
maltreatment. This paper proposes research on these strategies with the specific
objectives of establishing whether child protective systems are working; analysing
variations in the social service programs and assessing the differences in the
population receiving the services; and looking into law enforcement interventions
such as threats of arrest. A qualitative research methodology is proposed for the
research with ethical considerations given to the use of children as subjects. The paper
concludes that there is a need to shift the focus of existing strategies to widely used
social services like out-of-home placement and kin-care services.
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1. Introduction
Government and non-government agencies across the U.K. provide a wide
range of social services aimed at preventing or treating family violence, especially.
These strategies include support programs for family and caregivers, protective
guardianship; alternative living arrangements; placement of children in out-of-home
facilities; and counselling to abuse victims (Cotterell, Buffel & Philipson, 2018;
Morris et al., 2018). The interventions made by social workers may entail casework in
addition to therapeutic services tailored to ensure support for families, education for
parents, and counselling for child and family (Morris et al., 2018). Some social
service interventions are directly administered by government agencies, while others,
like parenting and family education programs, are funded by the government but
provided by both public and private entities.
Over the past few decades, treatment and preventive interventions for
domestic violence and child and elder abuse have resulted in various theoretical
perspectives. However, the connections between the available research and the
interventions are considerably ambiguous and uncertain. Research indicates that these
interventions' development often involves trial-and-error experiments, where ideas are
only prominent for a short time but eventually fail after documented disappointing
results (Friedrick & Mason, 2017; Magwood et al., 2019). The interventions have
resulted in different sets of outcomes due to focus on varying individual or social
culture levels, making it challenging to design and evaluate interventions.
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2. Aim and Objectives
The aim of this research is to find out if social service interventions prevent or
reduce child maltreatment.
The objectives are:
 To evaluate existing social service interventions in the context of health, social
service, and law enforcement while measuring their effectiveness towards
ending child malpractice.
 To find out if there are population differences in children who receive the
services.
 To find out whether child protective services are working.
 To establish if threats of arrest to perpetrators discourage batterers.
 To offer recommendations on suitable practice models for both the service
providers and the affected individuals.
3. Research Questions
This study will therefore aim to answer the following questions;
1. Are child protective services working?
2. Are there differences in the population of children receiving the services?
3. Does arrest threats to perpetrators discourage violence?
4. Rationale for the research
The effects of experiencing child abuse, whether directly or indirectly, could
have a long-lasting impact on the general well-being of a child. Research has shown
that children living in fear of getting harmed or witnessing violence are subjected to
serious anxiety problems (Pile, Shammas, & Smith, 2020; Friedrick & Mason, 2017).
Exposure to domestic violence may also directly and negatively impact the social and
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cognitive development of a child, especially in the periods where the children's brains
are undergoing growth and development for future functioning. These children
struggle in schools, feel isolated socially, and find it difficult to interact with their
peers. Many victims of child abuse also get into social problems at their adult stages
(Morris et al., 2018). Reports indicate that nearly two-thirds of people treated for drug
abuse in the U.K. report being abused or uncared for as youngsters.
If provided with expert and dedicated services, children could heal and have
happy lives in adulthood which could be vital in ending the cycle of child abuse. This
is not only a problem in the U.K., as the U.S Department of Health and Human
Services reports that of the millions of youngsters annually referred to child protective
services, only half also get an investigated report (Baker, Brassard & Rosenzweig,
2021). The work of social workers in this setting is therefore very critical in helping
with the challenge. In most cases, the priority of social workers is to get the children
to safety and ensure they are achieving mental stability, especially after undergoing
such traumatic experiences. They are expected to use cultural competence in complex
situations to help assess the dysfunction in a family.
Therefore, this research must look into the strategies put in place by
government and non-government entities across the country to understand why the
problem of child abuse is still a significant concern. The findings of this study will
help in policy-making for social service authorities in addition to bridging the
literature gap in social service interventions and abusive families. The author is of the
view that if the cycle of violence is to be broken, there is a need to work with the
perpetrators. Over the years, social workers have done this through voluntary or court-
ordered intervention programs and counselling. This study will provide additional
insights on valuable service provision, including therapy and facilitation for
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widespread conversation. The chances are that the perpetrators are themselves victims
of child abuse; hence there is a need to end the cycle.
5. Literature Review
The discussion on social service interventions in relation to child abuse or
malpractice identifies specific interventions used by the relevant entities. However,
these strategies are far from distinct, as evidenced by the substantial overlap that
exists in the specific services offered by each intervention (Gal, 2017). This,
therefore, raises a vital question on which of the elements in such sets of interventions
are the most relevant and effective in preventing and treating violence in families,
especially against children. In this section of the study, the field has pointed out the
specific social service interventions discussed. The literature used in evaluation has
evolved following the identification of these services, as suggested by Baker,
Brassard & Rosenzweig (2021). This section reviews the individual interventions
available to victims and their families. The interventions identified and discussed in
this section will also inform the discussion in the following chapters as the study
seeks to improve legal and health care interventions to help fight against child
malpractice.
Researchers have pointed to the interaction of various factors in child abuse.
They have gone ahead to describe the interactions of these factors in various
theoretical models that have undergone considerable evolution over the years. One
such model is the ecological model of Gal (2017), which was based on the original
work of Ure Bronfenbrenner. Another model is the transitional model, which
perceives child abuse and poor parenting to be a product of continuous interactions of
the individual behaviour, forces of culture and society, and the roles of parenting
(Martin, 2019). There is also the transactional model of de Ossomo et al. (2019) based
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on Sameroff and Chandler's formulations. This model focuses on the interactions
between protective and risks factors in the family social environment. Interestingly
enough, the three models or approaches share critical assumptions that the individual
characters of children and their parents are not enough to enhance understanding of
the emergence and nature of child abuse.
In the three models, each group used different sets of assumptions to
investigate the interactive processes, stresses, perceptions, and social support in the
family setup or environment. Theorists have also considered individual factors that
play essential roles in different models. Stress (Friedrick & Mason, 2017), social
isolation (Cotterell, Buffel & Philipson, 2018), limited knowledge on parenting and
child development, mental health disorders, contributing behaviour from children and
the social and specific or individual characteristics such as drug abuse and poverty
(Gal, 2017; Baker, Brassard & Rosenzweig, 2021; Morris et al., 2018). Many years of
research and practice have drawn the attention of prevention and treatment
interventions towards social-ecological models that are much broader in perspective.
This is a significant deviation from the models based solely on individual analysis of
specific elements.
The shift in focus has been done with an emergent emphasis on the social
context of the relationships between parents and their children. In most instances of
social service interventions, the main person of concern is usually the child who has
experienced maltreatment. However, the interventions generally target the parents
directly with the assumption that if a behaviour change in the parent is achieved, the
children will be more secure. These direct interventions with the parents involve
activities like parent education, mental health, home visiting, support groups, as well
as other therapeutic services and concrete social support (Morris et al., 2018). Some
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programs directly target children, and such include; conflict management skills,
resistance to maltreatment, and therapeutic services.
Nonetheless, many of the expected primary outcomes of social interventions lack
reliable measures. Most of the treatment and prevention measures do not use data
related to child abuse as an outcome measure. The measures give considerations only
rely on reports of child neglect and maltreatment rather than observations of the
interactions between the parent and child.
Researchers have also suggested that families are more likely to suffer from
neglect if they are socially isolated and not provided with relevant social support. The
opposite is true for matched comparison samples (Cotterell, Buffel & Philipson,
2018). There have also been discussions and evaluations on several strategies for
interventions that include individual interventions like counselling and in-home
education. Multi-service interventions have also emerged that provide solutions to the
specific needs of families. Similarly, risk assessment interventions look into how
robust the family support systems are for the children (Martin, 2019). Some social
skills training are aimed at improving the ability of families to gain access to the
appropriate resources and services. Intensive family preservations are also available to
ensure family support and referrals in the event of a crisis. Public health departments
also administer another social intervention strategy that involves home visitation
programs. However, the variations of different outcomes for these programs have
made it difficult for the researchers to compare results.
6. Methodology and Methods
Existing literature on the strategies used by social workers to cope with child
maltreatment and abusive families has yielded broadly varying outcomes, making it a
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significant challenge to analyze the viability of the measures and provide suitable
recommendations for policy change. This study proposes using qualitative research
methods to achieve the research objectives. The method is selected for the research
because it is the most suitable for understanding the reasons for varying outcomes
from previous literature and developing a better approach to the phenomenon of child
malpractice for the future. Quantitative methods are not considered for this research
because they mainly involve statistics and numbers. The author is of the view that this
research would require a deeper understanding of thoughts, experiences and concepts
and this has informed the choice for a qualitative approach. Many researchers who
employ the use of qualitative research give emphasis on objects that provide direct
experience in the phenomenology approach (Melnikovas, 2018; Hennik, Huttler &
Bailey, 2020). Data collection in this approach is very demanding, and data analysis
will also involve rigorous processes. The research will ensure adequate analysis of
facial expressions, attitudes and feelings.
There is a need to conduct an expansive study on this subject matter with an
adequate representation of the U.K. population to better understand the problem. This
study will use a convenient sample, preferably 100 subjects. This number will include
parents, caregivers, children, and social workers drawn from London and at least five
other cities across the United Kingdom. Participants of the study will be selected
using random selection techniques with consideration given to the participants'
environmental and social factors like location, gender, and age. For example, research
on foster care outcomes will entail follow-up studies and detailed comparison of
group analytics and robust retrospective designs. Comparing foster care children to
those living with their children will consider the critical research discussion of
maltreatment.
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Interviews will be conducted for this research using both structured and
unstructured interview questions. One unstructured question that will be directed to
the social workers is; "What is the experience like dealing with families or children
who have undergone these traumatic experiences?" another could be; "How do you
ensure the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of such children?" The
researcher expects the subjects to open up on various issues, and occasional questions
will follow for clarity. The interviews are expected to last between 20-30 minutes, and
they will all be video recorded. Data collected will then be analysed and presented on
excel worksheets using tables, pie charts and graphs. Excel presentation is chosen for
this research because of the formulas, functions, and formatting styles that help in
creating an accurate picture of the findings.
7. Ethical Issues
Child abuse is a susceptible subject of research in any part of the world. This
study aims to help in improving the health of the victims through research on the
strategies used to cope with the phenomenon by social workers in the community.
Therefore, the research raises two important ethical issues: the use of children as
subjects and concerns about the mental health of children targeted by the research.
This study will strive to observe ethical standards right from the research problem
formulation through to the reporting of results and findings. Ethical issues to be
considered will include; ensuring informed consent is obtained, assuring abused
children and adults with maltreatment history of autonomy, establishing researcher
roles as a mandated reporter and ensuring safety and control while collecting data.
This research will also adopt a rigorous research design as already discussed, and this
will aid in preparation on the issue of childhood abuse and trauma.
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8. Expected findings
The field of child abuse presents the most extensive area in evaluating the
social service interventions for abusive families. The existing knowledge base has
only focused on parental behaviour, family support, school-based programs, and
individual service programs. Widely used social services, including out of placement,
kinship care, and child protection services, have not been appropriately evaluated,
leading to limited insights. The literature reviewed in this proposal suggests that
strategies to improve parenting practices and enhance family support have not proven
capable of preventing abuse or child neglect over time. There are few formal or
informal support services for victims who opt not to enrol for crisis intervention
programs.
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9. Temporal Plan
Weeks (December 2021 – April 2022)
Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
1
12 13 14 15
Topic Selection
Lit. Search
Reading for Lit
Review
Aim and
Objectives
Methods
Writing up
proposal
Formative
Feedback
Submission
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Temporal Plan
Research Plan
Weeks (Feb 2021- May 2021)
Research Plan and
Activities
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Topic Selection
Literature Review
Aims and Objectives /
Research Questions
Reading and selecting
(4) literature review
Finalizing Aims and
Objectives for
Secondary Research
Methods / Excel
Ethics
Results
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Analysis of Result
Conclusion/Abstract
Formative Feedback
Completing final
research
Submission deadline
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10. List of References
Baker, A.J., Brassard, M.R. and Rosenzweig, J., 2021. Psychological maltreatment:
Definition and reporting barriers among American professionals in the field of
child abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 114, p.104941.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213421000144
Cotterell, N., Buffel, T. and Phillipson, C., 2018. Preventing social isolation in older
people. Maturitas, 113, pp.80-84.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378512218301634
de Ossorno García, S., Martín Babarro, J. and Toldos Romero, M.D.L.P., 2019.
Ecological-transaction model approach of adolescents' parental maltreatment
and peer-bullying: the moderating role of bullying at the
classroom. Electronic Journal of Research in Education Psychology, 17(49),
pp.495-318. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10087518/
Friedrich, B. and Mason, O.J., 2017. "What is the score?" A review of football-based
public mental health interventions. Journal of Public Mental Health.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JPMH-03-2017-0011/
full/html
Gal, Tali. "An ecological model of child and youth participation." Gal, Tali. (2017)."
An ecological model of child and youth participation." Children and Youth
Services Review 79 (2017): 57-64. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?
abstract_id=3539970
Hennink, M., Hutter, I. and Bailey, A., 2020. Qualitative research methods. Sage.
Magwood, O., Leki, V.Y., Kpade, V., Saad, A., Alkhateeb, Q., Gebremeskel, A.,
Rehman, A., Hannigan, T., Pinto, N., Sun, A.H. and Kendall, C., 2019.
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Common trust and personal safety issues: A systematic review on the
acceptability of health and social interventions for persons with lived
experience of homelessness. PloS one, 14(12), p.e0226306.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226306
Martin, C., 2019. What is the most appropriate transitional justice model in
addressing historical human rights abuses? A comparative analysis of the
experiences of Australia and the Republic of Ireland (Doctoral dissertation).
https://vps5.cloudfarm.it/handle/20.500.11825/1117
Melnikovas, A., 2018. Towards an explicit research methodology: Adapting research
onion model for futures studies. Journal of Futures Studies, 23(2), pp.29-44.
http://journals.mountaintopuniversity.edu.ng/Research%20Methodology/03-
Melnikovas-Onion-Research-Model.pdf
Morris, K., Mason, W., Bywaters, P., Featherstone, B., Daniel, B., Brady, G.,
Bunting, L., Hooper, J., Mirza, N., Scourfield, J. and Webb, C., 2018. Social
work, poverty, and child welfare interventions. Child & Family Social
Work, 23(3), pp.364-372.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cfs.12423
Pile, V., Shammas, D., & Smith, P. (2020). Assessment and treatment of depression in
children and young people in the United Kingdom: Comparison of access to
services and provision at two-time points. Clinical Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 25(1), 119-132. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910451985811
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