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Social Work Capstone Projects: Demonstrating Professional Competencies through Applied Research 1st Edition

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The only practical guide for helping social work students create high-quality applied capstone research projects from start to finish

This “mentor-in-a-book” provides social work students with invaluable information on designing, implementing, and presenting first-rate applied research projects focused on improving social work programs and services. Taking students step-by-step through the entire process, the book helps students plan their projects by providing descriptions of the various research methodologies that can be used to improve social work programs and services. It offers extensive instruction on how to write effectively by providing detailed information on all written components of capstone research projects, as well as the dos and don’ts of writing research reports.

Covering data collection methods, program evaluation, organization and community needs assessments, practice-effectiveness studies, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis, this brand-new book also addresses best practices for presenting findings upon completion of the applied research project. Additional features include abundant case examples demonstrating the application of theory to practice and an examination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, while also helping students demonstrate social work practice competencies within their capstone projects. Practice activities in each chapter help students apply knowledge to their research projects; and technology exercises help students master important digital research techniques. A capstone project checklist and competency log help students monitor progress, and QR codes provide supplementary support and resources. Additional faculty resources include competency rubrics, detailed group exercises for each chapter, and a sample syllabus for faculty. Purchase of the book includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers.

Key Features:

• Delivers step-by-step information on creating high-quality social work capstone projects from conception through presentation
• Includes a detailed summary of the major applied research approaches to improving social work programs and services
• Explains how to research literature and write a problem statement on a social service issue
• Contains extensive information on how to write effective capstone research papers along with abundant examples
• Helps students to demonstrate social work practice competencies
• Offers case examples throughout to demonstrate the application of theory to practice
• Presents practice activities and technology exercises in each chapter
• Provides a capstone project checklist and competency log
• Includes QR codes providing additional resources for each chapter
• ISBN-10 0826186351
• ISBN-13 978-0826186355
• Edition 1st
• Publisher Springer Publishing Company
• Publication date June 3, 2021
• Language English
• Dimensions 7 x 0.6 x 10 inches
• Print length 350 pages
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About the author.

John Poulin, PhD, MSW , is a professor emeritus and adjunct professor at Widener University’s Center for Social Work Education in Chester, Pennsylvania, currently teaching the foundation field seminar in Widener’s online MSW program. In 2016, he retired from Widener University, where he taught generalist practice, research, and policy courses for 32 years.

Stephen Kauffman, PhD is a Professor at Widener University's Center for Social Work Education, where he has taught community practice, program evaluation, research and policy since 1991.

Travis Sky Ingersoll, MED, MSW, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at West Chester University.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Springer Publishing Company; 1st edition (June 3, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0826186351
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0826186355
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.7 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.6 x 10 inches
• #1,106 in Social Sciences Research
• #1,421 in Social Services & Welfare (Books)
• #2,268 in Social Work (Books)

About the author

John e. poulin.

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Nebraska on-farm research network releases 2023 research results publication.

The Nebraska On-Farm Research Network (NOFRN) is placing research results into producers’ hands through its 2023 Research Results book — a publication that highlights findings from approximately 80 on-farm research studies conducted in Nebraska during the 2023 growing season.

"The research results in this book equip producers with the tools to harness local insights, enabling them to make well-informed decisions that optimize both productivity and profitability on their own operation" said Taylor Lexow, NOFRN Project Coordinator.

Studies in the 2023 Research Results book cover various topics, including crop production, fertility and soil management, non-traditional products, cover crops, crop protection and equipment. The 2023 publication, along with publications from previous years, is now available on the NOFRN’s website.

With planting season upon us, now is the time to dig deeper into agricultural practices and determine what best fits the needs of every operation. Download a copy of the 2023 Research Results book today from the NOFRN site .

For more information about the 2023 Research Results book or the NOFRN, please contact Taylor Lexow at 402-245-2222 .

About the NOFRN

The Nebraska On-Farm Research Network (NOFRN) is a program of Nebraska Extension that partners with farmers to evaluate agricultural practices and provide innovative solutions that impact farm productivity, profitability and sustainability. It is supported by the Nebraska Corn Board, the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, the Nebraska Soybean Checkoff and the Nebraska Dry Bean Commission. To learn more about the NOFRN, visit its website .

2023 Research Results Book

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E-Books Still No Match for Printed Books

E-books vs. printed books.

Happy World Book Day! While UNESCO's General Conference probably thought of ink on paper when it first celebrated the event in 1995, some 21st century book lovers have moved onto enjoying the pastime in the electronic form. In the following chart, we compare just how popular e-books are versus those in print.

According to data from Statista’s Market Insights: Media & Advertising , e-book penetration still trails that of printed books in the vast majority of countries around the world. In the United States for example, 20 percent of the population are estimated to have purchased an e-book last year, compared to 30 percent who bought a printed book. China is the only country of those studied that saw the opposite trend, with only 24 percent of people having bought a printed book in the 12 months prior to the survey, while around 27 percent of people bought an e-book in that time frame.

Looking at forecasts for the book market on a worldwide scale, Statista analysts predict that while e-books have grown in popularity, they will not be the final nail in the coffin of printed books but rather a complementary product that should ultimately benefit the publishing industry.

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This chart shows the estimated share of the population in selected countries that purchased an e-book / a printed book in 2023.

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• Who may use the "Chart of the Day"? The Statista "Chart of the Day", made available under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0, may be used and displayed without charge by all commercial and non-commercial websites. Use is, however, only permitted with proper attribution to Statista. When publishing one of these graphics, please include a backlink to the respective infographic URL. More Information
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Collections Update: April 2024 (Part 2)

The Galter Library is constantly striving to update our electronic resources and bring current tools to our patrons' desktops. Titles that the Library added to its electronic collections in Spring 2024 include:

• Back to Basics: Ethics for Behavior Analysts
• Berman's Pediatric Decision Making (5th ed)
• Birth Figures: Early Modern Prints and the Pregnant Body
• Covid Chronicles: A Comics Anthology
• Health Communication Models and Practices in Interpersonal and Media Contexts
• Modern Intervention Tools for Rehabilitation
• Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations: Cardiovascular System (3rd ed)
• Netter Collection of Medical Illustrations: Integumentary System (3rd ed)
• Part 1- Brain (3rd ed)
• Part II- Spinal Cord and Peripheral Motor and Sensory Systems (3rd ed)
• Neuroradiology: The Core Requisites (5th ed)
• Ocular Pathology   (9th ed)
• On Call: Principles and Protocols   (7th ed)
• Pandemics and Ethics 
• Patient as a Person 
• Patient Safety: Investigating and reporting Serious Clinical Incidents   (2nd ed)
• Practical Dermatologic Surgery 
• Practical Genetic Counseling for the Laboratory 
• Principles of Forensic Pathology 
• Problems and Pitfalls in Medical Literature: A Practical Guide for Clinicians 
• Pseudo-Paracelsus: Foregery and Modern Alchemy, Medicine and Naturual Philosophy 
• Psychiatrist's Guide to Advocacy 
• Public Health 101: Improving Community Health   (4th ed)
• Public Health, Public Trust and American Fragility in a Pandemic Era 
• Red Book Atlas of Pediatric Infectious Diseases   (5th ed)
• Resnick's Bone and Joint Imaging   (4th ed)
• Seeing Patients: A Surgeon's Story of Race and Medical Bias
• Smith's Recognizable Patterns of Human Deformation   (5th ed)
• Stevens and Lowe's Human Histology  (6th ed)
• Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together 
• Textbook of Palliative Communication 
• Transforming Racial and Cultural Lines in Health and Social Care 
• Unfavorable Result in Plastic Surgery: Avoidance and Treatment   (4th ed)
• Untangling the Thread of Racism: A Primer for Pediatric Health Professionals 
• Volpe's Neurology of the Newborn   (7th ed)
• Why It's OK to Trust Science 

New MIT Press Direct to Open monographs include :

• Inducing Immunity? : justifying immunization policies in times of vaccine hesitancy
• Making Modern Medical Ethics : how African Americans, anti-Nazis, bureaucrats, feminists, veterans, and whistleblowing moralists created bioethics
• May We Make the World? : gene drives, malaria, and the future of nature
• More Than a Health Crisis : securitization and the US response to the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak

New and related titles added to subscribed titles include:

• Chem Catalysis
• Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
• Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology
• Trends in Chemistry

Looking for other books and resources in library collections? Use the search box on the  home page  of the Galter website.  The Galter Guide,  How to Find Resources , provides tips on how to search for print books, e-books, how to search inside multiple books simultaneously, and more.

Updated: April 25, 2024

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Books Bound in Human Skin: An Ethical Quandary at the Library

Harvard’s recent decision to remove the binding of a notorious volume in its library has thrown fresh light on a shadowy corner of the rare book world.

By Jennifer Schuessler and Julia Jacobs

The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is the place to inspect some of the most exquisite rare books on the market. But at this year’s event in early April, some browsers may have been unprepared for a small, grayish item on view: a book bound in human skin.

The book, which measures about 3 by 5 inches, came with a price tag of $45,000 — and a colorful back story. According to a statement by its owner, the binding was commissioned in 1682 by an Italian doctor and anatomist identified as Jacopo X, and has been kept by his descendants ever since.

Family lore held that during a dissection, Jacopo recognized the woman on the slab as an actress he had seen in Corneille’s comedy “Le Baron d’Albikrac.” He knew that unclaimed bodies sold to medical schools for dissection were rarely, if ever, given a proper burial. So he removed a piece of skin, and used it to bind a copy of the play.

“There was a sense that this was a tribute,” Ian Kahn, a dealer, explained to onlookers gathered at the counter of his booth before pulling out the book to offer a closer look.

Books bound in human skin — and the sometimes sensational stories surrounding them — have long occupied an odd place in the annals of the rare book world. Over the years, they have been whispered, bragged and joked about.

But over the past decade, the conversation has shifted. Many institutions whose collections include these books have sharply restricted access, as they have found themselves unexpectedly embroiled in the same debates about displaying — or even owning — human remains that have swept across museums .

The conversation was jolted anew last month when Harvard University announced that it had removed the skin binding from a notorious book in its collections, and that it would be seeking “a final, respectful disposition.” The university also apologized for “past failures in its stewardship,” which it said had “further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used” for the binding.

The announcement drew headlines around the world. But so far, the reaction from rare book experts has been muted — and mixed.

“It was a bold move to put out a press release not just about the presence of human skin books, but about a potentially controversial way of dealing with the issue,” said Allie Alvis, a curator at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware. Too many institutions, Alvis says, are unwilling to say much about them at all.

But others are troubled by what they see as the destruction of a historical artifact, and the imposition of 21st-century sensibilities onto objects from different times and contexts.

Megan Rosenbloom, a former medical librarian and the author of “Dark Archives,” a study of the history and science of anthropodermic (or skin-bound) books, said that destroying or disposing of these objects would close off future scholarship and fresh understandings.

“We should treat these books as respectfully as possible, but try not to bury literally and figuratively what happened to these people,” she said. “It’s hubris to think we’ve come to the end of our evolution of how we think about human remains.”

And moves like Harvard’s, Rosenbloom added, could backfire.

“If all anthropodermic books are taken out of institutions,” she said, “the rest of these books on the private market will probably go further underground, where they might be treated less respectfully.”

Rumors and Innuendo

Claims of books bound in human skin have circulated for centuries. But the ability to confirm them scientifically — using a technique called peptide mass fingerprinting — is only about a decade old.

In 2015, Rosenbloom and others started the Anthropodermic Book Project , with the goal of uncovering “the historical truths behind the innuendo.” So far, the project has identified 51 purported examples worldwide, 18 of which have been confirmed as bound in human skin. Another 14 have been debunked.

An unknown number of others sit in private libraries. Kahn, whose firm, Lux Mentis , handles a lot of “challenging material,” as he put it, said he knows of several collectors in Paris who have skin-bound books.

The oldest reputed examples are three 13th-century Bibles held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in France. The largest number date from the Victorian era, the heyday of anatomical collecting , when doctors sometimes had medical treatises and other texts bound in skin from patients or cadavers.

Other examples relate to criminals or prisoners. At the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Scotland, a display about the 19th-century growth of the medical profession includes a small notebook purportedly bound in the skin of William Burke, part of a duo of notorious serial killers who sold their victims’ bodies for dissection. The Boston Athenaeum owns one bound in the skin of a man who, before he died in prison , had asked that two copies of his memoir and deathbed confession be bound in his skin.

While most known skin bindings are from Europe or North America, some involve wild claims, like a book at the Newberry Library in Chicago said to have been “found in the palace of the King of Delhi” during the 1857 mutiny against British rule. (Lab examination, according to the library, concluded it was actually “highly burnished goat.” )

“There’s often a sense of othering of these books,” said Alvis, the curator of Winterthur Museum, who posts about rare books on social media as @book_historia. “They don’t come from the noble white person, but this strange person from foreign climes.”

Current testing cannot identify race or sex of the skin. But at least a half-dozen 19th-century examples involve skin purportedly taken from female patients or cadavers by male doctors, with several used to cover books about female biology or sexuality (like a treatise on virginity held at the Wellcome Collection in London).

And a few examples, both rumored and confirmed, have racial connections that, whatever the intentions behind the bindings, may play uncomfortably today.

Two volumes of poems by Phillis Wheatley , the first person of African descent to publish a book in the United States, have been confirmed as bound in human skin. But a pocket-size notebook at the Wellcome Collection, long claimed to have been bound in the skin of Crispus Attucks, a mixed-race Black and Native man recognized as the first person to die for American independence, is likely bound in camel, horse or goat skin, according to the museum.

A ‘Violated Woman’?

The volume at Harvard, an 1879 philosophical treatise called “Des Destinées de L’Ame,” or “The Destiny of Souls,” was bound by a French doctor named Ludovic Bouland, who inserted a note saying that “a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.” It was placed at Harvard’s Houghton Library in 1934 by John Stetson, an heir to the hat fortune, along with another note saying that the skin came from a woman who died in a psychiatric hospital.

According to Harvard, library lore holds that “decades ago” the book was sometimes used to haze unsuspecting student workers. But questions about the library’s recent stewardship emerged in 2014, after the library published a jokey blog post describing the confirmation of the skin binding as “good news for cannibals.”

Paul Needham, a prominent rare book expert who retired from Princeton in 2020, was deeply offended, and began calling on Harvard to remove the skin and give it a “respectful burial.”

“I think that the way the Houghton Library treated this was a disservice to the world of rare book collecting,” he said.

The library imposed some restrictions on access in 2015. Winds shifted further in 2021, when Harvard formed a Steering Committee on Human Remains to examine all of its collections, as an outgrowth of its efforts to reckon with its historic entanglements with slavery.

A single skin-bound book from 19th-century France may seem like a small thing amid the more than 20,000 human remains in Harvard’s collections, including 6,500 from Native Americans, which critics say are not being researched and repatriated quickly enough.

But to Needham, who was involved in starting an affinity group to pressure Harvard into burying the skin of what the group called “the violated woman trapped in the binding,” the moral imperative is clear: The proper disposition of human remains should take ethical precedence, particularly where the person has not given consent.

“What 100 years from now would be the potential new research that would be done?” Needham said. “I just can’t imagine it.”

Harvard’s decision is drawing heightened attention to skin-bound volumes elsewhere, including one at the Cleveland Public Library: an 1867 edition of the Quran, acquired in 1941 from a dealer who had described it as “formerly the property of the East Arab chief Bushiri ibn Salim who revolted against the Germans in 1888.”

For decades, the book typically received a handful of requests a year for access, said John Skrtic, the library’s chief of collections. But earlier this year, the library made it off-limits, pending testing.

“The library has long believed the undocumented claim in the dealer’s catalog, regarding its binding, to be false and finds the claim sensationalistic and deeply offensive,” the Cleveland Public Library said in a statement. The library will “engage leaders in the local Muslim community to chart an ethical path forward.”

Harvard’s approach is also generating strong criticism. Eric Holzenberg, a book scholar who recently retired as director of the Grolier Club in Manhattan, said that the destruction of the binding “accomplishes nothing,” beyond expressing disapproval of “the acts of people long dead.”

“Harvard, it seems to me, has taken the easy way out,” Holzenberg said. “No doubt the proper, cautious, committee-generated, risk-averse approach, but ultimately I fear at the expense of sound scholarship and responsible stewardship.”

Rosenbloom, the author of “Dark Archives,” said she questioned the tendency to pull these objects, which were generally not created or collected in a context of colonialism, into models developed to address those injustices. And she wondered why Harvard had removed the binding before finishing full provenance research.

In response to emailed questions, Thomas Hyry, the director of Houghton Library, and Anne-Marie Eze, its associate librarian, said they did not believe dismantling of the binding would limit future scholarship.

“The decisions we have made to remove the human remains from our volume will not erase what we know about this practice for those studying the history of the book,” they said.

Balancing Research and Respect

Some libraries that have undertaken an ethical review of their anthropodermic books have reached different conclusions.

Brown University’s John Hay Library has four books confirmed as bound in human skin, including an edition of Vesalius’s landmark 1543 anatomical atlas, “On the Structure of the Human Body.” In the past, they were promoted on campus tours and sometimes brought out for Halloween and other events.

But in 2019, the library’s new director, Amanda Strauss, paused any showing of the books, while developing policies that balanced respect for human remains with the library’s research mandate.

“We don’t want to censor access to controversial or disturbing material,” she said. “And we don’t want to shame anyone for their interest.”

Today, images of the books’ pages (but not the bindings) are available online , while access to the physical books is limited to people conducting research on medical ethics or anthropodermic bindings.

Strauss said she would be uncomfortable with any alteration or destruction of the bindings, which she said amounted to “erasure.”

“We can’t pretend this wasn’t a practice and this didn’t happen,” she said. “Because it did, and we have the evidence.”

With any macabre object, the line between morbid curiosity and the pursuit of understanding may be hard to draw.

Kahn, the dealer, said he wanted to “demystify” books bound in skin, which he said can prompt conversations about ethics, knowledge and our own status as animals. At the book fair, many seemed open to those questions and curious, however queasily, to touch the Corneille volume.

One browser, Helen Lukievics, a retired lawyer, said she had read about the Harvard book and shuddered. But she was persuaded, she said, by the idea that this particular binding had been meant as a “tribute” to the actress.

“It’s fabulously appalling,” she said. She paused. “It’s a piece of history.”

Jennifer Schuessler is a culture reporter covering intellectual life and the world of ideas. She is based in New York. More about Jennifer Schuessler

Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times. More about Julia Jacobs

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Capstone Components

13 Methodology

The story continues….

The following morning, Harry went over to Physicus’ house.

“Here are our research questions,” said Physicus, “1 – How many mice will Pickles attack at one time? and 2 – How many mice in the room cause Pickles not to attack?”

Harry exclaimed excitedly. “Since we need to count the number of mice when Pickles attacks, and when he does not, we know we have a quantitative research design! I’m ready to answer our questions.”

“Hold on a minute, Harry,” Physicus chuckled. “We have to write out our steps first. Our methodology has to be written out like a recipe, step by step. This way, someone else could copy what we did to study their cat. Let’s start writing down exactly what we want to do.”

So, Harry and Physicus went to work writing down the steps they would take to gather data.

Like my favorite lasagna recipe, thought Harry, step by step. I can definitely do this!

Interpreting the Story

The friends were quickly able to determine how they will collect the data. Since both research questions involved number of mice, their questions are answered by counting mice.  All they need to do now is list the steps the friends will take to collect the data and analyze the results. The steps and sequence for how the data are collected and analyzed are called the methodology.

Methodology

The Methodology heading explains the specific steps followed in collecting the data and analyzing it. The writing describes each stage of data collection and data analysis and justifies the procedures in terms of validity (soundness) and reliability (consistency). The writing is descriptive, explanatory, and highly specific. This heading must be written in such a way that any researcher could duplicate the collection and analysis of the data. Specificity is the key to writing the Methodology.

The Methodology heading can be compared to a recipe, a sequence of steps that if followed will produce the same outcome. Hence, in the research project, the Methodology functions as a roadmap for conducting active research to answer the research or guiding questions. It is written in such a way that another researcher can replicate the process and achieve the same results, thereby making the process verifiable. By presenting and justifying a sound methodology, the conclusions are considered sound. Illogical, unsound, unacceptable, or unreliable methodologies result in unreliable conclusions. The writing explains how and why the procedures effectively answer the questions and fulfills the purpose.

Participants and Environment

The participants are described in a heading in the Methodology. In this heading, the characteristics of the participants are clearly defined, and any unique characteristics are highlighted. For example, the participants are fourth-grade teachers with at least two years of experience. The reason for having fourth-grade teachers with at least two years of experience as participants must be explained. The writing also notes any characteristics of the participants that are excluded and explains why.

The heading also explains the specific research environment. The research environment refers to the specific setting in which the data are collected. The research environment does not refer to the setting of the overall research story, like “elementary school.”  For example, if a study was conducted with elementary school teachers via a focus group that met in the library, a description of the library setting during the focus group would be explained. As with the description of the participants, the research environment is written in such a way that another researcher could replicate the environment. This means that any key or unique features are identified.

Data Collection

The data collection procedures are detailed in a heading in the Methodology. Each step in the process is described including, when, where, and how the data were collected. The writing explains the role of the researcher and the participants including any ethical concerns or limitations of the process. The procedures are written in the order in which they were carried out to ensure the procedures can be replicated.

Quantitative data are collected from a variety of sources, including surveys, observations, interviews, and documents. Numerical data are collected by counting or measuring. Data may be collected by the researcher, like counting the number of mice from our story. Data may also be obtained from documents, such as grades, district graduation rates, or ACT scores.  The numeric data are entered into a spreadsheet or statistical software package for analysis.

Qualitative data are collected by the researcher through surveys, observations, interviews, focus groups, and documents. Data are collected in the form of words, phrases, or paragraphs from sources including media or interview transcriptions, anecdotal or observational records, archived documents, and surveys. Collected data are coded by the researcher or entered into a qualitative software package for analysis.

Data Analysis

The data analysis procedures are explained in a separate heading in the Methodology.  The procedures for categorizing, manipulating, and evaluating the collected data are explained in this heading. Each statistical analysis and coding procedure is detailed. The writing also explains the relevance and the need for the procedures used to answer the research or guiding questions.

Quantitative data analysis methods include descriptive and inferential statistics as well as other counting and measuring calculations. Descriptive analyses produce results that summarize and describe the data collected, such as frequency of observed behaviors, number of mice encountered, mean GPA, or median test score. Inferential analyses produce results that predict or explain the association of two variables. For example, regression statistics can predict college success, or correlational statistics can calculate how closely test scores are related to the amount of time spent studying.

Content and thematic analyses are common for qualitative data analysis in educational research. Content analysis is used to identify patterns in documents or other sources of communication, like speeches. Words, phrases, images, etc. are coded (categorized) with words or phrases and then analyzed by finding the frequency of those codes in the content. Thematic analysis is similar to content analysis, but the goal is to identify patterns of meaning. Thematic analysis is best for interviews or focus group transcripts, where the meaning of what was communicated is the important feature. Content and thematic analyses help researchers find patterns and deeper meanings in specific educational contexts.

TELLING THE RESEARCH STORY

The Methodology is a play-by-play recollection of how data were obtained, who was involved and where, and what was done with the data. The setting and characters that are part of this expedition are depicted and the actions taken are explained. It tells what happened to the characters in the setting and details the journey in search of answers to the questions. The story chronicles the quest, describing every detail.

The heading continues the rising action of the research story. The writer details the quest and explains the choices behind the paths taken. The anticipation builds in this part of the story as the reader is enticed to find out the results, which is the climax of the research story.

The Methodology is in Chapter 2 of capstone projects. In the capstone project, the Methodology details the procedures used in conducting a needs assessment.

Capstone Projects in Education: Learning the Research Story Copyright © 2023 by Kimberly Chappell and Greg I. Voykhansky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.