This book is the longest standing and most widely adopted text in the field of social work research and evaluation. As stated in the book's preface, it is intended for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate social work students in a one-semester research methods course. Since the first edition in 1981, this edition is designed to provide social work students with the basic methodological foundation they need in order to successfully complete more advanced research courses that focus on single-system designs or program evaluations. With its customarily straightforward user-friendly writing style by renowned educators, this edition will continue to maintain its notoriety as the premier social work research methods text. Thoroughly revised and updated, the chapters offer a wealth of new research examples and references, accessible diagrams of essential concepts and processes, and extended coverage of core social work research methods and recent developments. For example, with the inclusion of four new chapters on the evidence-based approach to social work practice, the book emphasizes how important this approach has become, and provides a rock-solid foundation for understanding how to evaluate and interpret research findings that have been derived from research studies-the minimal skills needed for evidence-based social work practitioners.