Spring 2027

Methods of Social Work Research

Examines foundational principles of social work research to promote critical consumption of empirical studies. Covers qualitative and quantitative design evaluation for evidence-based practice.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Tally Moses2.9/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 70.3% A/AB (n=37 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.06 GPA, 45.2% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 55.6% A/AB (n=63 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Recognize the crucial role of empirical research and evaluation in informing and advancing social work practice.

  • Distinguish the various social work research paradigms that inform research assumptions, aims, and methods.

  • Interpret the ethical principles and regulatory standards for protecting human subjects that determine social work research practices.

  • Characterize how anti-oppressive and culturally sensitive practices and social-justice aims are embodied in social work research.

  • Critically appraise the strengths and limitations of different design options in social work research.

  • Select and apply appropriate quantitative and qualitative research methods to address different research aims and study questions.

  • Critique empirical research literature with respect to its relevance, rigor, and generalizability for informing social work practice and policy.

  • Summarize and critique evaluation efforts in a social service (field) agency

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

SOC WORK 205, 206, and junior standing; or graduate/professional standing

SOCWORK 650

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Tally Moses

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.59/5 from 41 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 70.3% A/AB (n=37 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.06 GPA, 45.2% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 55.6% A/AB (n=63 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

TALLY MOSES is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 750
LAB 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LAB 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LAB 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.30 GPA, 70.3% A/AB (n=37 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.06 GPA, 45.2% A/AB (n=42 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.21 GPA, 55.6% A/AB (n=63 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Social science research paradigms
  • Ethics and professional conduct in research
  • Research as a tool for social justice
  • Qualitative and quantitative research design implementation

Skills

  • Evaluating empirical research and grasping strengths and limitations of research designs
  • Selecting and applying quantitative and qualitative research methods
  • Transforming questions into researchable questions involving conceptualization, measurement, and sampling
  • Summarizing and critiquing evaluation efforts in social service agencies

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.27 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
SOCWORK 650 · Spring 2027

Methods of Social Work Research

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:896:017389",
    "course_id": "SOCWORK 650",
    "course_uid": "course_17f33c831c74ed8ea3faff07",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017389",
    "source_subject_id": "896",
    "title": "Methods of Social Work Research",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "9109e844fab046b16f80b012f9ea86f142443de9705bae9a474b347f39424e2e",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}