Statistics in Social Work: An Introduction to Practical Applications

Understanding statistical concepts is essential for social work professionals. However, the statistics textbooks available for social work students do not demonstrate the practicality and immediate application of statistics across the range of roles and contexts in which social workers serve. This concise and approachable introduction limits its coverage to the concepts most relevant to social workers. Statistics in Social Work guides students through concepts and procedures from descriptive statistics and correlation to hypothesis testing and inferential statistics. Besides presenting key concepts, it focuses on real-world examples that students will encounter in a social work practice. Using concrete examples from a variety of potential social work concentrations and populations of interest, the book creates clear connections between theory and practice—and demonstrates the important contributions statistics can make to evidence-based and rigorous social work practice.