ABSTRACT
Learning research and statistics is much like learning a language. The key to research and the key to social worker's understanding of research and statistics are to maintain energy, to press on, and to always keep putting energy into the light bulb. The research process is one that is ever evolving from the basic to the more complex. The same is true of the process of learning research and statistics. Research should move on to determining the conditions under which domestic violence or HIV/AIDS occurs as the next question to be answered and would be the appropriate level and sequence of research. Some insist that there is a hierarchy of good and bad, more important or less important research, depending upon the type of question or the level of statistical knowledge required to answer a question. Everything in research is driven by the question, with the research design and statistical analysis being specifically selected to provide the best possible answer.
