All Berkeley MSW students complete a required sequence of two courses in social research methods, culminating in the design of a program evaluation project in SOC WEL 282B-Seminar in Social Research Methods, which is completed in the second semester of the final year of study in the MSW Program. In some cases, students may wish to complete this project in conjunction with their field placement. In general, the research is counted as part of their assignments for their research courses and is generally not considered field education time. Up to 4 hours per week, however, may be counted as field education learning if the following conditions are met:
- The project must be directly relevant to the student's field education learning goals, and be planned and fully approved by the agency Field Instructor and the Field Consultant.
- The project must be supervised by the Field Instructor or another member of agency staff such as a secondary Field Instructor.
- The research project must be listed in the student's learning agreement and linked to competencies.
- Participation in this research must not preempt other field learning assignments or competency development needs.
Whether research is considered part of field practicum or a separate assignment, the agency is expected to apply its own research policies and protocols related to research conducted by interns. We do ask that the agency provide access to the employee or department who is most responsible for conducting program evaluation so that students may consult with them and design final projects that are practice-relevant and contextually grounded. Agency personnel may wish to obtain information from either the supervising field faculty member or the faculty member teaching the research methods seminar.