**8. Key findings**

In line with the objective(s) of the study, the following themes emerged from analysis:


#### **9. Broad and unclear research topics**

It is a common understanding among researchers that an area of investigation needs to be clearly demarcated to be able to meet objective(s) of the study [12]. When this is ignored, the researchers argue that such a study would lack direction. Nevertheless, for some social work students, this is not something to worry about, which then makes a topic not researchable, and ultimately delaying their progress in case the problem is not picked up early (by supervisors) (**Table 2**). Extracts of research topics (problem statements as well as research approaches) from social work students' research proposals are presented in the **Table 2**.

An analysis of social work students' first proposal drafts shows that study topics are broad and not that crystal clear. However, such attempts are really laudable because subsequent submissions coupled with supervision (individual and group) will certainly improve these topics. A look at the first topic "*Challenges faced by youth after leaving Foster Care in Limpopo province*" shows that the scope of the study is broad. This is due to the fact that Limpopo is a province with more than one million people. The province is further divided into several districts and towns, townships as well as villages in each district. Thus, it would be more appropriate for the students to indicate specifically where (village/district) the study will take place, namely, study setting, or targeted population (the name of the province could still be mentioned in the title).

Zooming in on topic 2 *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic] in Sibasa,"* it is clear that the same issues raised in the previous title could still be found. In this case, this title brings about questions because it is not indicated in which province or district Sibasa is found, thus leaving the reader to imagine. This attracts criticism of the topic, which is then likely to cause a delay in the progress of the research proposal. This would consequently delay students' completion of studies on record time.

Topic 3, "*The attitudes, perceptions, and cultural factors that affect the use of contraceptives amongst students at the University of Limpopo.*" As the topic presents itself, it is verbose, confusing and therefore unclear as to what really the students wish to investigate. The topic has three interrelated concepts (attitudes, perceptions and cultural factors). Pursuit of all three may not be to the students' advantage in terms of the time available to conduct this study. The student would be advised to pursue one construct, because research at this stage is not expected to be robust; but rather to expose students to the research process.

Similarly, topic 4 "*Challenges and perceptions on students living with disabilities at University of Limpopo Turfloop campus"* is not different from topic 3, because the students talk about "challenges and perceptions". In essence, perception as an abstract term fits in one umbrella word, namely, challenges. In this case a dissection

**139**

*An Analysis of Salient Aspects of the Research Proposals of Fourth Year Student Social Workers…*

*drugs and alcohol."*

*by ignoring them."*

**Research topics Statement of the problem Research** 

*"Foster care dependents are recipients of foster care grant and upon aging out of Foster Care, it means that no more financial support or security. Other factors contributing to lack of finances are unemployment and dropping out of school. These will result in them having to look for means of getting money for survival. Some will resort to crime, some engaging with 'sugar daddies/mamas' or 'Blessers' or even worse prostitution. This will result in them abusing* 

*"The research problem for this study is that there are factors contributing to family breakdown at Sibasa community of which majority of families are not aware of whereas minority are aware of those factors contributing to family breakdowns but decide to them for grated (sic)* 

*"The researcher's interest was raised through curiosity of how people; especially university students are still falling pregnant despite the availability of contraceptives. Education on contraceptives and safe sex is given yet they still have unplanned pregnancies due to the overwhelming responsibility and pressure that comes with having a child at a young age. The researcher saw a need to conduct a research on the perceptions that these university students have towards the use of contraceptives and taking precautions when engaging in sexual relationships."*

*"It will look to the phenomenon about the challenges faced by students having disability and mostly those who are having motor impairment blind, the challenges they face and how are they working to address such challenges they face academic wise social wise and environmentally. And* 

*"With respect to academic and social relationship outcomes (including romantic relationships), adolescence* 

*"Bullied students have difficulty in making friends. They have poor relationships with classmates. Bullies have problem behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Victims of bullying are weak, shy and anxious; their school* 

*"Students engage in alcohol and drug use to help them cope with academic stress, negative emotions and make* 

*"Gangs annoy people through increased level of crime, violence and murder. Members of gangs are more likely dropouts from school, struggle with employment and abuse drugs and alcohol. Tax payers forced to contribute to their welfare through community assistance programmes."*

*"Such children or households experience usually high level of psychological distress because they are exposed to more stressful events and more on-going strain in a form of having no income… I will therefore find reasons for it to be investigated in order to understand and know more."*

*how other student perceive them."*

*were, however found to be more a risk."*

*performance is poor and lead to absenteeism."*

*them look mature."*

**approach**

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*Qualitative approach*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89503*

1. *"Challenges faced by youth after leaving Foster Care in Limpopo* 

*province"*

2. *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic]* 

*in Sibasa"*

3. *"The attitudes,* 

*of Limpopo"*

4. *"Challenges and* 

5. *"The effects of divorce among spouses, siblings and in-laws"*

6. *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: The teachers [sic]* 

*perspective"*

7. *"The effects of alcohol consumption on the academic performance of students in the University* 

*of Limpopo"*

*zone 2"*

9. *"Experiences of child headed [sic] families regard [sic] to Social work services at Mankweng"*

8. *"The social effect [sic] of gang violence among the community of Seshego* 

*perceptions, and cultural factors that affect the use of contraceptives among students at the University* 

*perceptions on students living with disabilities at University of Limpopo Turfloop campus"*

**Research topics Statement of the problem Research approach** 1. *"Challenges faced by youth after leaving Foster Care in Limpopo province" "Foster care dependents are recipients of foster care grant and upon aging out of Foster Care, it means that no more financial support or security. Other factors contributing to lack of finances are unemployment and dropping out of school. These will result in them having to look for means of getting money for survival. Some will resort to crime, some engaging with 'sugar daddies/mamas' or 'Blessers' or even worse prostitution. This will result in them abusing drugs and alcohol." Qualitative approach* 2. *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic] in Sibasa" "The research problem for this study is that there are factors contributing to family breakdown at Sibasa community of which majority of families are not aware of whereas minority are aware of those factors contributing to family breakdowns but decide to them for grated (sic) by ignoring them." Qualitative approach* 3. *"The attitudes, perceptions, and cultural factors that affect the use of contraceptives among students at the University of Limpopo" "The researcher's interest was raised through curiosity of how people; especially university students are still falling pregnant despite the availability of contraceptives. Education on contraceptives and safe sex is given yet they still have unplanned pregnancies due to the overwhelming responsibility and pressure that comes with having a child at a young age. The researcher saw a need to conduct a research on the perceptions that these university students have towards the use of contraceptives and taking precautions when engaging in sexual relationships." Qualitative approach* 4. *"Challenges and perceptions on students living with disabilities at University of Limpopo Turfloop campus" "It will look to the phenomenon about the challenges faced by students having disability and mostly those who are having motor impairment blind, the challenges they face and how are they working to address such challenges they face academic wise social wise and environmentally. And how other student perceive them." qualitative approach* 5. *"The effects of divorce among spouses, siblings and in-laws" "With respect to academic and social relationship outcomes (including romantic relationships), adolescence were, however found to be more a risk." Qualitative approach* 6. *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: The teachers [sic] perspective" "Bullied students have difficulty in making friends. They have poor relationships with classmates. Bullies have problem behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Victims of bullying are weak, shy and anxious; their school performance is poor and lead to absenteeism." Qualitative approach* 7. *"The effects of alcohol consumption on the academic performance of students in the University of Limpopo" "Students engage in alcohol and drug use to help them cope with academic stress, negative emotions and make them look mature." Qualitative approach* 8. *"The social effect [sic] of gang violence among the community of Seshego zone 2" "Gangs annoy people through increased level of crime, violence and murder. Members of gangs are more likely dropouts from school, struggle with employment and abuse drugs and alcohol. Tax payers forced to contribute to their welfare through community assistance programmes." Qualitative approach* 9. *"Experiences of child headed [sic] families regard [sic] to Social work services at Mankweng" "Such children or households experience usually high level of psychological distress because they are exposed to more stressful events and more on-going strain in a form of having no income… I will therefore find reasons for it to be investigated in order to understand and know more." Qualitative approach*

*An Analysis of Salient Aspects of the Research Proposals of Fourth Year Student Social Workers… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89503*

*Global Social Work - Cutting Edge Issues and Critical Reflections*

2.Difficulty in formulating statement of the problem

work students' research proposals are presented in the **Table 2**.

1.Broad and unclear research topics

3.Confusion of research approaches

**9. Broad and unclear research topics**

be mentioned in the title).

to expose students to the research process.

In line with the objective(s) of the study, the following themes emerged from

It is a common understanding among researchers that an area of investigation needs to be clearly demarcated to be able to meet objective(s) of the study [12]. When this is ignored, the researchers argue that such a study would lack direction. Nevertheless, for some social work students, this is not something to worry about, which then makes a topic not researchable, and ultimately delaying their progress in case the problem is not picked up early (by supervisors) (**Table 2**). Extracts of research topics (problem statements as well as research approaches) from social

An analysis of social work students' first proposal drafts shows that study topics

Zooming in on topic 2 *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic] in Sibasa,"* it is clear that the same issues raised in the previous title could still be found. In this case, this title brings about questions because it is not indicated in which province or district Sibasa is found, thus leaving the reader to imagine. This attracts criticism of the topic, which is then likely to cause a delay in the progress of the research proposal. This would consequently delay students' completion of studies on record

Topic 3, "*The attitudes, perceptions, and cultural factors that affect the use of contraceptives amongst students at the University of Limpopo.*" As the topic presents itself, it is verbose, confusing and therefore unclear as to what really the students wish to investigate. The topic has three interrelated concepts (attitudes, perceptions and cultural factors). Pursuit of all three may not be to the students' advantage in terms of the time available to conduct this study. The student would be advised to pursue one construct, because research at this stage is not expected to be robust; but rather

Similarly, topic 4 "*Challenges and perceptions on students living with disabilities at University of Limpopo Turfloop campus"* is not different from topic 3, because the students talk about "challenges and perceptions". In essence, perception as an abstract term fits in one umbrella word, namely, challenges. In this case a dissection

are broad and not that crystal clear. However, such attempts are really laudable because subsequent submissions coupled with supervision (individual and group) will certainly improve these topics. A look at the first topic "*Challenges faced by youth after leaving Foster Care in Limpopo province*" shows that the scope of the study is broad. This is due to the fact that Limpopo is a province with more than one million people. The province is further divided into several districts and towns, townships as well as villages in each district. Thus, it would be more appropriate for the students to indicate specifically where (village/district) the study will take place, namely, study setting, or targeted population (the name of the province could still

**8. Key findings**

analysis:

**138**

time.


**Table 2.**

*Research topic, statement of the problem, and research approach.*

of the topic *per se* implies that social work students wish to investigate the "broad challenges" that disabled students encounter on campus, which axiomatically would be linked to certain cultural views or "perceptions". Hence the term "challenges" in case of this study may be representative of myths and perceptions.

As for topic 5 on *"The effects of divorce among spouses, siblings and in-laws."* In terms of family law, "*spouses, siblings and in-laws"* are broadly referred to as extended family. Thus this topic is verbose and may simply be trimmed down to extended family (where everyone in the family tree is catered for). Therefore, from topic 1 to 5 it is evident that the research topics are broad. That notwithstanding, the students could be commended for having developed a "scientific consciousness" about social problems in their own communities. This of course would dovetail with the tenets of sociocultural theory, that students' learning is influenced by their current and past knowledge.

Topic 6: *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: The teachers [sic] perspective."* Whereas the topic may sound fair, however, the effects of bullying may be psychological, physical and so forth. This means the students would be advised to be specific. Interestingly, all topics from 5 to 8 seek to study "effects" of a certain phenomenon, not to mention the fact that they are much related/interrelated. For example, *effects of divorce among parents* may be observed to result in bully children in schools; expanding to alcohol abuse by students (children); students forming or joining gangs and so on, which interestingly becomes a vicious circle. Thus, one study (e.g. on effects of divorce among spouses) may factor in all effects sought to be studied by other social work students. One could also mention that the topics are more towards social science and show no bent towards social work. Social work is an applied discipline, and one would not be satisfied with identifying effects of phenomena without intervention.

Lastly, both topics 9 and 10 look at the *experiences* of child-headed families and foster care parents. The two may be viewed as "antonyms", because child-headed families imply that children stay in the house without parents, whereas foster parents play a role of parenting in the case of children without biological parents. Therefore, it is highly likely that one study (child-headed families) will have similarities with the other, not to mention the fact that both studies will be undertaken in the same province. Apart from this, one would learn that this study titled "*Experiences of child headed [sic] families regard [sic] to Social work services at Mankweng"* is ambiguous, therefore unclear. On the face of it, the grammar is incorrect.

#### **10. Difficulty in formulating statement of the problem**

The analysis showed that social work students struggle with presentation of a problem statement in their research proposals; a finding that corroborates a study

**141**

that:

*An Analysis of Salient Aspects of the Research Proposals of Fourth Year Student Social Workers…*

conducted by Sithole [14] at University of Limpopo. It came out quite clear that the students present solutions in the problem statement instead of presenting the *real* 

A topic on *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: the teachers (sic) perspective*" was proposed. However, the students instead of adhering to the problem statement of the subject, they get sidetracked. Here follows

*"Bullying can be physical, such as when a learner is kicked, pushed or punched. It can also be verbal; for example when a learner or leaners spread malicious gossip about another learner with intention to make them suffer emotionally. Other forms of bullying include emotional bullying, when a learner makes comment of the personal characteristics of other learners such as disability or ethnicity, with the intention of making those learners feel uncomfortable about themselves."*

A close scrutiny of the above extract makes it very clear that the students are now explaining forms of bullying and how such happens, rather than sticking to what the problem is. Another part of the problem statement from the same study

*Bullied students have difficulty in making friends. They have poor relationships with classmates. Bullies have problem behaviours such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Victims of bullying are weak, shy and anxious; their school performance is* 

One could raise the question, if these are the effects of bullying, what do the students then wish to know? Perhaps, the student would obviate this question by justifying in the statement of problem why it is necessary to conduct this study in Mountain View school. Reasons such as the following could be used as justification: the demographics of previous studies are completely different from what obtains in Mountain View school; previous studies used a different research approach, meth-

In another research proposal titled *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic] in Sibasa,"* it was found that students commit the same mistake others had commit-

*"It was observed that there are countless numbers of families facing family breakdown in Sibasa community. This study will be conducted in order to produce knowledge to understand the factors contributing to family breakdown at Sibasa community. Previous research has established that family breakdown is caused by various factors such as, domestic violence, death of a family member, socioeconomic,* 

Perhaps the students' statement of the problem could be phrased differently,

As it could be clearly seen in the extract, the students state the significance of their proposed study under a section where strictly problem statement should be discussed.

*Previous studies acknowledge domestic violence, death of a family member, socioeconomic, gender inequality, and difference in lifestyle as causes of family breakdown, and the student wishes to find out if break down in Sibasa is caused by* 

*the same factors or are there other factors that literature did not report on.*

*problem*, which in essence is the one that warranted the research proposal.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89503*

an extract to demonstrate this:

title reads as follows:

*poor and lead to absenteeism.*

ted in the previous study (on bullying).

ods, theoretical framework/conceptual framework.

*gender inequality, and difference in lifestyle."*

*An Analysis of Salient Aspects of the Research Proposals of Fourth Year Student Social Workers… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89503*

conducted by Sithole [14] at University of Limpopo. It came out quite clear that the students present solutions in the problem statement instead of presenting the *real problem*, which in essence is the one that warranted the research proposal.

A topic on *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: the teachers (sic) perspective*" was proposed. However, the students instead of adhering to the problem statement of the subject, they get sidetracked. Here follows an extract to demonstrate this:

*"Bullying can be physical, such as when a learner is kicked, pushed or punched. It can also be verbal; for example when a learner or leaners spread malicious gossip about another learner with intention to make them suffer emotionally. Other forms of bullying include emotional bullying, when a learner makes comment of the personal characteristics of other learners such as disability or ethnicity, with the intention of making those learners feel uncomfortable about themselves."*

A close scrutiny of the above extract makes it very clear that the students are now explaining forms of bullying and how such happens, rather than sticking to what the problem is. Another part of the problem statement from the same study title reads as follows:

*Bullied students have difficulty in making friends. They have poor relationships with classmates. Bullies have problem behaviours such as smoking and drinking alcohol. Victims of bullying are weak, shy and anxious; their school performance is poor and lead to absenteeism.*

One could raise the question, if these are the effects of bullying, what do the students then wish to know? Perhaps, the student would obviate this question by justifying in the statement of problem why it is necessary to conduct this study in Mountain View school. Reasons such as the following could be used as justification: the demographics of previous studies are completely different from what obtains in Mountain View school; previous studies used a different research approach, methods, theoretical framework/conceptual framework.

In another research proposal titled *"Factors contributing to family break down [sic] in Sibasa,"* it was found that students commit the same mistake others had committed in the previous study (on bullying).

*"It was observed that there are countless numbers of families facing family breakdown in Sibasa community. This study will be conducted in order to produce knowledge to understand the factors contributing to family breakdown at Sibasa community. Previous research has established that family breakdown is caused by various factors such as, domestic violence, death of a family member, socioeconomic, gender inequality, and difference in lifestyle."*

Perhaps the students' statement of the problem could be phrased differently, that:

*Previous studies acknowledge domestic violence, death of a family member, socioeconomic, gender inequality, and difference in lifestyle as causes of family breakdown, and the student wishes to find out if break down in Sibasa is caused by the same factors or are there other factors that literature did not report on.*

As it could be clearly seen in the extract, the students state the significance of their proposed study under a section where strictly problem statement should be discussed.

*Global Social Work - Cutting Edge Issues and Critical Reflections*

*Research topic, statement of the problem, and research approach.*

current and past knowledge.

10. *"Experiences of foster parents in Mapapila* 

*Village"*

**Table 2.**

of the topic *per se* implies that social work students wish to investigate the "broad challenges" that disabled students encounter on campus, which axiomatically would be linked to certain cultural views or "perceptions". Hence the term "challenges" in case of this study may be representative of myths and perceptions. As for topic 5 on *"The effects of divorce among spouses, siblings and in-laws."* In terms of family law, "*spouses, siblings and in-laws"* are broadly referred to as extended family. Thus this topic is verbose and may simply be trimmed down to extended family (where everyone in the family tree is catered for). Therefore, from topic 1 to 5 it is evident that the research topics are broad. That notwithstanding, the students could be commended for having developed a "scientific consciousness" about social problems in their own communities. This of course would dovetail with the tenets of sociocultural theory, that students' learning is influenced by their

*or you are punishing them."*

**Research topics Statement of the problem Research** 

*"Some foster parents lack support from families. Comparison of the behaviors between their own children and those they are fostering it (sic) creates psychological conflicts and they hardly share their experiences because of the stigma in our societies of that when you correct the behavior of the child that is not yours you do not love them*  **approach**

*Qualitative approach*

Topic 6: *"The effects of bullying on learners at mountain view [sic] secondary school: The teachers [sic] perspective."* Whereas the topic may sound fair, however, the effects of bullying may be psychological, physical and so forth. This means the students would be advised to be specific. Interestingly, all topics from 5 to 8 seek to study "effects" of a certain phenomenon, not to mention the fact that they are much related/interrelated. For example, *effects of divorce among parents* may be observed to result in bully children in schools; expanding to alcohol abuse by students (children); students forming or joining gangs and so on, which interestingly becomes a vicious circle. Thus, one study (e.g. on effects of divorce among spouses) may factor in all effects sought to be studied by other social work students. One could also mention that the topics are more towards social science and show no bent towards social work. Social work is an applied discipline, and one would not be satisfied

Lastly, both topics 9 and 10 look at the *experiences* of child-headed families and foster care parents. The two may be viewed as "antonyms", because child-headed families imply that children stay in the house without parents, whereas foster parents play a role of parenting in the case of children without biological parents. Therefore, it is highly likely that one study (child-headed families) will have similarities with the other, not to mention the fact that both studies will be undertaken in the same province. Apart from this, one would learn that this study titled "*Experiences of child headed [sic] families regard [sic] to Social work services at Mankweng"* is ambiguous,

The analysis showed that social work students struggle with presentation of a problem statement in their research proposals; a finding that corroborates a study

with identifying effects of phenomena without intervention.

therefore unclear. On the face of it, the grammar is incorrect.

**10. Difficulty in formulating statement of the problem**

**140**
