| Course | MSW 507 Research Methods and Applications |
|---|---|
| Week | 4 |
| Paper type | Research design memo |
| Length | About 440 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 507 Week 4
Memorandum
To: Program manager, Young Families Program
From: MSW student, field placement
Date: November 9, 2026
Re: Proposed design to test whether the monthly peer group lowers parenting stress
The Question
Six months after enrolling, is parenting stress lower among group attenders than among comparable parents who only get home visits?
The question matters now because the program must choose between a second group and another home visitor in the autumn, and the choice should rest on evidence from our own families.
The Design Proposed
A nonequivalent comparison group design with a pretest and a six-month posttest. Parents who choose to attend the group form one group; parents who receive home visits only form the comparison group. Both complete the same measure at enrollment and six months later.
Why This Design and Not Another
A randomized trial would be stronger, but the program has offered the group to everyone since spring, and withholding it now would be hard to justify to families or staff. A posttest-only comparison would be weaker, because we could not tell whether group attenders started out less stressed. The pretest lets us adjust for starting differences, which is the main protection a nonequivalent design offers (Shadish et al., 2002).
Measurement
Construct: parenting stress, meaning the strain a parent feels in the parenting role. Instrument: the Parenting Stress Index, Short Form, 36 items, each answered on a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree, which yield a total and three subscale scores (Abidin, 1995). It has been widely used with low-income and adolescent parents, and its manual reports good internal consistency for the total score. I would check reliability in our own sample by computing Cronbach's alpha, since a measure that worked well for older, married parents may behave differently with parents under 25.
Threats and What the Design Does
Selection: parents who choose the group may differ at the start. The pretest and a comparison of baseline characteristics address this. Attrition: young parents move often. We will collect two contact numbers and count dropouts in each group. History: a change in local services during the six months could affect both groups; recording such events lets us judge this. Testing: completing the measure twice may change answers. Both groups take it twice, so the effect is shared.
Recommendation
Approve the design and the use of the short form at enrollment from January 2027, so six-month results are available before the budget decision in the autumn.
The cost is modest: about 15 minutes per parent at each of two time points, completed by the intake coordinator, and a few hours of my time each month to manage the data.
References
Abidin, R. R. (1995). Parenting Stress Index (3rd ed.). Psychological Assessment Resources.
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., & Campbell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Houghton Mifflin.
MSW 507 Week 4 instructions, in plain terms
The fourth week asks for a memo, short and direct, written to someone who must decide something. State the question, name the design proposed and defend the match in a paragraph rather than describing the design in general. Measurement carries the week: name the construct, name the instrument and report what is known about its reliability and validity for your population, not only for the sample it was built on. If no data exist for your population, say how you would check. List threats to validity as things that could happen to this study, each with what the design does about it. Propose a study that could actually run. Keep the register of a recommendation.
Inside the MSW 507 Week 4 example
The memo opens with the question and names a nonequivalent comparison group design with a pretest and a six-month posttest. The defense explains that a randomized trial would mean withholding a group already offered to everyone, and that a posttest-only design could not tell whether attenders started less stressed, citing Shadish et al. (2002). Measurement defines parenting stress and names the 36-item Parenting Stress Index Short Form (Abidin, 1995), with a plan to compute Cronbach's alpha in a younger sample. Four threats follow, each with a response: selection, attrition, history and testing. The recommendation asks the manager to approve the design and begin baseline measures in January 2027, so results reach the autumn budget decision.
MSW 507 Week 4 rubric: what full points look like
Design memos are graded first on the match between question and design, defended rather than described. A memo that explains what a quasi-experiment is, without saying why it fits this question, earns little. Measurement carries the largest single share: construct, instrument and evidence of reliability and validity for the population. Threats must be specific to the study, each with a response. Faculty also check the register; a memo should read as a recommendation to a decision maker, not as an essay. Feasibility is credited. The instrument and design sources should be cited in APA form.
MSW 507 Week 4 help from the desk
Design memos commonly describe several designs in textbook terms and never recommend one. Another frequent gap is naming an instrument without any evidence that it works for the people being studied. Some memos also list threats to validity copied from a textbook with no link to the study. If your question or setting differs, send the question and the decision it serves; we would recommend a design, defend it against alternatives, set out the construct and instrument with reliability evidence, list threats with responses and close with a clear request. If your section posts a memo template, its headings would be used. If no reliability data exist for your population, the memo would say how you would check reliability in your own sample.
Get a MSW-507 Week 4 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 4 prompt, any memo template your classroom posts, and the question you are designing around. A custom memo is written to that template and returned inside 24-48h, free for the first request, laid out under the headings your section expects rather than generic ones.
More MSW 507 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 507 Week 1: Research Question Post
- MSW 507 Week 2: ACE Study Article Critique
- MSW 507 Week 3: Literature Matrix Example
- MSW 507 Week 5: Sampling Plan Write-up
- MSW 507 Week 6: Research Ethics Analysis
- MSW 507 Week 7: Qualitative Study Critique
- MSW 507 Week 8: Research Proposal
- MSW 506 Week 4: SSI One Page Policy Brief
- MSW 505 Week 4: Family Biopsychosocial Assessment
- MSW 504 Week 1: Ordinary Situation Theory Post
MSW 507 Week 4 questions, answered
How is a memo different from a paper?
It is written to be acted on. Headings are functional, paragraphs are short, and the recommendation appears early instead of arriving as a conclusion at the end. Faculty who assign memos grade that format as part of the competency being assessed, so an essay with headings dropped on top of it loses marks that have nothing to do with the research argument inside.
What if my instrument has no reliability data for my population?
Say so, and say what you would do about it. An instrument validated on undergraduates and then used with older adults in a community agency is a real limitation, and naming it earns more than pretending the numbers transfer. Options include a pilot, a second measure running alongside, or a narrower claim at the end. Instructors are reading for that awareness.
Does the memo have to propose a study I could actually run?
Feasibility usually counts even though the study stays hypothetical. A design needing access to records nobody would release, or recruitment through a setting you do not control, reads as untested by contact with reality. Keep the scale plausible for one researcher on a modest timeline, and say in the memo what that constraint costs the design you recommended.
Where can I find a free MSW 507 Week 4 sample paper?
A complete MSW 507 Week 4 research design memo recommending a pretest and posttest comparison group design is on this page.
Which instrument does the MSW 507 Week 4 sample propose?
The Parenting Stress Index Short Form, 36 items, with a plan to check its internal consistency in a sample of parents under 25.