Teaching Note—The Stats Requirement: Statistical Thinking as Social Work

References

Cite

Share

Abstract

ABSTRACT The statistics requirement in social work curricula can be seen by students as a detour from the substance of social work. In this note, I describe my experience teaching part-time master’s students that statistical thinking is social work: it is an application of the social work code of ethics and a critical tool in practice for making pragmatic decisions. I use two applied examples to demonstrate how statistical thinking can equip social workers to both identify inequity (through “rejecting the null”) and avoid practices with insufficient evidence (through “failing to reject the null”). Based on my experience, I suggest some strategies for other people to use when teaching statistics to social workers.