Social Work Doctoral Students' Experiences with Evidence Synthesis Methods
Evidence synthesis (ES) methods like systematic and scoping reviews are quickly becoming an integral part of the social science research landscape (Chapman, 2021; Dalton, 2019). Reflecting this trend, students at Rutgers Social Work doctoral programs are routinely exposed to ES via their work with faculty, and are able to include ES papers as part of their dissertations. ES methods are time-intensive, methodologically involved, and require a high level of specialized knowledge. As a result, Social Work doctoral students routinely request librarian support for these methods. In response to these user needs, I designed workshops, custom trainings, embedded instruction, and a consultation-collaboration system for ES support in the social sciences at Rutgers. This presentation details nine hour-long semi-structured interviews completed with social work doctoral students who engaged with some or all of these support services. This research sought to understand 1) Doctoral students' experiences with and perceptions of the ES process and 2) If or how the interaction with the librarian-designed ES education changed participant outlook on ES projects. The presentation will discuss the findings of these interviews, future research in this area, and the future directions for librarian involvement in Social Work ES.