Research with Diverse Groups ─ Research Designs and Multivariate Latent Modeling for Equivalence

Social work researchers often conduct research with groups that are diverse in terms of gender, sexual orientation, race or ethnic background, or age. Consequently, social work researchers must take great care to establish research-design equivalence at all phases of the research process (e.g., problem formulation, research design, sampling, measurement selection, data collection, and data analysis); otherwise, the results might reflect methodological flaws rather than true group differences and therefore lead to erroneous conclusions. This book introduces the methodological precautions that must be taken into consideration when conducting research with diverse groups. Multigroup Confirmatory Analysis (MG-CFA) using structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to demonstrate how to assess seven types of measurement and structural equivalence that Milfont and Fischer (2010) have deemed important for studies with diverse samples. A hypothetical example was provided to illustrate how to design a study with good research-design equivalence. A case example was provided to demonstrate how to conduct an MG-CFA for each type of measurement and structural equivalence discussed. The Mplus syntax used to conduct the MG-CFA was provided. The results from the MG-CFA analyses were written up as they would be for publication.

Dr. Antoinette Y. Farmer is associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Rutgers University's School of Social Work. Her research focuses on examining the social and interpersonal factors that affect parenting as well as how parenting practices influence adolescent high risk behaviors, such as delinquency and substance use. She co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Social Service Research, which was devoted to informing researchers of the methodological issues confronting them when conducting research with minority and oppressed populations. She has also written several chapters on this issue as well, with the most recent appearing in the Handbook of Social Work Research Methods (2nd Edition).

Dr. G. Lawrence Farmer is associate professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Service. His research focuses on understanding those social and interpersonal factors that place youth "at-risk" for exclusion from participating fully in society. Moreover, he is interested in the use of statistical methods to assess measurement and structural equivalence. The statistical methods he has used are structural equation modeling, differential item functional analysis, and item response theory.