Campus News

Social work prof set to release glossary with smart phone app

Michael Holosko, the Pauline M. Berger Professor of Family and Child Welfare in the School of Social Work, is releasing a glossary of more than 1,500 commonly used research terms.

Entitled “A Glossary of Commonly Used Research Terms for Social and Behavioral Sciences,” the glossary will be the first research book published in the form of a smart phone application by Sage Publications. The glossary also will be published as a handbook and a downloadable software application for personal computers.

“This is really exciting,” said Holosko. “It sets up beautifully as a phone app. Students will have something portable they can see and interact with when they are doing critical thinking and research studies.”

Holosko, who has taught research for more than 33 years in five different countries, was inspired to create the glossary to fill a gap in the literature and simplify complex research terms into understandable bites.

“In my judgment, the number one barrier for students learning research is what I refer to as the ‘language of.’ Once they have a mastery of the language, they adapt to it very well,” he said.

Apple Inc. is projected to develop the smart phone interface. The book and applications will be available for purchase in June.