CLCE 302: Introduction to Research in Ngos and Communities

CLCE 302: Introduction to Research in NGOs and Communities

Dr. Heideman

Tu, Th 2-3:15

DuSable 252

Office Hours: Tuesday 10:45-11:45; 3:15-4:15

Office: Zulauf 812

Email:

Course Description:

This introductory course will expose students to interdisciplinary research methods used to examine issues and experiences of nonprofit and non-governmental organizations. Students will learn to define the question, design a research plan, execute qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, engage in hypothesis testing, and understand the appropriate use of descriptive statistics.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Foundation:

• Understand different types of research and approaches that may be used in community leadership and civic engagement venues;
• identify the appropriate type of research method best suited to investigate unique problems or issues related to community leadership and civic engagement topics; and
• understand the ethical concerns created by the research, particularly as related to nonprofits and NGOs.

Application:

• Define a problem or issue to be researched;
• implement appropriate research methods (e.g., observation, interviews, surveys, assessments);
• organize and enter basic data into software, and analyze and organize output; and
• interpret findings of data from published sources and apply them to the project at hand.

Integration:

• Think critically about the potential usefulness of existing research in examining public problems or issues and
• integrate research findings/data into narrative format (i.e. interpreting budget information into annual reports, using demographic data to write memos, capturing web analytics data into grant reports, etc.).

Course Readings:

This course has one required book, which is available at the bookstore:

Schutt, Russell K. 2015. Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research, 8th Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Additional readings will be available through the course website on Blackboard.

COURSE POLICIES:

Attendance:

Attendance is required. You may miss two classes during the semester without penalty if you contact me in advance of the class to inform me of your absence. However, you will miss any points from participation or classroom workshops from those days.

Students more than 5 minutes late will not receive credit for attendance.

Preparation:

You are expected to come to class prepared. This means you will have completed the readings and any assignments.

Late Work:

Late work WILL NOT be accepted without prior written approval from the instructor.All late work automatically loses 10% of the grade per day it is late.

Etiquette:

A good classroom atmosphere requires mutual respect. I expect you to listen to your classmates and respond thoughtfully in discussions. Use of electronic devices for non-class purposes is prohibited.

We have a lot of ground to cover this semester, so it is absolutely imperative that we maintain a positive and active learning environment in the classroom at all times. The classroom is a safe zone for all students regardless of sex, age, race, ethnic background, religion, sexual and political orientation, ability or disability. I expect you all to promote an active learning environment in the classroom by supporting each other intellectually, asking questions (of me and your fellow students), and by being an aggressive learner.
A few basic ground rules:

• Treat everyone in the class with patience and respect.
• Be curious and ask questions of your classmates, of our readings, and of your professor.
• When you speak, remember that you are in dialogue with the entire class. Speak with and listen to your classmates.
• You are responsible for your own learning and accountable for your own work—I am here to help, but you are ultimately in charge of your own educational experience.

Blackboard:

The course website will have important information about this class, including course readings. You are expected to visit the website regularly to check for updates.

Getting in touch with me:

Email is the best way to get in touch with me. Please put the class number in the subject line. I will respond to your requests and questions as soon as I can, but please allow at least 24 hours for response on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends. Emails should be limited to questions of clarification that can be answered in a sentence or two. For anything requiring a detailed response or a back-and-forth dialogue, please attend my office hours.

Accommodations:

If you have a disability that requires accommodation for course work, you should work with the Disabilities Resource Center to determine appropriate accommodations.

Email:

Phone: 753-1303.

Feel free to discuss with me any issues that may affect how well you do in the course. While I cannot guarantee any special accommodations for issues that are not technically disabilities, I will try my best to come up with a way in which you can get the most out of this course.

Academic Integrity:

NIU (and I) take academic integrity very seriously. Copying the work of others, turning in writing that is not your own, and not properly citing others are all examples of violations. If I find violations in class, the student will receive an automatic fail on the assignment, with the possibility of additional penalties, depending on the severity of the offense.

For more information, see:

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE AWARE OF WHAT CONSTITUTES ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT.

Other Resources:

NIU Writing Center

Assignments and Grading: Your final grade will be made up of the following assignments:

Homework/Bluebooks/In-class work / 20% / ongoing
Quizzes / 20% / ongoing
CITI Training / 5% / 2/2
Sampling/Operationalization Memo / 5% / 2/21
Survey Questionnaire / 5% / 2/28
Quantitative Data Analysis / 15% / 3/9
Interview / 10% / 4/13
Logic Model / 5% / 4/27
Annual Report / 15% / 5/9

The grading distribution for the class is as follows:

A: 93-100

A-: 90-92.99

B+: 87-89.99

B: 83-86.99

B-:80-82.99

C+: 77-79.99

C: 70-76.99

D: 60-69.99

F: < 60

If you are unhappy with your grade on a paper or exam, you can raise the issue with me. You must wait at least 48 hours before contesting a grade. Contesting a grade should take the form of a 1 – 2 page memo explaining why you deserve a better grade, followed by a meeting with me during office hours. Your grade can go either up or down upon review.

CITI Training (5%):

All students are required to take the online CITI training and submit a PDF of the completion certificate received. Post to Blackboard, Assignments. Before you start, read the tutorial information here:

The online training is accessible here: You will need to create a user name and password. The training takes between 2-4 hours and can be saved as you go so you can complete in multiple sessions.

Quizzes (20%):

There will be ongoing quizzes over the readings on Blackboard. These must be completed before the start of class time every Tuesday (dates noted on syllabus). The quiz is open-book quiz and covers the readings for the week of the quiz (e.g.: the quiz for February 2nd covers Schutt Ch 3&6). I will drop your lowest 2quiz scores from your grade.

Assignment - Sampling/Operationalization (5%):

Materials can be found on Blackboard. You will write a memo to the Board of Directors with an assessment of the methodological choices in the research conducted in the article including: what are the strengths, limitations, and likely consequences for these choices, and particularly sampling or operationalization. In the case that you identify a weakness or shortcoming, offer an alternative. Your written assignment should be a minimum of 500 words. A sample memo will be provided.

Interview assignment (10%):

Students will conduct a 30 minute semi-structured (prepared, open-ended questions) interview with at least one person. Students will hand in a signed consent form from the interviewee, an audio recording of the interview, and a one-page reflection on the experience.

Quantitative Data Analysis exercise (15%):

You will be given an Excel file containing data from a nonprofit and a research question that will guide your analysis. You will analyze the data using concepts learned in class. Your deliverable will be the Excel file containing your analysis as well a Word/PDF file and a one page single-spaced memo to the Board with a summary of the results of your analysis.

Logic Model (5%)

Your group will be given a project from an organization. You will analyze the project using the tools taught in class in order to map out the inputs, outputs, outcomes, situation, assumptions, and external fa. You will hand in a completed logic model for the project.

Annual Report (15%)

For your final project, you will work in teams to create an annual report for a real nonprofit organization based on the research and communication skills you have learned in this class. Feel free to use photos/images/graphics that are publicly available (no material that is not copyright protected), but you can use the organization’s own images from their website, etc.

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Schedule (Subject to change):

Date / Topic / Workshops / Readings / Assignment
Week 1: What is research?
1/17-1/19 / Introduction / Schutt Ch 1
Week 2: Defining a Problem
1/24-1/26 / Researching NGOs / Guest: Jack King, internships (1/26) / Schutt Ch 2 / Quiz 1 (1/24)
Week 3: Ethics and Design
1/31-2/2 / Research Ethics; Research Design / Schutt Ch 3; Schutt Ch 6 / Quiz 2 (1/31);
CITI Training due (2/2)
Week 4: Operationalizing and Sampling
2/7-2/9 / Operationalizing; Sampling / Schutt Ch 4; Schutt Ch 5 / Quiz 3 (2/7)
Week 5: Surveys
2/14-2/16 / Surveys / Schutt Ch 8; Schutt Ch 14 / Quiz 4 (2/14);
Week 6: Experiments and Quantitative Data
2/21-2/23 / Experiments; Data Analysis / Guest speaker (2/21); Class in SOCQRL (2/23) / Schutt Ch 7 / Quiz 5 (2/21);
Operationalization Memo due (2/21)
Week 7: Quantitative Analysis
2/28-3/2 / Descriptive Statistics; / Class in SOCQRL (3/2) / Schutt Ch 9 / Quiz 6 (2/28)Survey Questionnaire due (2/28)
Week 8: Quantitative Analysis
3/7-3/9 / Working with data / Class in SOCQRL (3/7; 3/9) / Using Graphs (Blackboard) / Quiz 7 (3/7); QuantAnalysis due (3/9)
Spring Break
Week 9: Observation
3/21-3/23 / Observation / Schutt Ch 10; Emerson (blackboard) / Quiz 8 (3/21)
Week 10: Interviews
3/28-3/30 / Interviews / Warren and Karner (blackboard); Weiss (blackboard) / Quiz 9 (3/28)
Week 11: Qualitative Analysis
4/4-4/6 / Qualitative Analysis / Schutt Ch 11; Strauss and Corbin (blackboard) / Quiz 10 (4/4)
Week 12: Working with Communities
4/11-4/13 / NGO Research; Community-based research / Sawhill & Williamson (blackboard); Innonet (blackboard); Stoeker Ch 2 (Blackboard; Weaponized Data (Blackboard) / Quiz 11 (4/11); Interview Assignment due (4/13)
Week 13: Policy Research
4/18-4/20 / Policy Analysis and Evaluation Research / Patton Ch 1 (Blackboard); Schutt Ch 12 / Quiz 12 (4/18)
Week 14: Logic Models
4/25-4/27 / Logic Models / Class in SOCQRL (4/27) / Community Toolbox (blackboard); Logic Model Workbook (blackboard) / NO QUIZ
Logic Models due in class (4/27)
Week 15: Communicating Results &Wrap Up
5/2-5/4 / Communicating Results/Wrap Up / no reading / NO QUIZ
FINAL: Annual Reports due May 9th at 2 pm

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