Time Schedule:
Rachel G. Kleit
PB AF 608
Seattle Campus
Meets the degree project requirements as part of the Evans School curriculum. Students work in a supportive environment facilitated by peer and faculty to complete individual degree projects.
Class description
The degree project seminars are a faculty- and peer-facilitated vehicle to move each student through the stages of development of an applied research project. Often that project meets the research, innovation, and capacity-building needs of community organizations and public agencies. Some students in the seminar may be working on a completely self-generated topic.
In either case, class sessions give students the opportunity to learn from each other, from other research, and from the instructor’s experience to result in a professional product that can meet the needs of a client organization. Some students in the seminar have been matched with a client through the Public Service Clinics, and as such have specific requirements they must undertake throughout the two quarters of the DP.
The course work for the seminars spans the winter and spring quarters, and results in a completed degree project.
Expectations The purpose of the weekly meetings is to assist you in completing your final product. Seminar discussions will bring additional resources and the guidance of other researchers to the attention of the student. These discussions will be both substantive and methodological. In some cases, discussion will focus on the substantive content of each of your individual project, and you all students will be expected to make informal presentations of your work in progress. In other cases, these discussions will guide you through the process of collaborative project definition, the creation of a workplan, choosing a research design, and carrying out a project. The seminar seeks to capture the synergy among the multiple projects to expand the use of effective research methods and increase collective understanding the process of working with a client in a professional situation. Seminar assignments will keep you on pace to complete the final report by the end of the spring quarter. Upon successful completion of the seminar, you will have learned to:
Student learning goals
Develop a comprehensive research question, collaboratively when appropriate
Plan the phases of a research project.
Employ the appropriate research methodologies to address the question.
Complete the design of the research project, including methodologies to be used and all aspects of data collection, presentation and analysis.
When there is a client, work with that client to manage and meet expectations.
Prepare a final product, most frequently a written report that clearly examines the completed research and provides cogent findings and recommendations to the client, although other products are possible.
General method of instruction
Seminar discussion
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
