Course Overview
This course is an introduction to research methods and techniques for those who are, or soon will be, administrators. Decision-makers in all facets of administration rely on the results of research to make better decisions. As employees in the public domain, many of you will be expected to undertake or monitor important research projects. It is important that you understand and interpret evaluations done by others.
Research is a problem solving process. This course has as its core several exercises in manipulating data and interpreting results that serve to reinforce the concepts covered in class. This course emphasizes methods, analysis, and application rather than calculation of statistics. However, we will be covering descriptive statistics, contingency tables, and other statistical procedures such as analysis of variance and simple regression that are commonly found in applied research and frequently employed by consultants.
In completing this course you will become a sophisticated consumer of research, as well as adept at obtaining and manipulating data. You will be able to make sense of data using basic statistics, understand data limitations, and communicate results clearly.
Course Objectives
1. To provide students with a broad knowledge of research methods
2. To provide familiarity with data collection issues and analytical techniques.
3. To introduce students to current practices and research methods employed in public agencies
4. To familiarize students with various on-line research methodologies
5. To prepare students for careers in public and private administration and research
Instructor
John R. Lombard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Graduate Center for Urban Studies and Public Administration Director, Economic Development and Real Estate Resource Center
2034 Hughes Hall
College of Business and Public Administration
Tel 757-683-4809 (office)
757-431-9513 (home no phone calls after 9:00 PM)
Email jlombard@odu.edu
Home Page http://www.odu.edu/bpa/jlombard/
Meeting time and
dates
This class meets at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center, Room 161, Wednesday afternoon from 4:20 7:00 PM. On occasion we will meet in the computer lab room 232.
Office Hours By appointment (contact me via email or telephone)
Main Campus 2034
Hughes Hall
Monday 10:00 11:00 AM
Tuesday 5:00 6:45 PM
Virginia Beach
Higher Education Center Room 271
Wednesday 2:00 4:00
Required and
Suggested Texts
Required
OSullivan,
Elizabethann and Cary R. Rassel. Research
Methods for Public Administrators,
Addison Welsley Longman, 1999
Best,
Joel. Damned Lies and Statistics, University of California Press, 2001
Pyrczak,
Fred. Evaluating Research in Academic Journals, Pyrczak Publishing, 1999
Suggested
Any
guide to SPSS 10.0
Trochim,
William M. Research Methods Knowledge Base.
Atomic Dog publishing, 2001.
Lane,
David. Hyperstat Atomic Dog Publishing, 2001.
Both
are available for purchase in hard copy or web version online (enter course
registration id number 1610063501040)
http://www.atomicdogpublishing.com/home.asp
Meier,
Kenneth J. and Jeffrey L. Brudney. Applied Statistics for Public Administrators
Grading
Grades will be based on performance and weighted as follows.
Class Participation 5%
Article Evaluation 15%
Two mid term exams 25% each
Final exam 30%
Class Format
This course uses a seminar/discussion format and includes
a number of hands-on assignments. We
will spend a lot of time manipulating data using various software programs.
Discussion and collaboration are important components of this class. Therefore, preparation is key. You will work
in small groups on class exercises and have the opportunity to present your
findings to the class.
Student
Responsibilities
It is important that you complete each reading assignment before class and participate in class discussions and group exercises. Interactive discussions are far more interesting than lectures. In addition to the hands-on exercises you will complete during the semester, you will evaluate a research paper and be given three exams. .
You need to have an email address as well as a university LAN account. It is important that you obtain your LAN account as soon as possible so that you will be able to use SPSS software in the university lab. You can access this information on-line at http://season.odu.edu/
Please email me (jlombard@odu.edu) your contact information including a telephone number in case I need to reach you on short notice.
Assignments
Computer lab data
analyses
You will complete several data exercises using a PC and various data sets. We will spend part of our class time in the University computing lab learning data manipulation and analysis skills. I encourage collaboration and sharing of tips and tricks in working with data and software within the lab. While you will not be graded on lab assignments directly, you will have to submit a short summary of what you learned or gained by completing the assignments. Your synopsis will count toward your score for class participation.
Research Article
Evaluation
As administrators, you may not be called upon to undertake research directly. However, research findings are important in identifying problems and evaluating solutions for your organization. While you may rely on others to undertake and interpret research findings, your role as manager necessitates some familiarity with published research.
For this assignment you are to choose an article of interest published in 2000 or later from an academic (peer reviewed or refereed) journal. The ODU library located on the main campus has an extensive collection of academic journals. They are housed on the second floor, or can be accessed through the on-line search capability found on the University web site: http://www.lib.odu.edu/
In addition, Rutgers University maintains a web site of public administration journals that you may find helpful.
http://rutgers-newark.rutgers.edu/pubadmin/resource/Journal.htm.
Be sure that you find a suitable article for review, preferably in a subject area important to your work environment or of extreme personal interest. Please note that the article you choose for evaluating must not have been used in a prior class and you must submit a copy of the article to me for approval before you begin your evaluation. If you obtain your article electronically, be sure that the copy you submit to me for approval is complete with all tables, charts and references.
Your research article evaluation should be no more than
three pages. We will read and use the Pyrczak publication as a guide to
facilitate the evaluation. Completed written reviews are tentatively
due on March. 20. I suggest you get my
approval on the article you are going to use by the end of February.
Article evaluations will be graded using the guide found at the end of this syllabus. For this exercise I value completeness of the evaluation following the Pyrczak guidelines and clarity of written work. Please note that late submission will be penalized one letter grade.
Exams
You will have two mid terms and a final exam. Each mid-term exam is worth 25 percent of your final grade. The final exam is comprehensive and worth 30 percent of your final grade. You may opt out of the final exam and elect to have each mid-term exam account for 40 percent of your final grade. Exams will consist of questions and exercises in various formats that reflect readings, material covered in class and lab/homework exercises.
Course Schedule
Section I
What is research and why is this important for public administrators?
What makes for good or bad research? What is the role of statistics in
research? What are the basic principles
and conventions of statistics? What are
the differences in descriptive and inferential statistics and how are they
applied in research? How do we collect,
organize and analyze data?
Date Assignment
Jan 15/16 Introduction and review of course
requirements
Jan 22 /23 Damned
Lies and Statistics A primer
Readings: Best entire book, O&R Chapter 1
Jan 29/30 Statistics in Research Levels of
Measurement and Basic Principles
Readings: O&R pages 98 107 and Chapter 11
Feb 5/6 Descriptive Statistics and Measures
of Dispersion
Readings: Chapter 11 including appendix
Feb 12/13 Exam
Feb 19/20 Determining Association Among
Variables-Contingency Tables
Readings: O&R Chapter 13
Feb 26/27 Probability and Hypothesis Testing
O&R pages 132-145 and Chapter 12
Mar 5/6 Putting
It Together - Evaluating a Research
Article
Readings: O&R 428-436 and all of the Pyrczak Guide
Mar 12/13 No Class - Spring Break
Section II What is a research plan? How do you ask and
answer a research question? What are your data and how do you know your data
are reliable and valid? What sampling
methodology should you employ? What is the appropriate analysis? What conclusions can you draw? What are the limitations of your
findings?
Mar 19/20 Research Designs
Readings: O&R Chapters 2 and 3
Mar 26/27 Exam
Apr 2/3 Collecting Data
Readings: O&R Chapters 7 and 9
Apr 9/10 Catch up
Apr 16/17 Presenting Results
Readings: O&R Chapter 15
Apr 23/24 Geographic
Information Systems and Exploratory Data Analysis and Final Exam Review
May 5/6 Final
Exam
General Evaluation Method
for Written Submissions
1.
Content
-Number and quality of ideas on topic
-Ideas clearly differentiated and
properly sequenced
-Clarity of relationships between ideas
within report
6 7 8 9 10
MWTA Average MBTA
Comments:
2.
Organization
-Clear overall structure (introduction,
body, conclusion)
-Clarity and structure of individual
paragraphs
2 3 4 5 6
MWTA Average MBTA
Comments:
3. English Usage
4 - No problems at all with: spelling, punctuation,
grammar, sentence construction, etc.
3 - Few such problems
2 - Several such problems
1 - Excessive number of problems
Comments:
Oral presentation: ________
Total score: _______