Attention focuses on the challenges of managing the complex public-private collaborations from either direction. This course provides the student with an introduction to the use of qualitative and quantitative evaluations for social programs. The course reviews rationale for evaluation and its use in budgeting, policy assessments, research and development, and program improvement. The course addresses experimental and quasi-experimental designs, selection bias, and methods of overcoming problems. The course includes an introduction to use of cost-benefit analysis.
Students undertake a critical review and reanalyze data from existing evaluations.
Policy Research Seminar Students take one of several courses offered in research design and methods. These courses provide an introduction to basic methods to undertaking research and teaches students to select and design a research project. Citizenship and Politics A survey of the varying meanings of the concept of citizenship and a consideration of how these meanings are realized or distorted in the institutions that make policy for communities and societies. The internship usually takes place during the summer between the two years of the program. It involves placement in a public or private agency in the U.S. or another country, and preparation of a paper that takes a critical look at the relationship between on the-job experience and concepts learned in class.