Research is an integral part of the public and nonprofit sectors. Budget analysts use research to generate revenue forecasts. Management analysts use research to determine if a program is serving citizens effectively. In nonprofit organizations, development directors use research to identify potential donors. As you can see, research occurs every day in all public and nonprofit organizations.
Research used for evaluation is especially challenging in the public and nonprofit sectors. Unlike their counterparts in the private sector, public administrators implement programs that produce “soft” and intangible results. Imagine the situation of a school administrator who implements an after-school counseling program for at-risk youth. One of the “soft” results of this program may be an increase in the self-esteem of a student. Self-esteem is a difficult concept to measure and may be measured in a variety of ways.
Or, consider a nonprofit organization that develops a program to help recovering addicts obtain gainful employment. While the measurement of whether or not the individual obtained a job is rather tangible and obvious, the confidence the individual gains as a result of participating in the program is intangible and much more difficult to measure. In order to measure the more challenging intangible results administrators rely on research. It is imperative for administrators to know how to conduct research in order to evaluate programs so that they can promote the values of efficiency, effectiveness, individual rights, and social equity.
Please follow instructions:
The Assignment must be 1-1.5 pages and include:
- select a public or nonprofit organization with which you are familiar or choose an organization from the Virtual Community of New Harbor, Delaware.
- a description of how research and evaluation can be used by this organization.
- Explain what program, problem, or policy could be addressed by research, and how this could benefit the organization.
You must use the required readings for at least one citation per paragraph.
Required readings will be provided and must be used!
- Johnson, G. (2014). Research methods for public administrators (3rd ed.). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
- Chapter 1, “Introduction: Research Methods for Public Administrators” (pp. 3–16)
- Chapter 2, “Basic Research Concepts” (pp. 17–33)
- Hatry, H. P. (2013). Sorting the relationships among performance measurement, program evaluation, and performance management. New Directions for Evaluation, 2013(137),19–32.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. - Litman, T. (2008). Evaluating research quality: Guidelines for scholarship. Victoria, British Columbia:Victoria Transport Quality Institute.
Litman, T. (2012). Evaluating Research Quality Guidelines for Scholarship. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.vtpi.org/resqual.pdf Used with permission from Todd Litman. - Washington State Institute for Public Policy. (2004). Outcome of Washington state’s research-based programs for juvenile offenders. Retrieved from www.wsipp.wa.gov/ReportFile/852
- Laureate Education (Producer). (2013c). Virtual community. [Multimedia file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.Walden University has created a simulated Virtual Community known as New Harbor, Delaware. This Virtual Community is being used in various other courses and is being made available in this course as well. The Virtual Community consists of several organizations and individuals that may be useful in completing some of the assignments in this course. You may either use an organization that you are familiar with for the assignments in this course, or you may use an organization from the Virtual City.
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