CL 5143 - Introduction to Evaluation and Research Methods (3)

This course surveys foundations of social sciences evaluation and research methods relevant to the civic leadership field. It is designed for first-year graduate students in the Masters of Arts in Civic Leadership. Other graduate students with a leadership dimension to their research from other fields are welcomed, as well. The course focuses on helping students know how to be good consumers of research as a major tool of leadership. Topics include the scientific method, research ethics, research design, measurement, sampling, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed data collection techniques, and data analysis and interpretation. Students learn how to define a research question, explore the strengths and limitations of various research methods, gain brief practical experience with several data collection methods, and draft a preliminary capstone proposal. It is expected that, upon successful completion of this course, students will study in greater depth those particular research method(s) most appropriate for their capstone topic, question and field(s) of study.