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International Development Program
School of International Service
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016-8071
idpsis@american.edu 

   SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE      
 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
International Development Program

Substantial Research Paper

1) Purpose

The overall purpose of the Substantial Research Paper (SRP) is to require Masters students in the International Development Program to undertake a serious and sustained exercise in original research and writing, based either on secondary or primary material or both. More specifically, it is intended that students will enhance their research, analytical, and presentation capacities or skills through:

  1. applying research methods and principles to an in-depth undertaking;
  2. relating research findings to major themes in both the ID field and in the area of concentration;
  3. planning and organizing material for a reasonably lengthy document;
  4. presenting findings thematically, clearly, logically and convincingly;
  5. drawing conclusions that not only include principal insights and themes, but also relate findings to selected themes in the field;
  6. sharing research experiences and findings with colleagues; and
  7. preparing formal and effective oral presentations on their findings.
2) Requirements

Length: The document should be 50 to 60 pages in length (all page requirements refer to text , and exclude footnotes, endnotes, and citations, and are based on double spacing).

Chapter 1: Themes and Methods

Section 1: a 4-5 page discussion of some key themes of ID drawn from at least three of the core courses and explaining the relevance or connection or contribution of the research to these themes. (A minimum of three ID themes should be discussed; and a minimum of 9 authors should be included in these discussions.)

Section 2: a 4-5 page discussion of some of the key themes in the student's elected concentration, explaining the relevance or connection or intended contribution of the research to the concentration. (A minimum of three concentration themes should be discussed; and a minimum of 9 authors should be included in these discussions.)

Section 3: a 2-3 page explanation of the purpose and method of the research; for example, question(s) or problem(s) being investigated and why, a hypothesis or principal research question, survey methods, criteria for selection of documents,

Content Chapters:

30-40 pages logically divided into chapters, providing a report and analysis of the findings.

Concluding Chapter:

5-10 pages containing a summary of key points, major themes and insights emerging, the significance of the findings, realistic recommendations where appropriate, and a substantive discussion relating the research to some of the themes discussed in Chapters 1, Sections 1 and 2.

A List of Works Cited:

Divided into i) International Development Field; ii) Concentration; and iii) SRP Content

3) Faculty Supervision

Students will be informed at the first year orientation of the requirements of the SRP. There will also be at least one well-publicized orientation meeting a year specifically to explain the SRP.

Students will be made familiar (and should make every effort to familiarize themselves) with faculty members' main areas of technical and geographical interest or expertise. This will assist them to approach faculty in good time. Although numbers may vary from semester to semester, on average it is anticipated that faculty will take five registered students a semester, giving preference to students working in their area of interest. Once a faculty has a full quota of students, this situation will be treated like a full class, and students will need to wait a semester or find another professor to supervise the SRP.

It is possible that a student will find a supervisor in another department of SIS or AU; in that case the student should explain the above requirements to the 'external' supervisor. (A student may request an IDP faculty member to help clarify this if necessary). Students who work with an non-IDP faculty member will need to become a part of, and participate in, all meetings of IDP SRP groups, as discussed below. For the purpose of group presentation and participation, and to assist with and supervise the sections on themes, the student will require the supervision of an IDP Faculty Supervisor.

Enrollment and Registration

A student must 'pre-enroll' with a professor in the semester prior to that in which he/she intends to register for the SRP. This means that in the semester preceding their formal registration students must do the following:

  • by week 9, obtain preliminary faculty agreement to supervise the SRP; and
  • by week 12, get agreement in principle from the faculty member, based on a one page outline including a) one paragraph on the purpose of the research; this should include either your hypothesis or your principle research question; b) one paragraph on intended research methods and c) suggested a list of contents in the form of chapter heading and sub-headings. (If this agreement in principle is not obtained the earlier preliminary faculty agreement no longer holds.)

To register formally for the SRP, a student must prepare a research proposal. Students are very strongly encouraged to prepare all the materials necessary for registration well in advance; preferably these should be ready before the end of the preceding (i.e. Apre-enrollment@ ) semester and certainly no later than the first week of the semester in which they register.

The research proposal should contain the following:

  1. A suggested outline of contents (chapter headings and sub-headings);
  2. One paragraph on the purpose of the research, including the hypothesis or principal research question;
  3. One paragraph on intended research methods;
  4. Brief discussion of ID themes that may be of relevance (minimum of three themes);
  5. Brief discussion of concentration themes of relevance (minimum of three);
  6. Preliminary bibliography; and
  7. Work plan for the semester, indicating stages of preparation and dates for completion.

It should be emphasized that the above headings, themes, etc, are meant to be preliminary in nature and that their purpose is to assist with planning and "thinking through" the paper. Students will be free to alter these as the research and writing progresses.

If the faculty is satisfied, the student, with faculty signature, may register. The student will then be told of the dates of meetings that she or he should attend, and deadlines for completion of a preliminary and final draft. In the semester in which the student wishes to complete he/she will need to conform to those deadlines and dates. Students are expected to complete the SRP in the semester in which they register.

There will be no formal supervision over the summer, although students may of course carry out research and write over the summer.

Group Participation and Final Presentation

During their membership of an SRP group students will have to attend meetings called by their Faculty Supervisor. Most faculty require students to attend three meetings. Students in a group will also be encouraged to hold further unsupervised meetings amongst themselves or possibly with other groups to discuss informally their experiences and findings.

At the final meeting, students will make fifteen minute formal presentations after which they will be questioned both by the supervisor and their colleagues. The responsibility of the student will be to highlight key findings in a manner that is clear and of interest to their colleagues, and provide some of points of relevance to the themes in the literature. The grade for the SRP will be determined by the paper rather than the presentation; however, a presentation that shows serious lack of preparation may affect the grade negatively and in severe cases the student may be asked to present at a later date, which will amount to a delay in his/her progress. It is hoped in time that outsiders, possibly alumni, or other professionals, may attend these presentation meetings.

Students may request to attend group meeting in the semester before they register in order to benefit from attendance at meetings of an SRP group that is ahead of them.

6) Additional Clarifications

i) There is no written comprehensive examination in ID. Satisfaction of the University's comprehensive exam requirement is based on the following:

  • the quality of discussion of ID and Concentration themes and methods as required in Chapter 1;
  • the quality of discussion in the Concluding Chapter which relates the findings of the SRP to the themes dealt with in Chapter 1;
  • The quality of discussion on themes (oral presentation) at a group meeting during the course of the semester (if the faculty requires); and
  • The quality of the final presentation (oral presentation, using handouts, visuals, power point etc) of the SRP at the end of semester group meeting.

ii) If a student writes two SRPs, the above requirements will affect only one of the two. The student will select at the outset which of the two will accord with these requirements.

iii) If a student selects to write a Masters Thesis, all the above requirements will apply to the thesis.

 

Practicum (For Development Management Students)

The objective of the practicum is to put yourself in the position of a manager (in some cases a junior one) who will accomplish some practical and observable purpose in which your organization or community is positively interested; to the extent that this is feasible, and it usually is, your organization should agree and hold you (notionally if not formally) accountable for the results achieved.

This does not mean that you need to achieve your objectives in all respects, but rather that they (the organization or community) as well as you observe the progress, including the necessary adaptations that you do eventually make.  

In the process you will self-consciously take the viewpoint of a manager, attempting to apply some selected principles of management (for example from the DM and PA courses) and carefully observe the process.

There are six required components to the practicum: One consists of the 8 preparation exercises; the second is carrying out the assignment which leads to the third which is an outcome/product i.e. the change, the result, the document; the fourth is reporting on, and analysis of, the process in a process report; the fifth is the formal presentation of your findings and experiences to the Development Management group; and the sixth is on-going participation with your colleagues in DM practicum meetings.

STAGE 1: PREPARATION

Prepared in advance of the work assignment itself; often with incomplete information. This MUST be submitted to, and accepted by, the Academic Supervisor either before, or early on in, the Practicum. Failure to do so may invalidate the Practicum:

I) a Purpose Statement that declares what the objective of your undertaking will be. These need not be grandiose or elaborate but something achievable by a person in your position in a period of three or six months or a year. (One paragraph).

ii) a Personal Situation Analysis: it is essential that a manager analyses carefully his/her situation in relation to others in the organization in terms of power, influence, skills, age, experience, sense of being an insider/outsider, gender, culture or ethnicity. (1/2 to one page)

iii) a Stakeholder Analysis explaining who the most affected parties/actors will be, how they are likely to be impacted, what level of influence they have, and how you propose to deal with them, that is, your strategy. (A one page table)

iv) a Logframe explaining goals, objectives, outputs and inputs, verifiable indicators, sources of information and critical assumptions. This may be difficult to complete in all aspects but you should push the exercise as far as is reasonable (A one page table)

v) a Strategic Constraints and Opportunities Assessment: in order to plan strategically it is important to think through what the key constraints limiting you and key opportunities helpful to you are likely to be. This may take the form of a SWOT analysis. (Half page)

vi) an Action Plan which requires you to break up your overall undertaking into discrete tasks involving specific people or groups of people (e.g. meeting with all relevant parties, questionnaire ready, interviews, trainees selected), clarify the relationship of those tasks, (some can be carried out simultaneously, some depend on the completion of prior tasks), to provide a provisional date for achievement of that task. (One Page Diagram of your choice – e.g. a simple critical path diagram, or Gantt Chart-- and a two-thirds to one page narrative explanation)

vii) five Management Themes, referring to twelve authors, who you believe will be relevant to your work and the relevance or utility of which you will observe as you carry out your task. (Approx four-five pages)

viii) a common sense discussion of Qualitative and Quantitative Performance Measurement: how you will know whether or what to extent you have achieved your objective(s); that is how will you measure your performance. (about half a page)

 ix) You are strongly encouraged to provide any further diagrams representing your logic or the way in which you perceive of the structure or dynamic of your organization.

STAGE 2: CARRYING OUT THE ASSIGNMENT

 The most important and core component of the practicum is carrying out the assignment that you and your organization have undertaken. This will involve both continual strategic thinking (keeping in mind your organizational context, your plan, your objective, and the main steps to achieve that objective) and the nitty-gritty of management (research, analysis, continual adaptation, writing, re-designing, information gathering, communication, persuasion, reminders, patience, persistence, coordination, compromises or trade offs etc.)

 As you work through this process it will be necessary to keep a journal (possibly a weekly journal or one based around events, themes or insights), in order to fulfill the third component of the practicum.

If the product of your work is a document, e.g. a project proposal or a training design, then you will need to hand this in. If the product is more in the nature of an organizational change or increased capacity or a better information system you will need to explain this in your process report.

STAGE 3: REPORTING AND ANALYZING THE PROCESS

This process report is the principal academic component (albeit very applied in nature) of the practicum. (Whole report on the process between 20 and 30 pages). You have leeway to organize it as you wish, but you should include the following elements:

i) The Work Experience: Commence by explaining the context and purpose of your practicum. Then describe the experience including major events and adaptations. Describe the major achievement(s) of the exercise. You may include personal experiences, insights and adaptations.

ii) Analysis: Referring systematically to each of the eight preparatory exercises, and using them as the main mode of organizing this section, report analytically and insightfully on the process of carrying out your assignment, in the main analyzing to what extent you were able to achieve your goals, plans, deadlines and why and why not, and to what extent and in what ways your preparatory exercises were relevant or helpful, and why or why they were not, and how you adapted. (You must refer to at least four of the management themes and discuss what your experience has to say about them.)

iii) Lessons Learned: Provide a section on key lessons or insights, and recommendations for the organization or community. Conclude with lessons that you feel are generalizable to the field of development management.

iv) Provide a contents page and one page executive summary.

v) Provide an annex containing a few helpful diagrams representing the organizational structure, or/and communications system or/and coordination practices or/and relationship to the operating environment – consult the DM reader for ideas.

STAGE FOUR: PRESENTATION

On completion of the assignment and having prepared the process report, the student will make a formal analytical presentation on findings, experiences and management lessons to the Development Management group. This will usually take place at the final meeting of the semester, and after consultation with the practicum supervisor on form and substance of the presentation. The presentation will strive to be of the highest quality: succinct, to the point, informative, interesting, analytical and make appropriate use of visual techniques. The student will also be questioned by faculty and students.

ONGOING: PARTICIPATION

Students are required to participate in as many DM practicum meetings as possible, even before they register for the course and (if they have not completed the degree) after they have presented their practicum. These are to be seen as the equivalent of class meetings, albeit spread over four semesters. We do not foresee more than three a semester. These will take the form of introductory meetings (introducing students to each other and to the operating principles of the practicum), progress report meetings (findings, lessons learned, experience sharing), guest speakers on development management, and final presentation meetings (at which a student, on completion of the work and writing requirements, presents his/her findings and analysis.).

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 Please note: while you may work on your practicum over the summer, you may not be able to count on faculty advice, and you will not be able to do the formal presentation over the summer.