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Research Service Learning
The Social Issue Investigation Portfolio
Why Connect Research and Service-Learning?
What are the Benefits of Conducting an RSL Project?
What are the Guiding Principles of RSL?
What Does the General Process of Conducting an RSL
Project Look Like?
Research Service Learning
Research Service Learning is an exciting, innovative
approach to undergraduate research advocated by the Hart Leadership
Program and also supported by a new campus-wide initiative at Duke
called Scholarship with a
Civic Mission. Research Service Learning is integral to the
SOL and Hart
Fellows programs.
The faculty and staff of SOL coach interested students
on how to work with host organizations to identify the emerging
issues and needs in the community that would benefit from sustained
study. Students design their research questions and methodologies
in collaboration with their supervisors and faculty mentors. Critical
reflection is a central part of the RSL experience. Students must
document their entire research process and leave a tangible product
with their community organization when they complete their internship.
Recent project titles include “Micro-Enterprise
development: Business Job Creation, and Community Building in the
New South Africa,” “Child Care and Education:
Barriers to Self-Sufficiency for Participants in the Supportive
Housing Program,” and “Tradeswomen’s
Stories, Tradeswomen’s Lives: Oral Histories of Women in Blue
Collar Trades.”
Educating Citizens, a book by the Carnegie
Foundation for Higher Education describes RSL projects in SOL as
“significantly strengthening students’ sense of civic
and political efficacy, because they serve such important functions
for the agencies.” (p.155, Colby, 2003)
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Social Issue Investigation Portfolios
The Social Issue Investigation Portfolio component
of SOL is described well in Educating Citizens (Colby,
2003):
“…each student investigates an issue
relating to the internship experience—thus pursuing problem-based,
inquiry learning that builds directly on the summer field placements.
Students…create portfolios based on the investigation, using
research, reflections and other resources to illuminate and focus
the issue. Although these reflections and portfolios are individual
projects, students have regular, structured opportunities for peer
learning in connection with the projects. Each is assigned to a
small group that meets regularly to discuss the ongoing social issue
investigations, offering suggestions and feedback and helping plan
presentations to the class. Then students spend the last seven weeks
of the course learning from each other as they take turns presenting
their research to the full group. Two elements in the social issue
investigation are an interview with an admired practitioner in the
student’s field of interest and a memo laying out policy or
action recommendations. The memo must grapple with questions like
these: “What are the underlying structures or systems that
need to change in order to make serious progress on this issue?
Who are the key players that need to be involved in the change process?
What social policy options do you see? Which option seems most viable?
Where do you locate yourself in these proposed actions?”
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Why Connect Research and Service-Learning??
Professor Robert Thompson, Dean of Trinity College,
explains the rationale for the Research Service-Learning model:
"Research pedagogies teach students to identify
a problem and pose a question, to develop a rigorous investigative
approach that involves primary research, and to participate in a
process of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and dissemination. Service-learning,
on the other hand, increases understanding of an academic subject
or theory through direct service. It involves structured reflection
and analysis that connects social and public issues with personal
experiences and development. When research is joined with service
learning, the outcomes are a deeper level of inquiry-based field
research that not only builds leadership and life skills but helps
shape students' identities as agents for change and activism in
the
community."
While RSL adheres to the same basic principles
as traditional academic research, its impact - on both students
and the community - can be deeper, more visible and more immediate
than much of the research we are accustomed to doing within the
academy.
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What are the Benefits of Conducting an RSL Project?
1. We locate ourselves within or in relation to efforts to promote
social change.
Like all SOL interns, students engaging in RSL
projects gain experience on the "frontlines" of current
social change efforts. Through placement with service and activist
organizations, we gain insight into strategies being used to confront
community challenges and prominent social issues, and, through critical
reflection, we locate our place within and in relation to efforts
to promote social change.
2. We refine our research skills in contexts where the impact of
the research efforts is visible and immediate.
Through the process of designing and conducting
a research service-learning project, we hone our critical research
skills - a "learning goal" that RSL projects share with
student research projects in more traditional academic settings.
Yet unlike the research projects students carry out in traditional
academic settings, where the impact and importance of students'
research is often not immediately apparent, our RSL projects have
a practical, immediate impact through contribution to the advancement
of our host organizations' social change efforts.
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What are the Guiding Principles of RSL?
The research we do in the context of Research Service
Learning, follows the basic research principles of problem identification,
methodology selection, execution of research, analysis and synthesis.
In addition to these principles, there are specific attributes of
the Research Service-Learning Context that set it apart from traditional
academic research.
According to the Random House Dictionary, "research"
is "diligent and systematic inquiry into a subject in order
to discover or revise facts, theories, etc." There is nothing
in the definition of research that limits its practice to any specific
discipline or methodology, or even to the realm of academia; in
fact, we likely engage in some sort of research every day of our
lives. This does not mean that each day, we necessarily initiate
an academic project; rather, it simply means that we follow a process
that adheres to the basic logic and framework of research:
We Pose a Question.
There is something that puzzles us, or a subject about which we
wish to know more. Example -- What are the greatest needs facing
the youth of the neighborhood served by a certain community organization?
We choose or develop an investigative approach to answering the
question.
We Develop a Research Methodology.
Once we have identified the problem we want to solve or the question
we want to answer, we choose or develop a methodology through which
to conduct our investigation. The range of methodologies that can
fall under the rubric of "research" is as vast as the
range of questions that can be researched. Continuing with the example
from above -- Conduct focus groups and a series of interviews with
community leaders and community youth to determine what the primary
needs are of youth in the community.
We Conduct Our Research.
Over a given period of time, we gather data/findings through execution
of the research process.
We Analyze Our Data.
Example -- In focus groups and in individual interviews, community
youth and adults alike expressed their belief that a neighborhood
park is urgently needed. Throughout the group meetings and interviews,
repeated reference was made to a group of adjacent, vacant lots
at the center of the neighborhood that appear to offer an ideal
locale for the construction of a park.
We Synthesize Our Data and Form Conclusions.
Example -- The community organization should support the construction
of a neighborhood park. The organization should direct its funds
towards the purchase of the group of vacant lots in the center of
the neighborhood, and convert those vacant lots into greenspace
for the proposed park.
Research in the Research Service Learning
Context
In addition to the basic principles of research, there are specific
attributes of Research Service-Learning that set it apart from traditional
academic research:
1. Our research is community-based, participatory
and action-oriented.
RSL draws on two "alternative" research
paradigms that are gaining increasing public attention, even in
traditional research universities: "community-based research"
and "participatory action research." Community-based research
is research conducted "by, with, or for communities."
By "communities," we mean more specifically organizations
that are rooted in and form an organic part of the communities in
which they are present: civic or neighborhood groups, grassroots
community organizations, community-centered nonprofits and activist
organizations. Within the context of RSL, we always conduct our
research in partnership with such organizations.
Participatory action research is research that is focused on finding
answers to questions and developing solutions to problems of immediate
and practical importance to communities and community groups. In
contrast to much typical, academic research, it is "participatory"
in that those who have the problem (the community or community group)
are not mere "objects" to be studied in an effort of the
researcher alone. In a RSL project, we work with the community or
community group to identify the problem/question, choose the research
methodology and execute the research. Rather than standing apart
from the organization and studying it in a disconnected, objectified
format, we embed ourselves within the community/community organization
to achieve a participatory vantage point (Wadsworth 1998; Masters
1995). Participatory action research - and SOL RSL research - is
"action-oriented" in the sense that its explicit purpose
is to find answers and develop solutions to problems of immediate
and practical importance to the community/community organization.
Traditional academic research often seems to hold such action as
a tangential goal, or the researcher simply expresses his or her
hope that the research will "perhaps one day contribute to"
some direct action. In a SOL RSL project, action is central, not
tangential; indeed, our research can be viewed as the first step
in an action process to be completed after we depart (when recommendations
are implemented, findings are used to inform the design of a new
program, etc.)
2. We do not seek to eliminate our subjective
insights from the research process.
From our vantage point as interns, we gain unique
insights into our community organizations' relations to the problem
at hand and to the communities in which they are embedded. Rather
than discount the insight gained from this subjective perspective,
we view it as an asset. Through critical reflection during the research
process and in the period of analysis, we can glean insights that
may prove useful in the final synthesis. This is not to say that
we use our personal biases to distort findings; rather, we identify
our subjective insights as such when we utilize them to inform our
conclusions/final recommendations.
As researchers, we integrate our critical reflections into our projects
in a manner appropriate to the specific methodology we are employing.
For example, insights gleaned during a documentary-based project
would inform our conclusions - and be presented in a certain way
in relation to the "data" - that would be quite different
from the presentation of such insights alongside findings gleaned
from a quantitative environmental impact study.
3. RSL is a service learning experience. RSL
projects engage us in service learning.
Service learning is a form of experiential education
that merges the pursuit of student learning activities with those
that address significant needs within the community. ... "the
goal of service learning is a dynamic partnership between educational
institutions and communities' that results in the mutual benefits
of learning and meaningful service." (Schaffer and Peterson
1998). "Research," as defined above, is the vehicle through
which we engage in service learning.
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What Does the General Process of Conducting an
RSL Project Look Like?
1. We identify the objective of our
research.
We collaborate with the host organization and the
SOL staff to identify a clear objective for our research. The research
will respond to a specific need of our host organization. Such needs
could include:
a. A community nonprofit focused on youth projects
needs to assess community opinion on a proposed youth computer-literacy
program.
b. A women's community organizing group wishes to assess the degree
of organizing activity already present within a community.
c. An environmental activist group wishes to assess whether or
not a local factory has been exerting negative effects on environmental
conditions in a particular neighborhood through illegal dumping
practices.
2. We design the instrument of research.
(Week 1-2 of summer placement)
We work with the host organization and the SOL
staff to choose or develop a research instrument that will provide
for the most effective data collection, given the specific parameters
of the research objective. Rather than being limited to choice among
a few rigidly defined research methodologies, the methodology will
be selected and uniquely adapted to the objective at hand. Depending
on the nature of the research objective, the method of research
may be primarily qualitative, quantitative, or a relatively even
mix of both. However, all RSL research projects engage us in direct
interaction with the community served by our host organization.
Methodologies could include (but are not limited to):
a. The use of qualitative interviews to gather
information from a community, (such as for the hypothetical youth
computer-literacy project described above).
b. Documentary photography and writing might be used, for example,
to gather evidence of environmental damage or perhaps provide
evidence of city neglect of inner-city public housing facilities
for a community organizing group's campaign to bring about more
equitable allocation of public spending.
c. An environmental impact study might be carried out and combined
with interviews among residents of communities affected by illegal
dumping practices, in preparation for an activist group's attempt
to challenge the violators in court.
In addition, we may utilize on-line textual resources
to gain additional background into the communities and issues being
researched. These resources are used to provide background to and
supplement research findings from "the field."
3. We conduct our research. (Weeks 3-7/7.5
of summer placement)
The period in which the research is executed constitutes
the bulk of our summer experience. Throughout the research process,
we engage in critical reflection on the research process itself,
and seek to refine our research strategies in order to most effectively
meet the objectives of the research. For example, in the hypothetical
project in which a student interviews community members in regards
to a new project for community youth, important new questions may
be generated through the interviews that the researcher had not
initially included in the initial set of interview questions. At
an even more fundamental level, the student might discover that,
in place of rigidly structured interviews, more loosely structured
(yet still guided) interviews are more effective means of generating
useful information and insights. This degree of flexibility, grounded
in reflection, is critical throughout the research process.
4. We analyze our findings and synthesize our conclusions. (Last
1.5-2 weeks of placement)
We must bring closure to the research process with
ample time left for analysis of findings, and synthesis of conclusions.
In final form, our product will be presented in a form appropriate
to the type of research we have conducted. For all projects, though,
the product should respond clearly to the objectives of the research,
with presentation of conclusions and recommendations for future
action based on these conclusions. Examples:
a. An interview project in regards to a community
youth initiative might be presented as a report detailing interview
findings, followed by analysis of the findings, and conclusions
presented in the form of recommendations for future action.
b. An investigation utilizing photography to document environmental
damage might include a portfolio of photographs within a final
report explaining what conclusions can be drawn from the "evidence"
of the photographs, and how this evidence might be used to enhance
the investigation.
The product we leave with our host organization
includes the findings of the research, the analysis of these findings,
and the conclusions and recommendations derived from the findings
and analysis. It is more than the final piece of an academic exercise:
it is research grounded in action. Research service learning engages
us in the work of social change in the present, and simultaneously
permits us to contribute to the future social change work that will
be carried out by our host organization after our departure. While
RSL adheres to the same basic principles as traditional academic
research, its impact -- on both us and the community -- can be deeper,
more visible and more immediate than much of the research we are
accustomed to doing within the academy.
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