Policy Research Projects

In

International Relations[1]

G. Matthew Bonham and Anna Vl. Kashirova

PSC 651 Theories of International Relations

Fall 2004

Introduction: The IR Policy Research Project Methodology

Educational programs in International Relations,as well as other programs such as Public Administration,that are designed to prepare studentsfor administrative careers in governmental or non-governmental organizations require a practical component. The policy research project as an educational tool increases students’ awareness of existing public organizations’ activities, problems that these organizations face, their impact on constituencies and current public policy practice. As a process, it is a form of experiential learning which provides students with an opportunity to apply knowledge received in a classroom to solve actual problems under challenges and constraints, as diverse as each organizational environment has.

The IR Policy Research Project is a twelve-week project which implies that students provide consultancy on a specific problem for a client (international organization, federal agency, or aninternational non-profit organization). Project assignments embrace major policy research questions, management, strategic planning, etc. Thereby, the client receives free-of-charge consulting services while students get the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge in a real global public policy setting.

Each project involves the participation of a minimum of four students but not more than ten under the supervision of a faculty advisor (the extent to which advisor may intervene into the group work may vary). Each team is required to nominate a liaison that would be in charge of coordination between the team, the advisor and the client. This scheme results in a more fluent and effective communication between these participants.

Prior to the policy research project, a faculty (advisor) coordinates his or her activities with the client organization in order to set a general idea of the project, and its feasibility in accordance with the aim of the policy research project. The task for the advisor at this stage is to determine whether the project can be completed successfully in a period of twelve weeks and if it corresponds to academic program. Once the advisor and the organization set up the general idea of the project, the advisor invites students to participate and voluntarily sign for a specific policy research project. The students’ choice of a particular project is based on either of three factors (1) their previous experience, (2) interest in developing certain skills through participation in the project or (3) interest in the organization’s activities and its role in the community.

There are several stages in the development of each policy research project. First, each team has a formal meeting with their advisor and client representatives in order to set the expectations and needs of the organization and state the ground rules of the project. Second, each team plans the work according to the given deadlines and distributes the tasks between the team members using three basic criteria: first, their willingness to perform certain tasks; second, their qualifications to fulfill such tasks; and third, interpersonal relations. At the third stage, the research part of the policy research project is carried out for approximately ten weeks in which students gather primary and secondary data (i.e., make a survey, conduct interviews, carry out media and internet monitoring, etc.) in order to acquire information regarding current situation, best practices, success stories and other experiences on the matter. After that, students get involved in data analysis, organization and working out solutions to the particular problems of the client-organization. Finally, each team is required to deliver a formal presentation and create a document describing their findings, procedures and suggestions which are to be presented to a client organization.

There are certain requirements that are to be met when implementing a policy research project. First, it is very important to have full-time faculty advisors available for consultations and assistance. Second, it is required that technical facilities, such as PCs, internet access, telephone connection, printers, scanners, etc. are available to students. Third, classrooms and conference rooms should be provided for meetings and self-preparation.

There are several types of practical skills that are developed through participating in policy research projects.

  • Researching and analytical skills – carrying out surveys, gathering and evaluating data, extracting relevant information, structuring information, providing data analysis, working out recommendations, and reasoning.
  • Communicational skills - interviewing, gathering secondary data, oral and written communication, reporting, making presentations.
  • Organizational skills – (team-working skills) – distributing the tasks, leadership, time-management, handling conflicts, efficient organization of group work, consensus-building.

The most important benefit of this method is to let students acquire hands-on-experience in environments where information is sometimes restricted and where organizational problems, financial constraints, incongruence between mission and organizational activities and refocus of the activities of the organization might occur. Students also learn to work under time pressure in order to complete the project in twelve weeks.

Among the risks associated with the policy research projects as an educational tool we would like to mention the absence of clear criteria for evaluation of the students’ work which can lead to an inadequate assessment of their participation and achievements.

IRpolicy research projects implemented at MaxwellSchool of can be an effective educational tool that enables students to apply previously acquired theoretical knowledge in a practical experience. Participation in a policy research project is a good preparation for the future work in public sector both in terms of typical tasks and most common problems these organizations face in their everyday activities.

IRPolicy Research Projects at MaxwellSchool

Preparing for the IRPolicy Research Project.

The preliminary phase takes about three months prior to the time when the students start working on the twelve-week projects.

  1. Defining the amount and personalities of faculty members who will participate in the IRpolicy research project. At this stage a person who takes the responsibility for managing the IRpolicy research project projects (a Program Manager) should find a certain amount of faculty members who would agree to supervise the students’ policy research project groups. Each faculty member may supervise several groups.
  2. Defining the potential client-organizations and establishing contacts with them. Faculty members involved in the IR policy research project are responsible for finding the organizations that could be interested in cooperation with MaxwellSchool. At this stage a faculty should also establish a contact with a certain person in the client-organization who will communicate with students and provide information. This appears to be not a simple task since the person who has time and willingness to participate in the project on behalf of organization may not possess enough competency or authority. At the same time the person who has such characteristics may be unavailable for the project.
  3. Assessing the offers of potential clients according to the IR policyresearch project goals and twelve-week time frames. Faculty members evaluate each offer in terms of its feasibility and educational outcomes. It is also important to determine whether the client is really interested in the cooperation and if he is willing to share information and resources. After that a faculty should find out whether the client can clearly define his needs and project expectations and if not—he or she has to clarify this matter. The number of potential clients should exceed the number of planned policy research projects because not all clients will finally agree to for the policy research project and not all proposed projects will gain student’s support.
  4. Writing the descriptions of the projects. This stage presupposes that faculty members prepare essays which will introduce the project themes to the students. Typically, an essay should consist of not more than 200 words and should be written in a concise manner explaining the essence of the project and the students’ task.
  5. Bringing the policy research project into classroom. In two week prior to the time when the students’ participation actually starts the essays must be given to students who have to decide which specific project they would like to take part in. This is done voluntarily by the students who provide the faculty with the information regarding their priorities (i.e., first, second, and third choices) on the proposed list of projects.
  6. Arranging students into small groups. After the faculty receives information about the students’ choice it’s time to arrange them in small groups and subscribe to particular projects. Several considerations must be mentioned here:
  7. The number of students in a group usually varies from four to ten people.
  8. If the number of students who subscribed on the same policy research project exceeds ten, then the rule of second or third priority comes into place.
  9. It’s better to avoid situations when students whose relations seem to be tense get into the same group. And vice versa it’s better to put the students whose relations are known to be friendly in one group.
  10. Eliminating unpopular policy research projects. That policy research projects that were not popular among students are eliminated from the list and may be proposed to the students next year.

Implementing the IR PolicyResearch Project.

First and Second Weeks

  1. First meeting with a client-organization. The policy research project starts with the formal meeting where students, advisor and client-organization establish the contact and clarify the matter. Client representative familiarizes students with the aim of the project and organization’s activities. During the meeting students try to:

Understand the goals the client has or problems he or she faces;

Get acquainted with the overall context;

Understand whether the task is clearly defined by the client;

Ask additional questions if necessary.

The client also provides the students with materials he or she thinks might be helpful in their research on organization’s external and internal activity. The client determines mode and time frames of communication with the group (e-mail, phone, videoconference, meeting etc.)

  1. Identifying the problem. After the client meeting students start identifying the problem (analysis of information provided by the client). At this stage students may use different techniques. One of the possible ways of identifying the problem is brainstorming where students in a free setting discuss the matter and then choose the most important issues by ranging them. Another method is to develop the informal “contract” with client to identify the sequence of actions the group should perform to reach the aims of the project.

If the client was concise and clear about his or her expectations and needs the group starts performing the research part of the project. But if further clearing is needed students arrange a new meeting with the client or reach him or her by telephone in order to receive more precise information on the matter. Typically, it takes nearly a week to clear up the project’s scope. Several problems at this stage can be outlined:

  • The client doesn’t want or is not able to answer to the majority of questions;
  • The client has changed his opinion on the problem and another survey must be provided.

To decrease the negative effect of above described problems students may consult policy research project advisor.

Next Three to Ten Weeks

  1. Providing research and analysis. After the scope of the project is clear to the group the tasks are distributed among the group members according to three basic criteria, first, their will to perform certain tasks; second, their qualifications to fulfill such tasks, and third, interpersonal relations.

Each of the tasks can be performed either by one, two or three people (rarely). During the second week students meet several times and discuss each participant’s research progress, exchange the ideas about each other’s work. Students are also engaged in primary and secondary data collection. Primary information is collected through the interviews and focus groups while the secondary data are retrieved through the internet, data bases, and books, etc.

During this period the interim presentation for client can be made if the client requires that. Presentation can be performed by means of videoconference, sent to client by e-mail, or at another client-meeting. At the end of the tenth week the students should work out conclusions and recommendations that they are going to put in their final paper. As a result both students and client confirm their agreement about research directions and about the place, time, audience and mode of final presentation.

Eleventh and Twelfth Weeks

  1. Report Writing and Presentation making. In the flow of the final two weeks, the groups are involved in report writing and preparing oral presentation for the client. Up to this point all conclusions and recommendations must be worked out. Usually there are one or two students responsible for the final text version. The final presentation takes place at the end of the eleventh or twelfth week. Although the students’ recommendations may not be turned into real action still the collaboration between students and client brings useful skills and experience to students and lets client obtain an outside view on his organization’s activity.
  2. Assessment of the students’ participation and results achieved. After the project is over the advisor provides evaluation of the work done. The client can provide his own assessment. He or she may immediately evaluate the quality of the work done by the students by expressing both positive and negative attitude to the group’s performance. He or she may also provide his assessment later on.

Opportunities and Risks of the Policy Research ProjectMethodology

Like many educational techniques, a policy research project has several opportunities, due to which it has become a widely accepted teaching method; but at the same time it also presupposes several risks, that may occur during the policy research projecttime frame.

Firstly, we would like to consider the opportunities of policy research projects.

  • Putting theoretical knowledge into practice.

The orientation of IRpolicy research projectsemphasizes the close link between theory and practice, especially in concern of solving different problems in a field of intergovernmental, governmental, and non-governmental organizations. Policy research project inquiries of both an empirical and theoretical nature may force students to brainstorm really controversial issues in order to find the best solution to the problem. That is why IR students have an opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge they have received during their previous studies and revalue their readiness to work for the targeted organizations. In order to receive information on the client’s problem, the team should collect and revise primary and secondary data, using statistical and analytical methods, and probably, the sociological methods of collecting data. IR students mightdevelop questionnaires (if needed) and make surveys in order to collect useful information from client and from other organizations, that can possibly serve as a foundation of the decision-making process or can provide students with any data needed to find a suitable solution for a client.

  • A possibility to look into intergovernmental, governmental, and non-governmental organizations from inside.

A shift to multi-organizational arrangements, as units of analysis in public sector, gives an opportunity for better understanding the performance of international organizations, governments, NGOs and private enterprises. Taking part in the policy research projects, students get acquainted with the every-day peculiarities and common procedures of the management at different levels of intergovernmental/governmental/non-governmental or business organizations in which they intend to work after graduation.

  • Getting practical skills of a professional consultant and a decision-maker.

Undoubtedly, the method of policy research projects seems to be invaluable for gaining practical experience in a decision-making process. Students take part in the real projects in circumstances when they are forced to use various skills and techniques. Besides, while working out the project students face a traditional managerial task of division of the responsibilities between the team members (in order to create sub-teams) and planning their work according to deadlines of the project. That process may cause misunderstandings among the team-members and in this case students face a task of conflict management (and even international crisis management).