SYLLABUS FOR PPA
500 – PROJECT SEMINAR
DEPARTMENT
OF PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
Coordinating
Professor: Bob Waste
E-Mail: wasterj@csus.edu
Office: Room 3036, Tahoe Hall
Office Phone: (916) 278 - 4944
Cell Phone (916) 804-8185
Facilitating Professors: Miguel Cejá,
Ted Lascher, and Bob Waste
Contact each Professor individually for office availability
Course
Held: Thursday, 6:00 – 8:50 p.m., Tahoe 1002
I. Required
Reading Material:
- CSUS Guide For Thesis Format, Latest
Edition, Office of Research and Graduate Studies, CSUS, available free on web
at http://www.csus.edu/gradstudies/forms/Thesis.pdf;
- A
Pocket Style Manual, 2000, Diana Hacker, Third Edition, Bedford Books; available
for purchase at bookstore or on web at Amazon.Com
(Many PPA students have already purchased this for an earlier class.
- Writing
Literature Reviews, 2004, Second Edition, Jose Galvin, Pyrczak Publishing;
available for purchase at bookstore or on web at Pyrczak
Publishing. (Many PPA students have already purchased this for an earlier
class).
II. Suggested Reading Material:
- For
benefit-cost analysis approaches - Cost-Benefit Analysis for Public Sector
Decision Makers, Diana Fugitt and Shanton Wilcox. 1999. Westport, CT: Quorum
Books. (Many PPA students have already purchased this book or a course pack assembled
by Professor Rob Wassmer for an earlier class). See also, Environmental and
Natural Resource Economics, Steven Hackett. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe,
1998.
- For best practices approaches - Benchmarking
for Best Practices in the Public Sector. Patricia Keehley, Steven Medlin,
Sue MacBride, and Laura Longmire. Josey Bass Public Administration series.
- For
CAM Analysis and Bardach approaches - A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis:
The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving, Eugene Bardach, Chatham
House - for CAM Analysis approaches, available for purchase at bookstore or on
web at Amazon.Com;
also available free at http://www.puaf.umd.edu/courses/puaf790/bardach.pdf
(Many PPA students have already purchased this for an earlier class).
- For
case study approaches - Case Study Research: Designs and Methods, 3rd edition
(Sage Publications paperback) available at the bookstore or at http:www.Sagepub.com.
- For case study approaches. (Many PPA students have already purchased this for
an earlier class).
- For logic model approaches - see http://www.the2professors.com/Logic%Models.htm
or the Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide at: http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub3669.PDF.
- For
program evaluation approaches - Evaluation, 5th Edition. Peter Rossi.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. For this and all of the approaches above,
see also, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches,
2nd. Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- For
regression approaches – Using Econometrics: A Practical Guide, Studemund,
Boston, MA: Addison Wesley Longman; Multiple Regression: A Primer, Paul Allison.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; SPSS Base 11.0 (Graduate Pack); and
An SPSS Companion to Political Analysis. Washington, DC: CQ Press (Many
PPA students have already purchased these books for an earlier class).
- For
survey research approaches - The Survey Kit, 2nd Edition. Arlene
Fink. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
III.
Thesis and Report Examples
The following are good studies, and
solid examples of professional policy or organizational analysis reports.
Wassmer et al.:
An Analysis of Subsidies and Other Options to Expand the Productive End Use of
Scrap Tires in California
Legates:
The Region is the Frontier
Moore, Shulock,
and Lang: “Funding Adult Education: Does California Put the Money Where the Needs
Are?”
Price-Stogsdill: Should
the California Legislature Redefine the Meaning of Blight?
Robilliard:
Evaluation of Social Service Agencies in Sacramento County
IV. Logistical
Details & Words of Advice
I strongly recommend that all readings
be purchased in the semester break before classes begin. Get a head start on readings
and assignment. When a reading assignment for a particular class meeting
is given, the text should be brought to the class meeting.
Internet
Access: Access to the Internet is also required for this class. If you
do not have it at work or home, access is provided to students at the university
library. Some of the links given here require the use of a Sac Link account
to access.
Objective: This course provides faculty
and peer guidance in preparation of material to satisfy the Master’s project requirement.
This includes clarification of general program expectations, familiarization with
research resources, presentation of models of effective policy and administrative
analytical reports, and provision of basic support in a structured environment
of feedback.
Method: Each class session will include
interactive work sessions involving students reporting on progress and problem
solving with peer feedback and consultation. Students are required to complete
all assignments and consult with their project committee throughout the semester.
I would estimate that besides the 3 hours of classroom time required each week,
this course will require an additional minimum of 10 hours a week of work outside
of the classroom. This amount is likely to grow larger in the final weeks
of the semester.
Prerequisite: To enroll in this course
you must have completion of all but one of the courses in the Public Policy and
Administration Program [PPA 200, 205, 207, 210, 220A, 220B, 230, 240 (or 240A
and 240B if appropriate), plus two electives] with at least a B- in each course
and an average grade of B or better in all. Accordingly, students cannot enroll
in PPA 500 until their last semester of course work and are no longer allowed
to take more than one course (other than an internship course) in addition to
PPA 500. It is also necessary to have advanced to candidacy before enrolling
in PPA 500. The department chair is authorized to modify these restrictions
(but not the advancement to candidacy mandate, which is a University requirement)
in exceptional circumstances.
PPA 500B Rest in Peace: There
is no longer a formal second semester of PPA 500. Students will now
need to take PPA 500 (in the manner presented here) a second time if they fail
to complete an acceptable Master’s project in one semester or within the break
following the semester.
Primary/Secondary Advisors: All
students are required to identify primary and secondary advisors who have agreed
to supervise and assist in the completion of the assignments required for this
class. A form for that purpose (due in week 2) is included at end of this syllabus.
A primary advisor can be drawn from Professors Cejá, Gerth, Hodson, Jensen, Kirlin,
Lascher, Moulds, Shulock, Wassmer, and Waste. A secondary advisor can be
chosen from among this same group, part-time PPA instructors Detwiler and Booher,
and other part and full-time professors and instructors at CSUS.
I
suggest you work on developing your thesis question and lining up your advisors
in the winter break preceding the class. It is essential that you secure
the permission of your desired advisors early. If a primary advisor already
has their share of thesis supervision they will suggest another PPA professor
that you should contact.
You should be in weekly contact with your primary
advisor throughout the semester. All the assignments listed here are to
be given to them on the due dates given. Your advisor will get comments
back to you by the next week’s meeting. Individual arrangements should be
made with your secondary advisor on the specific amount of contact to occur during
the semester, but all assignments should also be shared with that person and a
meeting with the secondary advisor should occur at least once a month. Remember
that both your primary and secondary advisors must sign off on your final product.
It is essential that they be both be “kept in the loop” throughout the semester.
Research
Partner: Each student will be paired with another who will serve as a
partner in the quest to finish the thesis. Besides their primary and secondary
advisors, this partner will serve as a sounding board, confidant, and a third
set of eyes to read all that is written. This is meant to be a reciprocal
relationship where your help will be equally rewarded by the help of another.
Please secure this person’s signature also on the sheet attached to syllabus.
Format of Class Meetings: This course will meet initially
a total of 6 times from 6 to 8:50 p.m. on Thursday night from Jan. 27th to April
17th. We will meet in additional class sessions on an as-needed basis. It
is essential that you attend all class meetings. Some meetings have writing
and oral presentation assignments that should be completed before class meetings.
This is absolutely not a lecture-based course. The format of most classes
will be student-based discussion on specific concerns that students have at the
current stage of their work. All students are required to participate in
these discussions and should come prepared to class each week with a summary of
progress in the previous week, and questions/concerns that need to be addressed.
Expect to be called on each week to make such a report.
Flexibility
in Seminar Products: The faculty recognizes that there is a need to maintain
flexibility with respect to the order and nature of thesis components. While we
have included a default ordering in the syllabus, this approach may not work for
all people. For example, some people may be well served by postponing development
of a thesis introduction until they have completed other parts of the document.
You should work out any such modifications with your Primary Advisor for your
Culminating Project.
IV. Schedule:
The
following schedule lists the major topics covered each week and the assigned reading
that accompanies them, as well as an assignment that is due that week. A
list will be forthcoming of professors who will be leading each class after the
first four weeks. The professors in the classroom each week will only act
as facilitators of student-based discussions. They will not collect assignments.
These are to be turned into your primary and secondary (if they request) advisors.
I reserve the right to make minor changes and additions to the following schedule.
Session 1 - Jan. 27th - Professors Cejá,
Lascher & Waste
- Assignment
Due: One-page memo defining the research problem to be addressed in your Project.
This may be an updated version of the thesis overview you sent Professor Lascher
in mid-January, or the same version if you have not made further progress.
- 1.
Rules and Regulations
- Read: Memo on New Culminating Project
Guidelines
- 2. Campus Requirements for Format, Style & Human
Subject Research
- Read: CSUS Guide for Thesis
Format, and PPA Department Human Subjects guidelines available on line at:
http://www.csus.edu/mppa/human_subjects/document.pdf
- 3.
What is "Mastery" in MPPA Master's Projects? A Quick Overview
TABLE
I.
Successful Master's Projects Exhibit Mastery
at Four Distinct Levels: - A graduate-level mastery of
the professional scholarly literature
appropriate to the subject at hand.
- A
graduate-level mastery of the appropriate method of inquiry to be utilized
in the inquiry at hand (for example: benefit-cost analysis, benchmarking and best practices
research, Bardach 8 Step or CAM analysis, case study methodology, logic model
analysis, OD (organizational development), program evaluation, regression analysis,
or survey research.
- A graduate level application of that method
of inquiry to the inquiry at hand.
- A graduate level analysis
of the policy implications and the potential contribution to the professional
literature and convention policy/program/administrative wisdom implied by the
study at hand
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A Quick Orientation
to the MPPA Project - What is the proper research and analytical framework
for MPPA Projects? - Welcome to the Diverse World of MPPA Culminating Projects
SUGGESTED SIX-SECTION
OUTLINE FOR PPA PROJECT Below are two ways - cleverly labeled "Plan
A" and "Plan B" - to think about the organization of the MPPA Project.
Plan A is our traditional Bardach-oriented six-section format. Plan B is
an alternative developed for Culminating Projects that do not easily lend themselves
to the Bardach 6 section approach. You should work out the specific format of
your thesis with your principal advisor. Five to ten pages are the suggested
lengths for each section. The format that follows below in Table II has emerged
as the standard or typical pattern for an MPPA Culminating Project. A second format,
which has also proven successful, is included below as Table III.
TABLE II. Plan
A - - THE CONVENTIONAL BARDACH CULMINATING PROJECT
APPROACH
Section 1: DEFINE THE PROBLEM - Specific problem
Larger
context and background
Others' experiences
Literature review - Section
2: ENVIRONMENT
- Political environment and constraints
egal
mandates and issues
Economic factors
Social issues - Section
3: ALTERNATIVES
- Analyze causes of problem
Define the
variables inherent in alternatives
Reduce and simplify number of alternatives - Section
4: CRITERIA
- Select and justify criteria for evaluating
alternatives (e.g. cost/benefit, equity, political feasibility, accountability)
Relative
weighting of criteria
Methodology - Section 5: ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES
- Project
outcomes of all alternatives
Analyze outcomes in terms of
criteria
Summarize and contrast alternatives
Confront the trade-offs - Section
6: RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSIONS
- Tailor recommendation
to proper audience/clients
Long-term versus short-term issues
Pay attention
to implementation
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TABLE
III.
Plan B: *
SUGGESTED
FIVE-SECTION OUTLINE FOR PPA PROJECT | | Section
1 | Overview of Your Project/Problem/Inquiry
| | Section
2 | Literature Review, including a chart showing:- "prevailing
views" within the existing literature or
- reports illustrating the
"conventional wisdom, including "schools of thought
| | Section
3 | Explanation of Methodology & Application
of that Method to the subject of inquiry. | | Section
4 | Findings, Explanation of Results | | Section
5 | Conclusion: Policy Implications &
Contributions to the Literature - What are the policy implications
of your findings?
- Are they obvious but trivial, obvious but important,
non-obvious but trivial, neither obvious nor trivial?
- Do they confirm,
or disconfirm the prevailing conventional wisdom in this area? Why or why not?
| LENGTH:
Each section should be 5-10 pages. Overall length should be 50-60 pages.
_____________________________________________ *
For Culminating Projects that do not lend themselves to the Bardach-oriented Six
Section Outline for PPA Projects described in Table B, above.
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Session
2 - February 3rd - Professor Waste Assignment
Due: 1) An up-dated version
of your project summary, including an identification of the academic literature
and/or professional research reports appropriate to your subject. This new summary
should be no more than two pages in length. We are expecting that in general students
will cite at least 10 sources, although a smaller number may be appropriate for
particular types of thesis projects. 2)
Bring in a completed copy of the form included in Appendix A, below, "Thesis
Question, Advisors' and Research Partner's Signatures." Read:
1. For the problem identification section - A Practical
Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving,
Eugene Bardach. On web free at http://www.puaf.umd.edu/courses/puaf790/bardach.pdf.
For week 2, see "Step One: Define the Problem" pp. 1-10, and Appendix
C, "Defining the Problem," p. 133. 2.For the literature review
section - Writing Literature Reviews, 2004, Second Edition, Jose
Galvin, Pyrczak Publishing (entire).
The following
professional report and thesis examples may help your thinking at this
point: Wassmer et al.:
An Analysis of Subsidies and Other Options to Expand the Productive End Use of
Scrap Tires in California Legates:
The Region is the Frontier Moore, Shulock,
and Lang: “Funding Adult Education: Does California Put the Money Where the Needs
Are?” Price-Stogsdill: Should
the California Legislature Redefine the Meaning of Blight? Session
3 - February 11 - Professor Waste Assignment
Due: A final version of your project summary, including a presentation of the
methodology you plan to use as well as any revisions to the types of literature
you plan to review. This final project summary should be no more than three pages
in length. Be prepared to defend your
topic, literature selection and methodological and data selection. When considering
methodological issues, it is strongly recommended that students consult
one or more of the previously listed sources as a guide to appropriate methodological
approaches to be used in your Project.
Session
4 - February 18th – Professors Cejá, Lascher, Waste. Other PPA faculty will also
be invited to attend this session. Assignment Due:
Be
prepared to present a 10 minute Power Point presentation summarizing progress
to date, key assumptions in the literature on your Project topic, your methodological
approach & data source(s), and your findings and progress to date. A faculty
panel will give you spirited feedback on your Project as outlined in your Power
Point presentation.
Session
5 - February 25th – Professor Cejá & Lascher Assignment
Due: Bring in a calendar timeline with tasks and completion dates outlining how
you will complete your MPPA Project by the end of this semester.
Session
6 – Week 11, April 17th – Formal Project Presentations – Professors
Cejá, Lascher & Waste Assignment
Due: Each student will present his/her Project findings and recommendations. Based
on this presentation, the faculty will make a formal determination certifying
that you are making Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory Progress to date in the MPPA
Project.
Other
Important Dates: | - March 1, 2005 - Deadline
for graduate students to apply for graduation
- (for either
Spring '05 or Summer '05 graduation dates).
| - Feb.
28-March 4th - Review your Methodological Section draft with
- your
Primary Reader.
| | March 28-31 Review your Findings
Section with your Primary Reader. | - April 17, 2005
Assignment Due: 10 minute PowerPoint Presentation
- of
Project & Findings
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PPA
500 Calendar with "Deliverables" Listed: Feb.
3rd Refined one-page
memo due containing the following MPPA Project ingredients:
1.
Define your research problem; and
2. Identify the academic literature
and/or professional research reports appropriate to your topic area (a
minimum of 10 sources required for this assignment)
Feb.
11
Further refined one page MPPA Project Prospectus due
including
1. Explain the thesis of your Project.
2. Describe
the literature to be examined in your Project.
3. Describe and defend
your methodological approach and data source(s)
Feb.
18th 10 minute Power Point presentation of progress to
date, lit review, methodology, data sources and initial findings. Also submit
"Thesis Question, Advisors' and Research Partner's Signature" form Due
to PPA Chair Ted Lascher
Feb. 17th Calendar
timeline with tasks/completion dates outlining how you will complete your
MPPA Project by the end of this semester Due. What are your biggest challenges?
Present a realistic & detailed week by week completion schedule.
Feb.
25th Draft of Sections 1 & 2 (Introduction &
Lit Review Sections) Due
Feb. 28-March 4th Review
Methodological Section draft with Primary Advisor
March
1, 2005 Deadline for graduate students to apply for graduation
(for either Spring '05 or Summer '05 graduation dates)
March
28-31 Review Findings Section draft with Primary Reader
April
18-21 Review Policy Implications Section draft with Primary
Reader
May 12, 2005 10 minute
PowerPoint Presentation of MPPA Project & Findings Due
May
20, 2005 Master’s Project Due in Graduate Office (Graduation
Spring 2005)
August 26, 2005 Master’s
Project Due in Graduate Office (Graduation Summer 2005)
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APPENDIX
A PPA 500 Spring
2005 Thesis Question, Advisors’
and Research Partner’s Signatures (Due
to PPA Chair, Dr. Ted Lascher, February 17, 2005 & in the PPA) Student’s
Name:
Thesis
Question:
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Primary Advisor’s Signature:
Secondary
Advisor’s Signature:
Research Partner’s Signature:
BACK
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