Research Project

Research Project 

District 4 Commissioner 

Lisa Cupid

All students will be required to submit a written report on the project. The final project report should be 9 pages in length (1 inch margin; double-spaced, 12 font Times New Roman), and should clearly include the following sections which should be clearly demarcated as different subheadings in the report (if I cannot easily locate the different sections below, you will lose points): 

(1) Introduction (around half a page) 
Here you should explain the purpose and goals of the project, the name of the selected governmental agency, and the name and rank of the interviewee; 

(2) Description of Organization (2 pages) 
Here you need to provide a good description of the selected organization, including its mission and vision, personnel size, budget, etc. You will probably find many of these details from the organizational website or from the Annual Reports of the organization. The Annual Reports may be available online; if not, you can ask for a copy during the interview. 

(3) Interviewee profile (around half a page) 
Here you need to provide a profile of the person(s) interviewed (e.g. gender, credentials, work experience, job responsibilities, etc.) 

(4) Findings of the project (around 4 pages) 

In this section you need to discuss the findings of the project, based on your interview with the public official, your observations of the work place, and your reading of background documents on the organization. 
This section should also detail the following regarding the topic being investigated (from a policy analysis perspective):

1. Definition and framing of the policy problem 
2. Key stakeholders (individuals and groups) for the issue 
3. Gathering of evidence (the data and their source)
4. The possible alternatives
5. The criteria selected for the policy choice
6. Outcome projection
7. A determination of trade-offs
8. Policy choice
9. Policy implementation and evaluation
10. A critical analysis of the process of policy-making studied
11. Your recommendations based on what you have learnt about policy-making
 
(5) Analysis and Recommendations [in the form of a policy memorandum] (2 pages) 

Students need to submit their analysis and recommendations in the form of a policy memorandum (with correct formatting for a policy memorandum). Here you need to provide a critical analysis of the findings and recommendations for more effective public policy-making. Your analysis of the topic should clearly demonstrate an application of concepts and theories learned in class, and you should refer to the relevant assigned articles.
 
(6) Conclusion [Reflective Thinking] (1 page) 
Before you write the conclusion, I ask that you take a few minutes to think about the answers that you provided for the Introductory Quiz, and then reflect on how your answers have changed over the course of the semester. 
Then you need to write about how this course and this project have helped further your understanding of public policy analysis. Moreover, you need to discuss what you learned from this project. 
(7) Bibliography 
You need to cite all sources referenced in your paper (use the Author-date format and be consistent throughout the paper). Do not engage in plagiarism (see below for more details on what constitutes plagiarism). 
(8) Annex – Interview Questions

Please number all pages in the project report.