Evaluation Plan Of The Master’s Program In Political Science
Central Michigan University (CMU) has been offering Master’s program in Political Science. The students at the department combine liberal arts with politics, while training for specific career paths. The students learn about state and local government, national institutions, public policy, political theory, global politics and international relations while gaining cultural competency through valuable knowledge of international politics and global issues. The University must annually evaluate its ability to provide a strong master’s curriculum. However, it currently has no plan. Owing to the fewer enrollments, the program is taking a certain period of hiatus. In order to revive the program, an effective evaluation is required. In that respect, the goal of this program evaluation is to identify the status of the Master’s program in political science so as to improve the quality and effectiveness of the University’s graduate offerings in political science. For this, need assessment will be conducted to understand how well the program is marketing itself to students, what draws students to the program and how it can potentially increase student enrollment through extended outreach. A small survey will be conducted among the alumni to explore their perceptions, opinions and suggestions, drawing from what they experienced being a part of the program. Likewise, survey will also cover respondents from among the undergraduates to see if they are interested in the Master’s program in political science and if they do, why and for what expectations. The professors at the department will be interviewed to explore the existing situation of the department, reasons for the decreasing number of political science students and their opinion on future steps to take to make the program sustainable.
Background
The Master of Arts program in Political Science at Central Michigan University is designed for students who are planning to pursue further graduate education and for students who, for reasons of career enhancement or specialized training for employment, are seeking a Master’s degree as their ultimate goal. The Department provides students with rigorous academic training in the discipline and offers students the option to specialize either in the study of American Politics or Comparative Politics and International Relations. This preparation enables CMU graduates to be competitive when applying to Ph.D. programs, law schools or other graduate programs. In addition, CMU MA graduates will be well-prepared for a wide range of other careers, including federal, state and local government, the Foreign Service, teaching at the community college or high school level, and careers in the private sector. Apart from that, political science studies can broaden perspectives of students, expanding their level of understanding about international relations and international development politics. The professors believe that the political science prepares students for the “lifelong learning” and “effective citizenship”.
The Master of Arts in Political Science program at CMU strives to reach the following goals:• Educating students about the diversity of models, approaches, and intellectual traditions within political science• Training students in the appropriate research skills necessary to complete their scholarly objectives• Developing students’ ability to critically analyze and evaluate scholarly work• Fostering students’ ability to think critically and effectively express their thoughts in written and oral communication• Encouraging and mentoring students’ professional growth through research and presentations at professional conferences• Providing opportunities to network within the field of study through internships, honorary organizations, and on-campus events• Preparing students for entrance into Ph.D. programs in political science or law school• Preparing students to enter public service• Preparing students to teach more effectively in primary and secondary education and at community colleges.
The university must annually evaluate its ability to provide a strong master’s curriculum. However, it currently has no plan. Owing to the less enrollment, the program is taking a certain period of hiatus. In order to revive the program, an effective evaluation is required. A formative component to the evaluation makes suggestions for improving an existing program.
Furthermore, program evaluation results that are disappointing may spur further research, followed by program tinkering or even radical reform in an effort to establish improvements.
Research Questions
The student’s enrollment at the department has decreased. One of the previous review reports suggests that the MA program must increase enrollment, to continue or else it faces termination. The department is currently taking a hiatus. With the less number of students showing interest towards the political science, the department must identify the existing loopholes and revise the program models to reach out to the wider audiences.
- Does the Master’s program in Political Science fulfill its set goals?
- Why is the student enrollment at political science department low?
- How can/ should the department restructure its program in order to increase the enrollment rate?
Research Design
For the evaluation, need assessment will be conducted to understand how well the program is marketing itself to students, what draws students to the program and how it can potentially increase student enrollment. The evaluation will undertake a mixed method approach, involving both qualitative and quantitative tools.
One Group Evaluation Design
The team will survey the Alumnis. Alumnis are the treated group while MA course is our treatment. We will seek answer to: Has the alumni of political science graduating from CMU received jobs or PHD programs six months after graduating?
X O1, where X refers to MA course and O refers to the outcome. Alongside this, we will also be surveying the undergraduates for the references to know if they are interested to pursue Master’s degree at CMU.
Underlying Threats
Maturation: The team identifies maturation as a threat because there could be external factors contributing for the students to get a job. For instance: If the students attended the job trainings or workshops after graduating from CMU, if they got hired by the organization because of their parent’s or relative’s recommendations. We will try minimizing the threat by getting as much information as possible while surveying.
Survey
The survey questions will be developed and circulated through Google forms to the alumnis. The information on 65 alumnis have been received from the professor and we will also contact Alumni House (Development) to see if we can find more information. The survey forms to the undergraduates will be circulated during their class of Dr. Adhikari ensuring anonymity.
Key Informant Interview (KII)
Key Informant Interviews (KII) will contribute in recording perception, opinion and suggestions of the professors. Semi-structured interview will probe mainly into different factors of the department, the curriculum, coordination with other department members and ownership realized by the university towards longer term sustainability. KIIs will also provide an opportunity for in-depth exploration of the context, which will eventually enhance the understanding of the context. Key informants for this study will be department chairperson, professors among others. Interview schedule (semi-structured checklist) will be developed by in coordination with Dr. Kukla.
Secondary documents review
The team will review the previous evaluation reports and review documents. Secondary review of existing documents, policies, progress reports, monitoring reports will help the team not only understand the past context, but it will also provide bases of grounding for questionnaire and checklist development.
Quantitative data analysis
Quantitative data will be collected through online platforms, possibly Google form. Dataset will be exported and analyzed on SPSS. Data will be segregated along the relevant attributes, such as to enrich the depth of analysis and interpretation of findings. Upon cleaning the data on SPSS, comparative analysis tool such as correlation will be run. This will help us identify correlation among curriculum at CMU and the job they are enrolled in, curriculum at CMU and PHD program they are currently involved in.
Apart from that, descriptive analyses (frequency testing, cross-tabulations) will be used to analyze and interpret the trend of findings. Interpretation of quantitative data will be used to substantiate the findings of qualitative consultations, and vice-versa.
Thematic analysis
Debriefing and reflection will be done by team members on different levels. De-briefing will be held among the members on a regular basis while working on the evaluation to interpret the findings. Upon the completion of data collection, debriefing session, findings from KIIs and secondary data review will be discussed and synthesized. Grounded theory approach will be used to analyze the data gathered through KIIs. The textual data will be analyzed using thematic analysis, a method used for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within the data. This includes theme-based theory generation and interpretation of phenomenon backed by findings, examples and justifications. The themes like satisfaction from the course, job choices, academic will be developed. The interpretation of qualitative findings will be backed by survey results, and vice versa. Narrative passages will be used to interpret and determine the meaning of themes and patterns.
Proposed presentation and Utilization
The graduate assistants for Dr. Adhikari have been working to revise the program structure. This evaluation report will provide an opportunity for faculty and administrators to obtain insights regarding the level of excellence of the programs. Information about the strengths and weaknesses of programs will be identified.
