SOC 316: Community Research Seminar    Rob Rosenthal
Spring 2002    PAC 204
M &W 2:40-4:00  Extension 2943
CAMS 3 Office Hours: Tuesday, 2:00-4:00  and by appointment

This course matches up four research proposals from community groups or agencies (chosen competitively) with four teams of four students (chosen competitively). This year's agency groups are: The Eddy Shelter (EDDY), a homeless shelter for single adults, which wants to understand why some guests are repeaters, and what services they need to retain stable non-shelter housing; Middlesex Community Access Program (MCAP), which strives to match up un- and underinsured residents with medical services,  and would like to gauge client satisfaction; the Middletown Senior Center (MTSC), which wants a study of what services Baby Boomers will want and need as they enter retirement in the next decade; and the North End Action Team (NEAT), a local organizing group which wants to poll residents of the North End regarding their preferences for parkland/open space in the new housing plan that's being developed for the North End.

1:  M  1/28   An introduction to service learning and community research

                  (First AMT meeting this week)      

ALL:
Dewey, “Experience and thinking”
Howe, “Acting and understanding”
Erlich, “The Courage to Inquire excerpt”
Howard, “Community service learning in the curriculum”
Berte & O’Neil, “Old and new models of academic service”
Nyden et al, “University-Community collaborative research”
Park, “What is participatory research?”
Kendall et al, “Journals: Diaries for growth”

2:  W  1/30   Service learning and community research, Continued

ALL:
Stoecker, “The imperfect practice of collaborative research”
Stoecker, “Are academics irrelevant?”
Horton, “The Appalachian land ownership study”
Heaney, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”
Hondagneu-Sotelo & Raskoff, “Community service-learning”
Ramsay, “Establishing agency relationships”
Ramsay, “Cultivating agency allies”
Cruz, “A challenge to the notion of service”
Reardon, “Participatory Action Research and real community...”
Gaventa, “The powerful, the powerless, and the experts”
Brodsky, “More than epistemology

3:  M  2/4   Group Reports:  EDDY and MCAP

                        (second AMT meeting this week)

EDDY:
Rosenthal, Homeless in Paradise, appendix
Rowe, Crossing the Border, Introduction & Conclusion
Doyle, “The big issues: Empowering homeless women…”
Snow et al, “Distorting tendencies in research on the homeless”
MCAP:
MCAP, “Grant Application”
Video: “MCAP”  (from RR)       
MCAP, basic pamphlet (from RR)
MTSC:
Moody, Aging, pp. 263-276 & 282-289
Hardin, “Senior centers building solid relationships”
Condren et al, “A directory of services for Meriden Senior citizens
Horne & Felton, “Senior center study”
NEAT:
McNeil, “Parks as community places,” pp. 6-15
Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, chapter 2

4:  W  2/6   Group Meeting 1 (2:40):  MTSC

                    Group Meeting 2 (3:20):  NEAT

EDDY:
Brettel, When They Read What We Write, Introduction
 Cloke et al, “Ethics, reflexivity and research”
MCAP:
CCU, Coverage Matters, Executive Summary & Chapter 1
MTSC:
Moody, Aging, pp. 163-181
Turner, “Senior center programs”
CERC, “Census 2000: Middletown”
Butler, “A new world of longevity”
NEAT:
Jacobs, Death and Life, chapters 3-5

5:  M  2/11  Group Reports: MTSC and NEAT

EDDY:
Liebow, Tell Them Who I Am,
Miller et al, “Writing and retelling multiple ethnographic…”
MCAP:
CCU, Coverage Matters, Chapters 2 & 3
MTSC:
Wasch, Home Planning for Your Later Years, chapter 1
NCOA, “National survey of health and supportive services”
NEAT:
Jacobs, Death and Life, chapter 6

6:  W  2/13  Group Meeting 1:  EDDY

                    Group Meeting 2:  MCAP

                    AMT DUE

EDDY:
Acosta & Toro, “Let’s ask the homeless people themselves”
MCAP:
CCU, Coverage Matters, chapter 4 and Appendices A& B
Baker et al, “Lack of health insurance and decline…”
MTSC:
Wasch, Home Planning, chapter 2
NCOA, “NCOA packet”
NEAT:
Dutton, New American Urbanism, pp. 11-26
Jacobs, Great Streets, pp. 2-12

7:  M  2/18  Exchange of field notes

EDDY:
VanderStaay, “Stories of (social) distress” 
Quigley et al, “Homeless in America, homeless in California”
MCAP:
ACP-ASIM, “No health insurance?”
MTSC:
Wasch, Home Planning, chapter 3
NEAT:
Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces [videotape from RR]
Calthorpe, “Excerpt from The Next American Metropolis

8:  W  2/20  Lesson in SPSS

  ALL
Babbie, “The logic of sampling”
SPSS tutorial
EDDY:
HiA* 3: Koegel et al, “The causes of homelessness”
MCAP:
ACP-ASIM, “Latino community at great risk”
MTSC:
ECAAA, “Educational opportunities for senior citizens”
AARP, “A rocky road to retirement?”
Mincer, “Female boomers answer call to nonprofit work”
Chellis & Silva, “Housing for elders”
NEAT:
Project for Public Space, “Making places not spaces”

9:  M  2/25  Group Reports: MCAP, EDDY

EDDY:
Rosenthal, Homeless in Paradise, Introduction & chapter 1
Baum & Burnes, A Nation in Denial, Introduction & chapter 1
MCAP:
ACP-ASIM, “Women are at greater risk”
MTSC:
Perls & Silver, Living to 100, chapter 5
NEAT:
Katz, The New Urbanism, pp. ix-xlii

10: W  2/27  Group Meeting 1:  NEAT

                      Group Meeting 2:  MTSC

EDDY:
Rosenthal, Homeless in Paradise, chapter 2
Baum & Burnes, A Nation in Denial, chapters 5 & 9
MCAP:
Silow-Carroll et al, “Community-based health plans…”
MTSC:
Living to 100, chapter 6
NEAT:
Katz, The New Urbanism, pp. 221-230

11: M  3/4   Reports: NEAT and MTSC

EDDY:
HiA 1: Hopper & Baumohl, “Redefining the cursed word”
HiA 5: Hardin, “Why the road off the street is not paved with jobs”
(* HiA = Baumohl (ed.), Homeless in America)
MTSC:
Living to 100, chapter 7

 12: W  3/6   Group Meeting 1: MCAP

                     Group Meeting 2: EDDY

                        JOURNAL SUMMARY #1 DUE

BREAK: Saturday March 9--Sunday March 24

 13: M  3/25  Group Process discussion

                        (update AMT with agency this week)

 14: W  3/27  Writing a report

ALL: 
Babbie, “The research report”
EDDY:
HiA 10: Shin & Weitzman, “Homeless families are different”
HiA 17: Oakley & Dennis, “Responding to the needs of…“
HiA 18: Lindblom, “Preventing homelessness”
MTSC:
Living to 100, chapter 8

15: M  4/1   Groups Reports:  EDDY and MCAP

                        UPDATED ATM DUE

EDDY:
Tessler et al,“Gender differences in self-reported…”
Russo et al, “Implicit and self-attributed dependency…”
Morris, “Chronic homelessness among working-age adults:
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 4

16: W  4/3   Group Meeting 1:  MTSC

                     Group Meeting 2:  NEAT

EDDY:
Jencks, The Homeless, chapters 3-5
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 5

17: M  4/8   Group Reports:  MTSC and NEAT

EDDY:
Jencks, The Homeless, chapters 6-8
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 6

18: W  4/10  Group Meeting 1:  EDDY

                     Group Meeting 2:  MCAP

ALL:

Boyte & Farr, “The work of citizenship and the problem…”
EDDY:
Jencks, The Homeless, chapters 9-11
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 10

19: M  4/15  Group Reports: MCAP and EDDY

                        OUTLINE DUE

EDDY:
Wright, “Service-Learning: A pedagogy to end homelessness?”
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 11

20: W  4/17  Group Meeting 1:  NEAT

                     Group Meeting 2:  MTSC

ALL:
Fisk, “The Science of Education”
Horton & Friere, We Make the Road by Walking, pp. xv-xxxvii
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapter 12

21: M  4/22  Group Reports: NEAT and MTSC

ALL:
Horton & Friere, We Make the Road by Walking, pp. 97-143
MTSC:
Butler, Why Survive? chapters 13-14

22: W  4/24  Group Meeting 1: MCAP

                     Group Meeting 2: EDDY

FIRST DRAFT DUE TO CLASS, RR/CK, and AGENCY

                  (no reading)

23: M  4/29  Oral Presentation and discussion of MCAP and EDDY drafts

ALL:

MCAP draft report

EDDY draft report

24: W  5/1   Oral presentation and discussion of MTSC and NEAT drafts

ALL:

MTSC draft report

NEAT draft report

25: M  5/6   Final Discussions

ALL:
HiA, chap 19: Rosenthal, “Dilemmas of local antihomelessness... “
Pestello et al, “Community and the practice of sociology”
Markus et al, “Integrating community service and classroom...”
Finn & Vanourek, “Charity begins at school”

        T     5/7         JOURNAL SUMMARY 2 DUE

        W  5/15  FINAL REPORT DUE


General Sources on Middletown on Reserve

Middlesex United Way, “Community Profile”
Middletown City P&Z, “Guiding the future: Plan for development for the year 2000”
Middletown City P&Z, “Guiding the future (Executive summary)”
Middletown City Municipal Development, “North End: Housing Development Zone”
Middletown Redevelopment Agency, “North End CBD Urban Renewal Plan”
United States, “Census Tract 5416 (1990)”

Assignments and Evaluation

1. Group work:

  1. An Agreement on Methodology and Timeline (AMT), due Wednesday, 2/13;
  2. An updated AMT, due Monday, 4/1;
  3. An outline of your report, due Monday, 4/15;
  4. A draft of your group report, due Wednesday, 4/24, 10% of grade;
  5. An oral presentation of your group report (MCAP and EDDY Monday, 4/29, MTSC and NEAT Wednesday, 5/1), 10% of grade.
  6. The final report, due Wednesday, 5/15, 30% of grade

 .2. Individual work:

  1. Field notes/journal entries and Journal Summaries:  You are expected to make field notes (called “journal entries” in some of the readings) each time you do any kind of work related to the class: readings, meetings, primary research, thinking about the issues, etc.  We will discuss the finer points of field notes and journal writing in class on January 28.

A copy of your notes from the week will be handed in every Monday beginning February 4.  Please type these!  Keep a copy for yourself.  The initial entries will be read and returned; later entries will be logged but not returned. You will exchange your field notes of the week with other members of the class on 2/18; you will need two copies of your notes on that day (one to hand in to me).

Field notes form the basis for your Journal Summaries.  Journal Summaries are 5 to 8 page papers in which you look back at your field notes and summarize and analyze the major issues.  They will be handed in twice: Wednesday, 3/6,  and Tuesday, 5/7.  Each will count for 10% of your grade.

  1. A self-evaluation of your work (given in class 5/6), 10% of grade;
  2. Peer evaluation (given in class 5/6), 20% of grade;

TIMELINE

M 1/28 - F 2/1             First AMT meeting with agency 

M 2/4 - F 2/8               Second AMT meeting

W 2/13                         AMT due

M 2/25 - F 3/1              Individual meetings with RR

W  3/6                           Journal Summary 1 due

Sa 3/9 - Su 3/24            Break

M 3/25 – F 3/29            Update AMT with agency

M  4/1                            Updated AMT due

M  4/15                          Outline due

W  4/24                          First draft of report due

M  4/29                           Oral presentations and discussions: EDDY, MCAP

W  5/1                             Oral presentations and discussions: MTSC, NEAT

W 5/1 – T 5/7                  Meet with RR, CK, agency to discuss first draft

T  5/7                                Journal Summary 2 due

M 5/6 – F 5/9                   Public presentations (if agency wants)

W 5/15                              Final Report due