Semester of Service Blog Post #2
Virginia S. Harrison, Ph.D., Clemson University
Public relations education has long touted the effectiveness of service-learning for engaging, community-focused undergraduate education. This past fall, I applied these principles to my graduate-level course in Quantitative Research Methods and believe service-learning can have similar benefits in advanced courses.
Fifteen students in my master’s level class designed research projects to help a small local nonprofit, Clemson Community Care, learn how to increase student engagement. In my undergraduate classes, I partnered with CCC to create public relations campaigns. At the graduate level, I focused on teaching research principles through addressing a client-focused research question. Here’s how the class went:
Class plan: CCC’s executive director came to class early in the semester to provide an overview of the challenges faced by the nonprofit in gathering research data. The ED articulated this information would be helpful in building donor and volunteer relationships with younger demographics. Four groups of students then identified possible variables based on her presentation. Students designed surveys to test theoretical concepts like empathy, community attachment, altruism, and transparency and how these variables impacted intentions to either donate or volunteer. Students then designed surveys to be distributed to the Clemson undergrad student body via SONA, and we cleaned, analyzed, and interpreted the data together as a class. Students then presented their studies and key findings to CCC with special emphasis on practical implications for their outreach to Clemson students. Per IRB approval, I shared de-identified data from our class with CCC.
Choice of nonprofit: CCC’s mission is to provide Clemson, S.C., community with financial assistance for housing, food, and shelter. Clemson is a rural college town, and the poverty in the community is often unseen. CCC steps in to assist when people—who often work hourly jobs at the university—cannot afford basic needs. The full-time staff of the nonprofit consists of only the executive director; clearly, she does not have time to gather data and information about potential donors and volunteers. Our class helped to fill this need and to better educate the Clemson community about the mission and work of CCC.
Outcomes: Students and CCC both benefited and learned from the research. The ED wrote, “With each project, CCC comes away with information that is invaluable to us.” Wrote one student: “I learned how to create and carry out a quantitative research study; however, I also discovered my own unawareness of serious issues in my community.” I have been nominated for an award with the Clemson Graduate School in recognition of this class.