EAGER: The Carbondale Study: A Model for Student and Community Engagement in Research

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale IL

Investigators

Abstract

The traditional model of academic work is built on three pillars: 1) active production of new research on scientific and creative work, 2) diffusion of disciplinary knowledge through teaching, and 3) active engagement with and service to public audiences. Nevertheless, universities and colleges are criticized for supporting academic "silos" and "ivory towers" that prevent blending these three pillars into coherent, impactful programs. This project introduces a practical model into political science for combining research, pedagogical, and service missions into a single project. Our model draws on three basic principles. First, the project is intentionally interdisciplinary in order to break "silos" of departments and to draw on the insight of multiple disciplines in policy-relevant research. Second, students are explicitly included in the project through class enrollment that requires participation in data collection and analysis, both to enlighten pedagogical material and acquire practical skills. Finally, the research topic is grounded in local issues that are of interest to citizens and stakeholders. It is specifically focused on concerns that are on the local agenda, providing new information about public opinion into the debate. Two research questions provide the substantive and methodological anchor of this project: What is the impact of local stakeholders and citizens in local policy issues? And, what do these impacts tell us about broader policy processes? Our research design calls for collection of data on 1) the network of local stakeholders and 2) a random sample of local citizens. The data will be used to understand how horizontal power (connections among stakeholders, connections among citizens) and vertical power (connects between citizens and elites) relates to policy discussion. We will examine how these connections operate in the context of five policy areas of interest to the community: economic development, race and pollution, crime and policing, access to health care, and town-gown relations. Students will gather data via in-person survey; local policy-makers will be consulted on the survey to ensure relevance to the community. The project will have deliverables that include academic publishing, presentations to local organizations, and student theses and dissertations. This project will gather a unique data set on how social connections intersect with individual traits to produce attitudes on local policy issues. This data will yield systematic measures of social networks of stakeholders and citizens, as well as links between the two groups. Such measures allow us to examine the representation of both groups in policy debates, as well as the underlying impact of social structure on amplifying or muting particular voices in policy discussion.