McGregor Fellowship Program: 2002 Faculty Project Proposals

“Country at the Crossroads: The Geography of Eritrea”
Jonathan Bascom, Geography

Qualifications:

• Knowledge of, and training in, geography; that is, the completion of World Regional Geography (GEOG 110) and preferably, additional course work in geography.
• Maturity and flexibility to travel and conduct research in a cross-cultural setting (i.e., receptivity to other cultures, interest in Africa, and strong people skills).
• Willingness to perhaps make some financial contribution to the travel costs.  (The faculty member's department will contribute a portion of the airfare and every effort will be made by the faculty member to cover the student's additional costs.  However, the student may need to contribute frequent flier tickets or help defray living costs in Eritrea.)

“Measurement and Correlates of the Helping Relationship in Child Protection”
Fred De Jong (with Peter De Jong), Sociology, Social Work & Criminal Justice

One of the most difficult challenges in social work is intervention with mandatory clients, and child protection is one of the most emotionally charged settings in which to attempt to establish a helping relationship.   The professional literature and mass media are replete with examples of the tragic consequences to children when the helping relationship is not established and such intervention fails.  This proposal requests support for a McGregor Fellow to participate in the testing, revision and publication of the first instrument ever designed to assess the dimensions and quality of the helping relationship between caseworkers and child protection clients.  The McGregor Fellow will support analysis of recently collected data which allow the comparison of worker and client perceptions of 95 mandated relationships. 

The Fellow will work closely with faculty and learn how to analyze these data, and be part of faculty team producing a new relationship scaling tool for the social work profession.  Fellow activities include a time of training and orientation, updating an existing literature review, doing SPSS data base management and data analysis and coding open-ended survey responses.  By the end of the Fellowship period, the Fellow will prepare a written draft of findings to date which will be useful for the inclusion/adaptation in a publishable paper.  The Fellow may be designated a co-author in a peer-reviewed article for publication depending on the degree of independent work and contribution to the final product.  In addition, the Fellow will be listed as co-author with faculty mentors in a conference paper presentation abstract for the national Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education.  If accepted, the student will be invited to be a co-presenter.

Qualifications:

• Major area of study in social work, and an interest in research and child protection
• Working familiarity with library search engines and Internet search strategies
• Completed Soc./SoWk 255: Introduction to Statistics and Design, and Soc./SoWk 320: Social Research Methods, or the equivalent
• Proficient in SPSS
• Proficient in qualitative data coding techniques
• Experienced in writing research reports/technical writing
• Proficient in the creation of statistical charts and graphs in SPSS

“The Rhetoric of Theatre and Christianity"
Debra Freeberg, Communication Arts & Sciences

This project involves the collection and transfer of published and unpublished articles, conference papers, addresses, interviews, and images related to the subject of theatre and the Christian faith.  In this first phase of the project, a theatre web archive site will be created and data entered—culled from professional theatres, individual artists, and organizations like Christians in Theatre Arts.

In addition to entering pre-existing material in the archive, the student will conduct his or her own research project investigating the relationship between the Christian Reformed Church and theatre.  The student will use archives in Heritage Hall, information from the Christian Reformed Headquarters, and other library sources to complete this task.  Moreover, the student will be asked to conduct primary source interviews with select theatre professionals and scholars.  Outcomes will include a presentation at the CCCU Faculty Development Seminar on Theatre in July 2003, and a co-authored paper for Christian Scholars Review.

Qualifications:

• The student should be self-motivated
• Savvy with computers
• Adept at Web design programs such as Fireworks and Dreamweaver
• Able to relate to people in the conduct of interviews
• Able to think and write extremely well

“Democracy and Conflict: abortion debates, WTO protests, and community meetings as case studies in agonal engagement"
Simona Goi, Political Science

This project will involve a student in researching three case studies that will become part of a book on democratic theory.  The three cases include the protests that took place at the WTO meeting in Seattle in November 1999, the formal conversations between pro-choice and pro-life activists under the sponsorship of the Project Public Conversations, and the public meetings that took place in Grand Rapids as part of the Wealthy-Jefferson Community Development Initiative in January of 2002. 

The student will compile as accurate and complete an account as possible of what happened during each of these events, what groups were involved, what positions they supported, what actions they carried out, how the authorities and/or the security forces responded, and case studies in political protest with a broader theory of democratic engagement as inherently conflictual (agonal), rather than driven by the need for consensus.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated research skills (successful completion of major research projects)
• Familiarity with both electronic and traditional research venues
• Good organizational abilities (in terms of managing large quantities of information)
• A capacity to analyze and present information with both accuracy and efficiency. 
• The student needs to be self-motivated
• Familiarity with the discipline of Political Science
• Well-honed writing skills

“President Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives”
Douglas Koopman

The overall project is to study the "faith‑based initiatives" proposed by President George W. Bush.  The initiatives are in two separate groups—one group promotes greater interaction between government and religious service providers in grants and contracts, and the other group changes tax and liability laws to increase giving incentives. The project examines the political, legislative, administrative, and social science aspects of the initiative, culminating in a book to be completed in academic year 2002‑2003.

The student Fellow will focus on the legislative history of the initiative in the House and Senate.  The primary tasks will be to help finish writing a chapter on House consideration and essentially co‑write the Senate chapter.  It is also expected that the Fellow will have some time to write approximately ten short biographies of key actors in the debate, and approximately ten brief descriptions of some faith‑based organizations, to be used as special interest items in the book.  If time permits, the Fellow might have the opportunity to review and help improve other chapters written by other scholars.  Drafts of the chapters on House and Senate consideration will be presented at academic conferences in which the Fellow may participate in late summer 2002, or later in the fall.

Qualifications:

• The Fellow must be a very good writer and editor
• She/he should also be a good communicator, willing and able to critique the writing of college faculty
• She/he must possess good and creative research skills—good because the research must be thorough, creative because some information may be difficult to obtain through normal channels
• The Fellow must be very well organized
• She/he should also have a sense of humor (including a tolerance (if not appreciation) for the humor of others)

“Development of EEG Laboratory Exercises for Psychology”
Paul Moes (with Donald Tellinghuisen), Psychology

The McGregor Fellow will be assisting Dr. Moes and Dr. Tellinghuisen in developing a newly acquired Electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory for use in both classroom-based instruction and student-faculty collaborative research.  In addition, the student will assist in writing and preparing laboratory exercises for use in two psychology courses. The student will also participate in ongoing research projects being conducted by both mentors.  These projects will involve the use of computer software (i.e., SuperLab) to display stimuli and measure two types of responses: behavioral (reaction time) and electrical (using the EEG equipment).  The study will be designed to assess the way in which the left-right brain hemispheres interact.  Dr. Moes will serve as primary mentor, with collaboration from Dr. Tellinghuisen. 

The purpose of this project is to develop technical expertise, and skills in research methods and communication (written, oral, and interpersonal).   Finally, the student will assist the faculty members in analyzing the results of the research project, reviewing relevant literature and preparing a presentation for a regional student conference (such as the Michigan Undergraduate Psychology Conference).

Qualifications:

• Courses completed: Statistics (required), Experimental Psychology (desired), Physiological or Cognitive Psychology (desired)
• Planning to apply to graduate school in Psychology, Biology or Neuroscience (desired)
• Familiarity with SPSS/PC (desired)
• General proficiency with computer software (word processors, library searches, etc.)
• Demonstrated ability to work independently (desired)

“The Global Politics of AIDS: The Impact of African States on UN Actions”
Amy Patterson, Political Science

As the global region most impacted by AIDS, Africa has an interest in shaping how the international community addresses the epidemic. Yet, Africa is also the most powerless region, lacking economic development, political cohesion, or military might. Given this situation, how have African states shaped the formation of a global consensus on AIDS? To answer this question, this project will examine the strategies used by African states during the 2001 United Nations (UN) Special Session on AIDS.

Research will consist of examining UN documents and African news articles about the conference and, if time permits, interviewing UN representatives from Africa. To summarize findings from the UN documents and the African articles, the student researcher will write brief research reports. In doing so, the student researcher will gain experience planning a research agenda, synthesizing large amounts of data, analyzing the importance of political factors in addressing global problems, and organizing empirical evidence. Finally, the student researcher will learn important research skills by writing interview questions and structuring interviews.

Qualifications:

• Must be comfortable using the internet to search for documents
• Must be able to read and synthesize large amounts of information relatively quickly
• Needs strong analytical abilities and the capability to pay attention to detail while not losing sight of larger themes
• Because this project requires much reading, the student will need to be highly motivated and will need to take the initiative on the research agenda
• The student will need to feel comfortable working independently on the project and suggesting new research avenues or questions as the project unfolds
• The student need not be a Political Science major

“Unity versus Division: An Analysis of the CRC and RCA Over the Past Quarter Century”
Corwin Smidt, The Paul Henry Institute and Political Science

1. A comparison of the theological beliefs of clergy within the CRC with the theological beliefs of the laity within the CRC,
2. A comparison of the theological beliefs of clergy within the RCA with the theological beliefs of the laity within the RCA,
3. A comparison of the theological beliefs of clergy in the CRC with the theological beliefs of clergy in the RCA, and
4. A comparison of the theological beliefs of laity within the CRC with the theological beliefs of laity in the RCA.

Qualifications:

• The student should possess a personal interest in the general topic
• She/he should already have some acquaintance with the knowledge of Reformed life and doctrine
• She/he should have experience with research methods and, more specifically, with SPSS

“Investigating the Letters and Diaries of Females in Dutch Settlements West of the Mississippi”
John Timmerman, English

The opening of the west during the Homestead Acts signaled an abrupt change in the roles of women—wives, single women, and young women.  Instead of looking back to the Old Country, they were now displaced to a singular new land.  And this time, their letters and diaries were directed toward friends and relatives left behind in eastern states.  These letters and diaries provide moving, sometimes heroic, portraits of the lives of these women and the history and geography they found themselves in.  The purpose of this project is, first, to examine and catalogue the rich holdings we have in the Meeter Center, and, secondly, to research relevant history on the westward migration and Dutch settlements.

The student Fellow will assist as follows:

1. Research and index holdings in the Heritage Hall archives that fall under the topic rubric;
2. Examine and topically index diaries and letters by female authors that we hold in Heritage Hall; two files have been thoroughly catalogued; they will serve as models for procedure;
3. Contact certain western collections (Dordt College, Northwestern, etc.) for copies of diaries or letters they hold;
4. Advise on strategies for arrangement of book structure and thesis patterns.

Qualifications:

• Excellent computer skills
• Ability to write clearly and coherently
• Ability to see relevant patterns in large amounts of material
• Ability to order such patterns clearly into catalogue formats
• Excellent grasp of literature, history, and geography
• Stamina
• Sense of humor

“Parents' Corrections of Preschool Children's Responses During Conversations”
Judith Vander Woude, Communications Arts & Sciences

This research project involves analyzing how parents use verbal corrections when reading books to their preschool children over a period of three years. The student will focus on three specific research objectives.  First, the student will identify the basic sequences of correction used in book sharing conversations between parents and children.  Second, the student will describe how those corrections may be sequentially organized in the conversations.  And third, the student Fellow will analyze how parents change their use of conventional corrections over time as their children increase their linguistic and interactional skills.

This project is ideal for a student who intends to pursue graduate work in linguistics, psychology, or speech pathology.  The student Fellow will attend a conference at which the results of this study will be presented and will likely co-author a paper to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

Qualifications:

• The student must enjoy discovering patterns in language and conversations
• The student must have strong critical thinking skills and excellent organizational skills
• Experience with Microsoft Excel is essential
• The student will learn to use SPSS for statistical analysis
• The student must demonstrate strong writing skills for summarizing the results of the study
• Course work in linguistics, developmental psychology, or child language development will be helpful

“British Buckeyes: The English, Scots, and Welsh in Ohio, 1750-1900”
William Van Vugt, History

This is a project to write a history of the state of Ohio from earliest times to the twentieth century, from the perspective and experience of British travelers and immigrants, it investigates miners, artists, and many others who helped create “The Buckeye State.”

Altogether, about 75% of the student's time would be devoted to reading, researching, taking notes, and photocopying.  About 25% would be devoted to compiling data from 20^th Century county histories from the State of Ohio and from the 1850 U.S. Census data.  The student would obtain a clear knowledge of the history of Ohio and the American Midwest, and the skills and experience that are required of all history graduate students and history researchers.

Qualifications:

• Must have an interest in early American history, form the colonial period to 1900
• Must be able to record data from photocopies from county history biographies
• Must have some ability to search libraries, with the use of the Internet and computer