Sociology and Social Work

Section 1: 

This section should be a socio-historical account of how agencies such as the one you are evaluating came into existence.  For example, "What were the social forces at work that led to the emergence of this type of agency in society and what specific factors led to the establishment of this particular agency?"  An in-depth development of these points will constitute the major portion of this section of the paper.

Section 2: 

You should discuss the overall mission of the specific agency in which you are placed as well as the specific goals that agency has established for itself.  After presenting this information, you can then delineate the specific aspect of the agency you are planning to evaluate.  This is the equivalent of "Statement of the Problem" and "Literature Review" components of the traditional research process.

Section 3: 

This section of the manuscript deals with the methodological design and techniques you plan to employ in your evaluation of the agency.  This is basically the "Research Design" aspect of the study.  Points of focus would include "What type of study are you conducting?", "What are your sampling techniques?" and "How are you collecting and measuring the data?" 

This phase of the paper specifically discusses all the methodological aspects of the study as well as presenting measurement techniques to be used in collecting and analyzing the data.  As this is a proposal for a program evaluation, you do not have to actually collect and analyze the data, but you do have to present the information that would be required in a research project up to this point.

In addition, you may further specify a program evaluation in one of two ways by doing a Needs Assessment or an Organizational Analysis:

A. The Needs Assessment  

The needs assessment has three basic components.  The sociological relevance could be integrated here. 

First, you describe to the reader what, in general, a needs assessment is and why it is needed in today's society. 

Next, you are to present a literature review of previous needs assessment studies conducted in agencies or settings similar to yours and discuss their relevance in planning your needs assessment study. 

Then, focusing on the agency in which you are placed, begin to elaborate upon the specific needs assessment study you are going to conduct.  You should address questions such as, "What needs of the agency or its environment are you going to assess?"  (Client needs, staff needs, community needs, etc?)  This is actually "Statement of the Problem."

Once you have decided what you are going to do, you will now discuss all of the methodological procedures you will follow in order to complete your assessment (sampling techniques, type of design, instruments used for data collection, etc.)

The final phase of the manuscript consists of the presentation and analysis of the data.  Included in this section is a discussion of the implications of your findings.  The above three components of the paper will constitute the final manuscript that you will submit to your committee.

B. The Organizational Analysis 

In this subset of the Program Evaluation, you will present an overview of the various theories dealing with social organization.  After presenting this overview, you may then focus upon the particular aspect of organizational theory that you are going to examine in relation to the agency in which you are serving as an intern.  This is the "Statement of the Problem."

Next, you are to discuss the methodology to be followed in your collecting and analyzing the data.  Specifically, "How will I operationalize the conceptual aspects of the theory in order to test the validity of the theory?"; "What specific research design will I employ in my study?" and "How is the data to be collected and analyzed?" are among the questions that must be addressed.

The final phase of the manuscript is the presentation of your findings and the implications of your findings relative to your original research question and the overall body of organizational theory. 

Many agencies today are either funded, or their budgets are supplemented, by external sources.  The written phase of this internship option consists of your completing and submitting a grant which proposes funding for some aspect (personnel, equipment, etc.) of the agency. 

Of course, the specific content of this paper will be dictated by the documentation required by the funding source.  At a minimum, these sources usually require a:

• rationale for the request
•  plan for the program/project
• proposed budget
•  plan for evaluating the effect of the funded program 

An additional sociological analysis of the agency's role and needs will be a required component for this option. 

In this option, the work assigned to you in your internship would require you to conduct a specific research project for the agency or organization.  The proposal you develop for the research project will become the first draft of this paper. 

In this proposal, you should clearly outline the specific details of the research question you are investigating and the methodological procedures you will follow in collecting and analyzing the data.  The final paper will be a substantial research report that consists of the contents your original proposal as well as the presentation and analysis of the data.  Furthermore, the report will be contextualized through a review of relevant sociological literature.