Policy Research Seminar Information Packet for Prospective Clients

Policy Research Seminar Information Packet for Prospective Clients
Point of contact for questions: Prof. Alex Joosse, Director of Strategic Initiatives

What is a Policy Research Seminar (PRS) project?

PRS is a semester-long applied course required for second year Master’s of Public Policy students. The course is typically co-taught by a faculty member and a policy practitioner. Teams of 3-4 students complete client-driven policy analysis projects over the course of a fall semester. This experience allows students to hone their skills in implementing the analytical tools of policy research and in communicating results effectively to policymakers. It allows clients to answer questions in which they are interested but to which they cannot currently devote staff resources.

What can you expect if your organization sponsors a PRS project?

The PRS team, working with the faculty co-teaching the course, works with a point-person from the client’s organization over the course of the fall semester to understand the project, collect any relevant data necessary to complete the project, and conduct the necessary analysis. The client commitment requires, at a minimum, an initial call, a mid-semester check-in (often via email), a final presentation, and periodic communication with the team to help connect them to key people and information.
The student team communicates its results via a final report and presentation by the end of the fall semester.
The student team is available to present to other interested parties if desired.

What makes for a good PRS project?

The project idea revolves around an issue or project that could help the organization but is not going to get done immediately. You can expect 10-12 hours of work per student per week. A three-person team can work 30-40 hours per week on a project throughout the course of one semester (15 weeks).
The project idea is focused enough to provide guidance on where to start but allows enough room for the students to have options on how exactly to produce results.
The project ideally offers opportunities for quantitative data analysis in some form. By the time students do PRS projects, they have had a variety of data analysis classes on tools like regression analysis, survey collection, GIS, Benefit Cost Analysis, and Social Network Analysis.

What your organization would commit to:

Most importantly, clients must assign a point person to the PRS team. This point person should be someone in your organization who is able and willing to respond quickly to student questions. Because we are working within the confines of one semester, slow response time impacts the teams’ ability to make progress.
Students use these projects to promote themselves as they look for jobs, so you must be ok with making public high-level information about the project. That said, we are willing to have the students sign MOUs to keep certain information private if needed – see the data privacy section below for more on that.

Timeline for proposing and engaging in a PRS project:

Spring/early summer: Engage in an initial conversation with W&M Public Policy leadership. Propose a brief description of the project idea (approximately ½ page) and email to W&M Public Policy leadership. Work with Public Policy leadership to shape the proposal into a workable project.
Early to mid-August: Draft and sign an MOU before the fall semester begins.
Late August/early September: Once the semester starts, the student teams will be formed and will choose which project they would like to pursue. We often have more projects than teams, so there is a chance not all proposed projects will be pursued each year.
Early to mid-September: Participate in an initial call with the PRS team to discuss the project.
Mid-September to December: Respond to PRS team questions as necessary.
Mid-November (optional): Attend the poster session evening at William & Mary where PRS teams talk about their projects with members of the Public Policy program’s Board of Advisors and invited guests.
Early to mid-December: Attend the PRS team’s final presentation and receive the final report.

Addressing data privacy concerns:

Many public and private-sector organizations deal with confidential data. Previous projects have addressed this data privacy concerns in multiple ways including:

Establishing a data security protocol to ensure any data shared by the client is kept secure and will only be available to the research team and the instructors of the PRS course.
Re-wording or redacting sections of the public-facing final deliverable to protect confidential information, as agreed upon by W&M and the client.

Examples of successful PRS projects:

Below are examples of PRS projects at different levels of government. We strive to have a mixture of projects available for student selection, both in terms of level of government and content area.

Federal agencies:

The client, the Air Combat Command in the United States Air Force, asked the PRS team to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of alternative uses of land surrounding Nellis Range in Nevada with particular attention paid to competing using of land for Air Force Training and solar energy research. The goal was to develop a framework of use in addressing broader questions like this.
The client, USAID, leads a partnership called Scaling Off-Grid Energy Grand Challenge (SOGE) that seeks to accelerate the expansion of solar home system sales across sub-Saharan Africa. These systems provide an affordable energy solution for customers without grid energy. The PRS team measured the impact of different countries’ policy regimes on sales of solar home systems and identified solutions to last-mile distribution and sales.

State agencies:

The client, Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission (JLARC) asked the PRS team to investigate the wide variation in the investigation and prosecution of Medicaid recipient fraud among Virginia localities, with four counties accounting for 45 percent of all cases forwarded to Commonwealth’s Attorney. The purpose of this project was to conduct interviews and surveys to identify the extent of variation among local departments of social services (LDSS) and Commonwealth’s Attorneys in the factors that lead to their decision to investigate/prosecute Medicaid recipient fraud, the nature of that variation, its explanations, and potential changes that could increase the number of investigations and prosecutions.
The client, the North Carolina Department of Transportation asked the PRS team to investigate lessons learned from mega sites around the country. Because of its rich natural resources, large workforce and vibrant economy, North Carolina has attracted several large companies to two industrial mega sites in the rural central region. The companies are building out their sites at record speed, bringing in more than 20,000 jobs over the next eight years. The size, scope and speed of the projects will bring unprecedented change to the surrounding areas that do not currently have the capacity to plan for what is to come. These are the largest industrial sites ever created in North Carolina, and it is important for not only the companies, but also the communities and the state that they succeed.

Local agencies:

The client, the City of Newport News, Virginia, asked the PRS team to analyze the effectiveness of a program to curb gun violence. The program, the Community Safety Initiative, funds nonprofits focused on intervention programs. Leveraging existing data, the research provided insights into the program's effectiveness and strategic recommendations for improving data collection methodologies to enhance future assessments.
The client, the Division of Parks and Recreation in James City County, asked the PRS team to perform an economic impact study assessing the economic impact of the Division of Parks and Recreation on James City County and surrounding areas. Economic impact includes money spent by out of town visitors attending events held at Parks and Recreation facilities, local residents using facilities or participating in Division sponsored programs, increased property values that can be attributed to Parks and Recreation, as well as any other identifiable economic benefits that can be credited to the programs or facilities that Parks and Recreation provides and the large tournaments or special events that draw visitors to the area.

Nonprofit organizations:

The client, the Lackey Clinic, is a free and charitable healthcare clinic 501(c)(3) that cares for uninsured Virginians. Lackey Clinic asked the PRS team to investigate the implications of modifying the definition of charity care under Virginia Certificate of Public Need laws to encompass uninsured individuals earning between 200-300% of the Federal Poverty Level.
The client, NetworkPeninsula, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Newport News, Virginia, whose mission is “to raise awareness of the needs on the Peninsula, encourage involvement from the community at large, and strengthen the nonprofits working to meet these needs” asked the PRS team to examine the extent to which its member nonprofits were collaborating. The PRS team used their policy knowledge and Social Network Analysis expertise to create, deploy, and analyze a network survey of nonprofits on the Peninsula to explore current and potential avenues for nonprofit collaboration.