The final assessment requires you to submit a full intervention program proposal to address the social issue you have focused on this semester. (Mental health and social media).
This assessment builds on your research and learning from the course as well as the first two assessments. It does this by asking you to ‘bring together’ what you have learned about the role of research and evaluation to address a social issue.
Program Title
What is the name of your program?
Introduction
Context of the problem:
How is the issue framed currently and historically in the media and contemporary discourse? How has the use of language been used to define or reinforce the problem as a particular ‘kind’ of problem?
How did the problem end up on the agenda? Was it a moral panic? A critical event? An enduring (wicked) problem that continues to resurface?
Academic research on the issue:
What does existing research suggest are the causes of the problem? Where are these problems ‘located’ (e.g. personal, social, structural)? What are the key ideas / concepts / theories used to explain or frame the problem?
Current / past policy responses / programs on the issue:
What are they? How do they align with existing research and framing? How have these been evaluated, and what were the outcomes?
Overall justification for the intervention:
What will your program do to address the problem? List your aims specifically, as this will inform your evaluation measurement outcomes.
How will your program compare / contrast with or modify similar / existing programs?
How will your program draw upon or contribute to the existing academic literature? How will it draw on existing concepts / theories / frameworks? (Focus on one prominent theory or framework that is generally accepted across the literature you have read on the issue).
Program
What the program does:
What kind of intervention is it? Why is this kind of intervention appropriate for the program (Treatment, prevention, promotion, or a combination)?
What are the program steps? Over what period of time? How would you explain the program chronologically?
Stakeholders and roles:
What are the inclusion / exclusion criteria for the program? What is the mode of delivery (universal, targeted, eligible, clinical)?
Limitations of the program:
Are there things your program can’t do in this instance?
Evaluation
Measuring Outcomes:
What are two or three short term outcomes you will be measuring? These directly relate to the program aims.
What kind of evaluation will you be undertaking to measure these outcomes (experimental, non-experimental, quasi-experimental) and why?
What are the core elements of your evaluation in relation to the program objectives?
What questions do you need to ask to determine if your objectives have been met / are being met? What information do you require to answer each of these questions? (Even if this is not practical – outline a perfect world scenario and then refine this to inform your data collection method).
How will you collect this information?
Outline the steps and timeline of your data collection method/s. Detail the core themes in your method, e.g. if writing a questionnaire, describe how the questions would be categorised (you don’t need to write the questions specifically).
Be creative – how might you incorporate the unique knowledge of your participants in gathering the data? Where possible have these align with the existing academic research.
How will this information be collected ethically?
Identify and discuss how you will mitigate any ethical issues with (at least) reference to NHMRC Guidelines. Make sure to mention all four key aspects in at least short statements (research merit & integrity / justice / beneficence / respect).
How will you make sense of the data?
How will you go about interpreting the data to make claims about how well the program works? Explain if you are going to incorporate principles of transformative evaluation for example.
How will your evaluation feed into future program design?
What if any are the limitations of your evaluative method?
How will you communicate the findings?
Identify the points where key information will be communicated, to which audience, and what the messaging for these audiences will be.
