Description The focus of this course is on applied learning and your ability to take the information from the course and apply it to a real problem, program, or policy.

Description Perhaps the most important part of any research project is the research question. Without an effective research question, it is difficult to know what you are trying to accomplish

Description Surveys are useful tools for original data collection, but it is imperative that you develop clear, unbiased survey questions if you want to collect accurate and useful information. A

Description Research and evaluation in the public and nonprofit sectors is accomplished with very limited resources. These limited resources include time, funds, knowledge, and more. These types of limitations often

Description As with most concepts presented in this course, there is no one best way to design a research project. This is also true with sampling designs. The focus should

Description This project is an evaluation design for the program, problem, or policy you selected. This week, begin pulling together the many elements of this project into an initial draft,

Description As is the case with most decisions in public and nonprofit management, there often is not a “right” or “correct” answer. This is the case with qualitative measurement. Variables

Description Descriptive statistics provide a snapshot of variables. They describe quantitative data by presenting the average or typical case. These types of descriptive statistics are called measures of central tendency.

Description Because public and nonprofit administrators operate in a complex world, they often ask research questions that can be answered with multiple explanations. Multiple explanations for an outcome require multiple

Description PowerPoint Presentation: Strategic Planning Visioning Session (Organization: American Red Cross) Organization: American Red Cross Mission: The current organization’s mission (American Red Cross)  What are the mission, basic philosophy, and core values of the organization? Stakeholders: Organizational chart with key staff and internal and external stakeholders with titles Who are the key staff and internal stakeholders you would involve in this process, and why? Who are the external stakeholders that you would involve, and why? How will you use strategic and scenario planning to effect strategic change in the organization? Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each planning tool.  Process: Summarize the step-by-step process you will utilize when working with a board of directors or executive staff to conduct scenario planning. This can be a chart or model that you create. What types of questions might you ask to develop your framing questions? How will you negotiate agreement among key internal, and perhaps external, decision makers about the overall planning effort?  External Environment: Identify the external future environmental influences on your organization within the next 5, 10, and 20 years. What are the political, economic, social, cultural, technological, and natural trends or driving forces that may impact your organization? (This slide should include scholarly and professional literature from multiple sources.) Strategic Goals: Imagine that you have completed a strategic planning and scenario planning process; identify the possible strategic goals of your organization. What are two strategic goals the organization would like to accomplish in the next 5 years, and why? What are two strategic goals the organization would like to accomplish 10 years from now, and why? How do these goals have a positive impact on your community, nation, or region? Scenarios: Imagine you have completed the scenario planning process. Build one scenario of a possible future for your organization in 20 years that is plausible and robust and that considers unpredictable events. Identify at least one alternative scenario to the one created based on your previous analysis of future trends that would be a “surprise.” References: A reference slide(s) in APA formatting listing all references used in the creation of the PPT. Using a 15- to 20-slide PowerPoint presentation (PPT), develop a strategic planning visioning session with a government or nonprofit organization’s board of directors or executive staff. Consider how you will formulate and sustain a collaborative environment among all levels of the organization to sustain the vision from executive leadership. You will assume the role of strategist as you direct your findings to the executive leadership members of your organization. As such, this could be a wonderful opportunity to help your organization grow and respond to the demands of the external environment within your particular industry. Please make certain comment within the Notes’ section on every slide in order to expand on the bulleted points within your presentation (VIP requirement). You will also present this powerpoint as an audio file (which is worth 120 points); so make your presentation interesting and dynamic. I will upload a few Best Practices within the discussion forum at a later date. Please find time to review them. Organization: American Red Cross In the role of leader and futurist during this imaginary session, you collaborate with the organizational and community stakeholders to move the organization in a new direction or to stay the current course, depending upon the organization’s mission, goals, and the imaginary visioning session. This is a time to envision the future and the potential for creating a viable outlook.