“We are Humans First”: Expanding Learning Outcomes in an Undergraduate Research Methods Course Through an Experiential Learning Project on Homelessness

Abstract

This paper outlines my approach to and lessons learned from an experiential learning project on homelessness in an undergraduate research methods course for criminal justice majors. Students receive training in research ethics as well as interpretivist research epistemology and methods, and then conduct structured interviews with un-housed individuals. Drawing on a thematic analysis of students’ research reflection papers, I discuss three ways in which this approach can enhance and expand learning outcomes beyond what is conventionally achieved in a methods course: (1) developing competency in conducting human subjects research; (2) challenging pre-existing views on social issues; and (3) increasing empathy and enhancing communication skills, which may be particularly important for aspiring law enforcement officers.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the support of an ongoing collaboration with my colleague Mounah Abdel-Samad. I also thank Jessica Barlow, Director of the Sage Project at San Diego State University, for her support.

Notes

¹ The Sage Project is modeled on the Sustainable City Year Program at the University of Oregon and is a part of the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network.

² In preparing his students for the fieldwork, my colleague used many of the approaches I describe here, though the aims of his course were quite different. However, because of the much smaller size of his class (11 students), he was able to require his students to attend all three fieldwork days, and thus much of what they may have missed in methodological instruction they made up for in experience. Indeed, on later fieldwork days, several of his students took on the role of mentors to some of my less confident students.

³ We first implemented this project in our Spring 2016 courses. At the end of that semester, students and faculty presented a report on our findings to the city (see: Welsh & Abdel-Samad, 2016 ). I then refined and taught the course again in Fall of 2016, with a reduced emphasis on some of the city’s areas of interest (e.g. the Homeless Outreach Team) and with a greater focus on perceptions of service availability and barriers to accessing services, and have since developed a more advanced version of this project for a graduate methods seminar for city planning, criminal justice, and public administration students.

⁴ IRB approval for this research project was obtained under protocol number 2254098.

⁵ Audio-recording the interviews is impractical for multiple reasons: because the interviews are conducted on the street, there is a lot of background noise; there is not enough time in the semester to have students transcribe their interviews; and paying for a transcription service is prohibitively expensive.

⁶ The San Diego Police Department conducts weekly “sweeps” of homeless encampments in the East Village, most recently on early Monday mornings (see: Murphy, 2016). People living on the streets are required to move all their belongings, and if they are not present during the sweep, they lose everything.

⁷ IRB approval for this analysis was obtained through protocol number HS-2017-0312.