PRR 475 Fall 2000 Page 1PRR 475: Evaluation in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Fall, 2000 Lecture: TU and TH, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. -- Room 221 NR Building Micro-Computer Labs: Wednesday 12:40-1:30,1:50-2:40, 5:30- -- Computer Lab 218 NR Building INSTRUCTORS Dr. Daniel Stynes, Ph 353-5190, E-mail - [email protected] , Web - http://www.msu.edu/~stynes/Teaching Assistant: Ya Yen Sun, E-mail - [email protected] DESCRIPTION Research and evaluation concepts, approaches and methods. Application of research and evaluation methods in the planning, management and marketing of PRTR programs, organizations and systems. TEXT: The Research Methods Knowledge Base, William Trochim. - this is an on-line text. You must register at Atomic Dog to access the web pages ($10) and you may also purchase a printed copy of the entire text. I recommend printed option (390 pages) this includes one copy and web access for $38.To Order textGo to http://www.atomicdogpublishing.com/Choose Student section at the top.Enter Course ID: 2110405900080 for section 1Change last two digits to: 81 for section 2 and 82 for section 3.Follow instructions to complete the registrationOther Materials: Applied articles will be available in electronic form (course web page, ProQuest, etc.).Topic outlines, Powerpoint, and Lab materials available at the course web site.Office 97, Excel for Dummies or similar book recommended purchase.MSU's CB Training modules and On-line Tutorials and Help also recommended for labs.COURSE WEB SITE: http://www.msu.edu/course/prr/475/AFS Space in labs is at : msu.edu/course/prr/475/INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE : Effective park, recreation and tourism organizations carry out a variety of research and evaluation activities to help make informed decisions. PRTR organizations must collect, analyze and effectively communicate scientific information relating to customer needs/demands, performance, impacts, andreturn-on-investment from existing and proposed programs, facilities, management activities and policies. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of evaluation and research methods and their applications in PRTR organizations. A secondary purpose of the course is to build analytical skills and increase proficiency with a variety of computer software and their applications within the park, recreation and tourism fields. The course includes a broad survey of both qualitative and quantitative methods commonly used in research and evaluation studies in the PRTR field. Methods reviewed include surveys, experiments, case studies, focus groups, and secondary data analysis. Special evaluation tools such as importance-performance analysis, benefit-cost analysis, needs assessment, impact analysis, and the use of standards are covered. Micro-labs build student's analytical skills covering Office 97 applications (Excel, Access, Word, Powerpoint) as well as statistical software (SPSS), web authoring tools (Netscape Composer), Windows 98, and e-mail and browser applications. The micro-labs focus on mastering software through applications linked to the lecture material.PRR 475 Fall 2000 Page 2COURSE OBJECTIVES The course has a number of inter-related objectives all focused on enhancing the likelihood that students will actively incorporate evaluation and research methods as tools for improving the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of PRTR programs, organizations and systems. 1. Students will be knowledgeable about the nature and role of evaluation and research in the planning andmanagement of programs, organizations and systems. 2. Students will be familiar with a variety of research and evaluation techniques and be able to choose methods appropriate to a given problem. 3. Students will be able to design and execute simple research and evaluation studies. 4. Students will be able to interpret, communicate and apply the results of research and evaluation studies. 5. Students will increase their research and analytical skills and their proficiency with various computer software packages.6. Students will be aware of ethical, social and political issues that are regularly encountered when designing, implementing and reporting the results of research and evaluations. Course Format : The course is designed as a lecture-lab format. Lectures are presented in one of MSU's high techclassrooms, allowing us to demonstrate or review applications encountered in the labs. We will also visit sites on the WWW to illustrate particular points. Micro-computer labs are designed to build skills in common software packages and to provide opportunities to practice applying these skills to park, recreation, and tourism evaluation problems. Scheduled lab hours are to introduce the exercises and provide individual help. Students are expected to spend at least another 2 hours each week beyond the scheduled lab time learning software, as needed, and completing the exercises. Students with weaker computer skills may need to spend more time in the labs to attain the basic level of computer literacy necessary to complete the exercises. The software (Netscape, IE, Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, SPSS) is available in all of the micro-computer labs on campus and files may be accessed from the course AFS space in labs or from home. There will be lab assignments each week that will usually be linked with topics being covered in lecture. Extensive supporting materials are available through the course web site.Students are encouraged to use email and the materials available on WWW. Course materials (overheads, lecture outlines) will be posted at the course web site: http://www.msu.edu/course/prr/475/web/. We will be experimenting with VUWidgets for uploading and sharing information. Questions or problems may be sent to the instructor or the assistant via e-mail, or you are also welcome to drop in and discuss anything in person.RESPONSIBILITIES / GRADINGThis is a reasonably demanding and fast paced course. The content and skills are cumulative. Students must keep up with readings and assignments, as understanding of material covered earlier in the course will be important to topics covered later. Lectures and labs are also integrally linked - lab exercises provide hands-on practice for many of the evaluation skills presented in lecture. Most of the assignments require the use of microcomputers. The labs are designed to help students with these assignments. 1. Term paper/evaluation project - 25%2. Lab exercises