Summer Research: Granada Report

Peter Bittner (IPE '11) has just returned from Granada, Spain where he has been working on his IPE Summer Research grant project. Here is his report.

After 3 weeks in Granada conducting fieldwork and nearly seven months in Spain it feels great, yet very strange, to be back in the States again. After compiling loads of qualitative data regarding the social effects of the crisis, and political opinions regarding economic policies I am now reviewing and analyzing the results of my interviews.

I recruited the 50+ interview subjects through a long process of networking, using friends and contacts made in Granada during both the preceding 5 and a half month study-abroad semester and the 3 week period of fieldwork. In order to include a wide variety of perspectives and opinions, I made an effort to obtain a diverse and ideally representative sample comprising individuals of different sexes, ages, occupations and stratifications within society. Among the twenty individuals recruited for the formal interviews were male and female subjects including students, professors, business owners, journalists, bankers, construction workers, architects, social workers, immigrants, judges and local government officials. The interviewees ranged from twenty to sixty-three years of age. The astounding diversity of perspectives, rich content and massive amount of information collected is almost overwhelming.

After preliminarily reviewing the interview data it appears that testing the original hypothesis with any level of validity will be nearly impossible. Initially, I had dreamed of being able to assess whether “a greater perceived level of deleterious social effects of the crisis coincides with favored policies in contradiction to the long-term economic interests of Spain”. The naiveté revealed in those words now is shocking. Simply defining the two terms “social effects” and “long-term economic interests of Spain” is extremely difficult. That aside, the small sample size and amount of confounding variables further complicates matters in ways I had not previously understood completely.

For the time being, I will be content further reviewing my results to make sense of the massive amount of data gathered and the incredible diversity of opinions and perspectives encountered. With a little luck I may be able to make a paper out of this, but certainly not the one I thought I would be writing. In any case, as my advisor reminded me, the true educational value of the project is being reaped. Yaay for IPE!!!

Summer Research: Zanzibar Report

Jeni Oppenheimer (IPE '11) is in Zanzibar working on her IPE summer research grant project on NGO funding strategies for orphanages. Here is a progress report.

There may be no island as diverse as Zanzibar. With its 50/50 Arab/African population and visitors coming from both the west and the east, it is truly multicultural. Even more impressive than the diversity though is the way these different populations with a bloody history have managed to integrate into a fusion of culture that is unique only to Zanzibar.

Aside from culture, there is also a huge amount of economic variance: ranging from tourists and business men who come to stay in Stone Town’s five star hotel to the street children in every village on the island. Zanzibar has therefore drawn a large amount of NGO aid, which works in all sectors from education to conservation to microfinance.

Microfinance group meeting

I came here on a research grant to study different models of economic care with the hope of discovering which type was able to help the most children for the lowest cost. So far I have met with seven organizations representing four different ways of working with orphans.

These projects have ranged from providing funds for school fees to the extended families caring for orphans to holistic care that includes everything all the way to field trips. These organizations are 100% different. Even the way an orphan is defined can change depending on the origins of the NGO. For example, any NGO that has an Islamic base (of which there are many considering Zanzibar is 90% Muslim) defines an orphan as a child with a deceased father while western-based organizations like SOS Children’s Village defines an orphan as a child without a mother. Because of the great variation between these projects it is not simply a matter of who helps the most children but instead how should NGOs be helping children.

Learning fractions!

The question becomes do you help hundreds of children a lot where the effects of this aid can be easily tracked or do you help thousands of children a little while they stay with extended families? While there may be no right answer to this question, exploring it has allowed me to see large-scale aid predicaments in the reality of a small-scale island.

IPE Summer Research Grants Awarded

Peter Bittner and Jeni Oppenheimer have been awarded $4000 summer research fellowships by the IPE Program. These awards are funded by royalties from the IPE textbook project and by gifts from generous donors. Here are the titles of their research projects.

• Peter Bittner –– Spain’s Economic Crisis: How Social Effects Lead to Political Opinions on Economic Policies

• Jeni Oppenheimer –– A Bigger Bang (for the NGO Buck): Evaluating Alternative Orphanage Models in Tanzania

Congratulations to Peter and Jeni -- we are looking forward to your research presentations in the fall.

Yikes! Summer Research Grant Deadlines

Calendar check: The deadline for the IPE Summer Research Fellowship is Friday, March 5, 2010. Details here

http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/undergraduate/ipe/summer-research-fellowship/

The deadline for the University's research grants has been moved up to Wednesday, March 9, 2010. Details here
http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/student-research--travel-award/summer-research-grants-in-the-/

IPE majors who are interested in summer research opportunities are encouraged to apply for both types of grants.

IPE Summer Research Deadline Approaches

Time is running out!

The deadline for applications for $4000 IPE Summer Research Fellowships is fast approaching! Applications are due by noon on Friday, March 5, 2010.

Click on this link to learn about the IPE summer grant program and to find links to other university-sponsored summer grant opportunities.

IPE Summer Research Fellowship Deadline: March 5, 2010

The International Political Economy Program is pleased to provide one or more grants of up to $4000 to support student research each summer. IPE majors are also encouraged to apply for Summer Research Awards provided by the University Summer Scholar and Richard Bangs Collier Scholar programs. Funding for the IPE grants comes from royalties from the IPE textbook project.

The application deadline is Friday March 5, 2010.

Terms & Conditions for the IPE Summer 2010 Research Fellowship

1. Applicants must be IPE majors in good standing.
2. The fellowship involves eight weeks of full-time work on a specific project during the summer months (usually but not always between the junior and senior year). The fellowship recipient may not be enrolled in classes or other independent study projects during this period.
3. The fellowship recipient must provide to the Director of the IPE Program a written report of their research activities and how the funds were spent by August 31, 2010.
4. The fellowship recipient must give a public research presentation during the 2010-2011 academic year.

A complete application will contain four copies of:

1. Completed cover sheet (see below).
2. Project Statement. Applicants should describe the specific research planned for the period of the grant, explaining the research question, research methodology and project timeline. Please limit to two single-spaced pages.
3. Personal Statement. A brief personal statement from the applicant that describes the preparation he or she has for carrying out the proposed work, and that explains how the research will contribute to his or her educational goals. Please limit to two single-spaced pages.
4. Letter of support from a faculty research director. The faculty director must agree to supervise the project.
5. Bibliography. Applicants should include a one-page carefully selected bibliography of the texts of greatest relevance that will be used and a short listing of other resources or collections to be employed.
6. A UPS transcript (an unofficial transcript is OK)
7. A budget detailing expected direct research expenses such as travel costs, research materials, etc. The purpose of this budget is simply to be sure that the total cost of your project will not exceed the amount of the grant. Your budget need not add up to $4000.

The Cover Sheet must contain all of the following information:

1. Name
2. Mailing Address
3. Phone Number
4. E-mail Address
5. Name of the Faculty Research Director
6. Project Title and one-paragraph description of proposed research
7. Student's signature
8. Faculty director's signature
9. Date

Completed applications are due in the IPE offices (McIntyre Hall 213) no later than Noon on Friday, March 5, 2010.

IPE Summer Research Fellows

YEAR	FELLOWS
2009	Ryan Donahue, Transforming Integrated Conservation and Development: Alternatives to a State-Sponsored Green Revolution in Madagascar
2009	Kendle Bjelland, Local Food Networks: From Bourgeois Vanity Gardens to Grassroots Revolution
2008	Leigh Barrick, Analysis of the Failures of Fair Trade and Emigration in Chiapas
2008	Daniel Adler, Under the Radar: Sister Cities' Overlooked Role in Defining and Advancing Globalization
2007	Lan Nguyen, Brain Drain versus Brain Gain in Vietnam: Changes in Human Capital and its Effect on Development
2006	Emily Knudsen, Analysis of the Socio-economic Effects of Immigration on the Danish Welfare State
2005	Jen C. Davis, From Bangladesh to the Pacific Northwest: Adaptations and Innovations in Microfinance
2004	Cristie DeVoss, Terrorism in Southeast Asia
2003	Melissa Watson, Retracing the Mexican Migrant Experience: Tacoma to Oaxaca and Back Again
2003	Michael Severeid, Great Olympics, New Beijing: The Political Ramifications of Hosting the 2008 Summer Games in the PRC
2002	Patrick Egan, Transitions and Connections in Mongolia: The Meeting of Nomadic Pastoralism and the Institutions of the New Global Economy
2001	Ron Ringuette, Analysis of the development of anti-globalization movements after the Seattle WTO protests
2000	Marina Green, Economic crisis and democratic reforms in Thailand
1999	Sarah Garfunkel, International enforcement of human rights: war crimes tribunal study
1999	Colleen Dyble, Economic development and the status of women in Spain

2009 Summer Research Fellowships

The International Political Economy program is pleased to announce that Ryan Donahue ('10) and Kendle Bjelland ('10) have been awarded $4000 summer research grants. Funding for these grants comes from royalties from the IPE textbook project.

• Ryan Donahue, "Transforming Integrated Conservation and Development: Alternatives to a State-Sponsored Green Revolution in Madagascar." Ryan's grant is for academic research on this important topic this summer.
  

• Kendle Bjelland, "Local Food Networks: From Bourgeois Vanity Gardens to Grassroots Revolution." Kendle's project builds upon work she did on food sercurity policy and the global/local food nexis in her Switzerland study abroad program. She will combine academic research with fieldwork this summer in Detroit and Chicago, where strong local food networks have emerged.

The IPE program received nine applications (the most ever), so competition for this grant was very intense. If you did not get an IPE award (or didn't apply but are interested in summer research funding) you should think about applying for one of the other grants available. Details can be found here http://www.ups.edu/x18564.xml Application deadline: Friday, March 27.

Congratulations to Ryan and Kendle and to everyone who applied for a 2009 grant.

Summer Research Grant Deadline Approaches

The deadline to apply for the 2009 IPE Summer Research Fellowship is Noon on Friday, March 6. We'd like to get some idea of how many students plan to apply for the $4000 grant, so please send an email to ipe@ups.edu if you are working on an application.