Colleagues –
First off, a big help to Kyle who helped review my ideas and direction on this. I am posting his response to me after this as a way to begin to address some of these issues. Kyle and I feel that we need to get a handle on the type of data and some dialogue about issues relating to the research question(s) to help focus our efforts before we proceed to dive into the books and research.
I am pulling this together with the hope that we can knock out another great proposal this year for ASHE. I can pull together the pieces and submit the proposal – below I have included a timeline and some things that would need to be done.
I think a symposium is most practical. This year would be a little different than last year, as we had our own independent papers in a themed-symposium; this year, I propose we all work on different sections of the same paper. After reviewing the different categories, there seemingly were limitations in categories: of research paper (we should be near completion at time of proposal), scholarly paper (pose analytical questions, synthesize divergent bodies of literature, or elaborate new theoretical or conceptual frameworks), or roundtables (not appropriate venues for formal paper presentations or for topics that would engage large groups of people). For each of us to have a hand in presenting our work, it seemingly is more sensible to use a symposium or roundtable approach with symposium being a bit more formal in the production of the product. However, if you feel we should take another direction, I can corral that as necessary. Let me know.
Our focus on athletic aid is an issue of access, but also an organizational issue. We need to consider the theoretical framework early; I believe this needs to be accomplished earlier than the some of the other topics to help give us a sense of direction.
Welch has noted that he has to plug through much of this data for his dissertation, and has access to EADA data. Can you volunteer to crunch the number? As I recall, your thoughts were to combine with tuition and total cost of attendance from IPEDS. Note, there is also the tool at the OPE website(Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool Website), for equity in athletics data by all co-educational postsecondary institutions that receive Title IV funding. As you will tackle the data, you will have a better sense as the scope of the study - How many schools (selective or comprehensive)? And, what types of schools?
Action plan is below. Please provide some feedback to the data and purpose/research questions by Monday... and, consider signing up for one of the duties/content areas and/or you’re your own. Thanks for your interest and engagement on this important issue!
Can you get this back to me by Monday, March 31?
Thanks - Scott
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Topic/Research Question(s): How much financial aid do colleges award on the basis of athletic talent? How much of the cost of attendance does an athletic scholarship cover and/or do athletic scholarships promote access to postsecondary education?
Format: Symposium
Moderator: John Cheslock, Univ of Arizona (Welch recommendation)
Researchers: Kyle Sweitzer (Penn St/Mich St), Welch Suggs (Georgia), Aaron Clopton (Marshall), Troy Buer (Virginia), Jennifer Zimmerman (Mississippi), Scott Hirko (Mich St)
Duties:
Format/Session Structure (Scott)
Purpose Statement
Theoretical Framework
Background/History
Literature Review
Methodology
Data Analysis
Edit Content into final proposal (Scott)
Timeline: March 27 - 30 - message board re: purpose/data
March 31 – receive feedback
April 11 – theoretical framework shared
April 21 – all other content areas shared
April 25 – draft of proposal edited, shared
April 30 – submit proposal
Proposal requirements:
We need to be sure we cover certain areas as we develop this symposium to ensure its acceptance. According to ASHE:
A symposium is a thematic, integrated, and interactive engagement between a panel of presenters and the audience. The focus of the discussion is a clearly identified theme or topic that: (a) utilizes a particular disciplinary or theoretical perspective in considering a research problem; (b) reflects an emerging issue in a specific area of research, policy, or practice; or (c) centers on the development of educational theory or research methodology.
A symposium is research-oriented but, unlike a research or scholarly paper session, the symposium organizers determine the theme and set of presenters for an entire session. The names of presenters should be included in the proposal, and the backgrounds of presenters should be described. Members of the panel will make brief presentations linking their papers (or talking points) with the theme, after which ample opportunity should remain for discussion. The discussion should be moderated, and a moderator should be designated within the proposal.
Symposium proposals should contain as many of the following as are applicable, preferably in this order: (1) objectives of the session; (2) significance of the theme or topic; (3) identification of the presenters and a discussion of their backgrounds related to the theme or topic; (4) a discussion of the research or perspective that each presenter will contribute; and (5) a discussion of how the session will be structured, including the designation of a moderator and strategies to facilitate audience discussion.
Symposium proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria: (1) originality; (2) clarity of focus; (3) significance of topic and/or relevance to ASHE members; (4) integration and coherence of panel’s presentations as a group; (5) range of knowledge and/or points of view represented by panelists; (6) adequacy of strategy for involving audience in the discussion and for making the session interactive; and (7) ways that the session intentionally tries to facilitate learning among participants.
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4 comments:
From Kyle:
I think you're right....this should just be a rough idea at this point. I think before anything else, we should "discuss" all this with the group. I think we need to "discuss" with everyone what the specific research question/purpose is. Then I think the research question will certainly help to dictate our theoretical framework and methodology. We also will have to immediately keep in mind what data we can get. We may be limited in what's available to us, and that will necessarily help shape our research question, as well as our framework and methods. So I think we all may need to get in on this discussion right from the start. I'm willing to jump in on whatever "duty" needs done -- although I will put it out there that I'm trying to defend my dissertation by the end of May or early June. So that will certainly take up a good bit of my time. But of course all of us have plenty of other things to take care of too. But I do want to get involved again this year, because I think we may have a good idea here. But I think before we get into specific duties, we should all be on the same page as to what exactly we're trying to research, and what data we are able to get our hands on.
As far as the research question that you proposed -- I think we can certainly assess what percentage of the cost of attendance an athletic scholarship covers. And we may be able to get into some detail there -- looking at difference in type of institution, size of institution, sport, gender, conference affiliation, etc. Although I'm not sure if we can. That may be a question for Welch. At this point, I'm not sure how detailed or specific the EADA is. Another idea is to look at changes over time in athletic aid -- again, looking at it by gender, sport, type of school, etc, if we can get EADA data thru the years.
The part of the research question that asks "How much financial aid do colleges award on the basis of athletic talent?" --- that may be tougher. We certainly can't assess that very accurately for Division 3 schools, although I think "The Game of Life" and "Reclaiming the Game" might get into it a little bit for D 3's (I forget.....I haven't looked at those books in a while). But not much actual raw data that we can use for those schools, and D 3's aren't "allowed" to award aid based on athletics anyway (even though they do). But even for the D 1 and 2 schools that we can get some data for --- I think the final part of your question will be REALLY tough to get at --- regarding whether athletic scholarships promote access. I think the only real way to answer that question would be if we would find out the household incomes (financial aid records) of the athletes, and compare it to the amount of scholarship they got. And of course that's not gonna happen!! We may be able to get some type of proxy for it -- like if we could find out the % of athletes who get Pell grants. But I'm not sure we could even get that. Again....I'm not sure what all is available in the EADA. Maybe it's there. That would be great. But I'd be surprised.
We definitely need to discuss what all's available to us before we can make any real decisions on the direction of this.
--Kyle
From Jennifer:
Hello All,
After looking through some of this information yesterday, I too agree that we first need to determine what datasets/information will be available to us. I think the OPE option has some interesting pieces that could be used, but it will only cover pieces of the financial portion. I am not familiar with what would be available to us through Welch’s EADA data. It might be helpful to know what we would and would not have access to through that resource.
Kyle, I agree wholeheartedly about the issues you raised about athletics scholarships and access. I also believe it could be challenging to find that data. One thing we could consider would be perceived access to college through athletics on the part of athletes.
A qualitative research method work best for this idea, but I have not yet figured out how that could work in this situation. I am not married to the idea, but was just trying to generate some options.
Jennifer
From Aaron:
I think the EADA availability of certain data will certainly drive some of this, so I am anxious to find out exactly what is there. Jennifer's idea of the qualtitative approach certainly would lend some more clarity to the project. What about a mixed-methods approach? Assuming access for athletes and data are there, time should not be a too big of an issue between now and ASHE - although I do see May 1 rapidly approaching.
I am jumping into the lit now, and look forward to all of us getting those research questions established quickly. Lit and data will clear this up, and right on Scott's timeline (which looks good). I am also willing to do whatever in this proposal. A specific division of labor should probably arise soon . . . .
AC
Also, a huge kudos to Scott for getting this thing rolling. Looking forward to seeing this be a "hit" at ASHE this year . . . and to continue to raise the bar for the discussion of athletics in higher education at ASHE and beyond.
From Troy:
Thanks Scott and Kyle for getting this rollling. Great comments by all. Since research questions determine research design, I am on board with Kyle's suggestion to finalize the RQ before moving ahead. It sounds like we need to see what data is actually available before we know what issue we can actually study. If we choose a mixed-methods design, then we will need to settle on two research questions (1 quantitative and 1 qualitative). What about developing a predictive model (e.g., considering whether athletic aid predicts persistence and graduation)? Looking forward to this!
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