Discussion Questions:
1. In our case study of the Healthy Savannah Initiative, we explored indicators for the three questions. Do you think measuring the third one, “health disparities”, is more complex than measuring the food access or the physical activity level? Why or why not?
2. Imagine you are evaluating a Community Health Initiative aimed at reducing diabetes rates. Using the logic model framework, identify potential indicators at each stage: Inputs, Activities, Outputs, Short-term Outcomes, and Long-term Outcomes/Impact. For each indicator, consider: Why is it important? How could it be measured? What challenges might you face in collecting or interpreting the data?
Discussions need to fully answer the prompts. Post your responses (at least 100 words for each question) by Sunday. Timeliness and completeness in addressing all questions will be considered in grading.
Great posts and responses contain references to the material (in-text citations are fine if it’s material we are currently reading), as well as examples from experiences or current events.
Instructions
Presented here are a few different ways that activists, government workers, and others have effectively defined problems. You may notice that approaches here are drastically different, depending on the context, the problem, the audience, and of course, the speaker. Ultimately, there are many ways that you can effectively define a public policy problem. We will not always have the time or space to define problems like we see in these videos; however, these examples are nonetheless helpful in highlighting the importance of defining a problem with clarity, urgency, and in proper scope. We will cover the basics in this module, but here are a few examples of very different forms of effective problem definition.
- Example 1: Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit
- Link here:
- Run time: 5 minutes 19 seconds
- Example 2: The Marshall Project video on prison labor/prison labor wages (watch from the beginning until 8:05)
- Link here:
- Run time: 8 minutes 5 seconds
- Example 3: PBS reports on the U.S. national debt
- Link here:
- Run time: 5 minutes 43 seconds
Now that you have watched these videos, you will be asked several questions related to the videos you just saw. Please submit your answers to the questions in a Word document. One to three sentences per question will be sufficient.
The short-answer questions are as follows:
- What are your reactions to Example 1 – Greta Thunberg’s speech? (1 point)
- To what extent did you perceive Greta’s speech to communicate a sense of urgency? What were some examples of this? (4 point)
- What are your reactions to Example 2 – The Marshall Project’s covering of the issue of prison labor wages? (1 point)
- How does The Marshall Project video situate the problem of paying too little in wages for labor of those who are incarcerated in the context of U.S. history? Why is that important? (4 point)
- What are your reactions to Example 3 – PBS coverage of the U.S. national debt? (1 point)
- To what extent do you believe this coverage effectively describes a complex problem in terms that a general audience can understand? Why is that important? (4 point)