San Diego City College s1

SAN DIEGO CITY COLLEGE

Research Committee - Summary Meeting of Tuesday, May 10, 2011 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. Conference Room B-104

PRESENT: Heidi Bunkowske, Berta Harris, Cathy Hasson, Minou Spradley, Denise Whisenhunt, Peter White, Xi Zhang

STAFF: Desiree van Saanen

I. BRIC-TAP AND NEXT STEPS

Continuing from the April 12 Research Committee meeting, members discussed the committee’s charge and the role related to the implementation of key goals that were identified at the March 31 BRIC-Research Committee meeting. Goals included fostering a culture of inquiry and providing research training across the college. Strategies discussed included the following:

 Form a subcommittee on Training the Trainer. Those who have completed research projects could be recruited as liaisons to assist others and provide training.

Minou will contact professors/researchers from Math, English and the Sciences (namely Misael Camarena, Nadia Mandalawi, Jan Jarrell, and Nancy Crispen) to form a “User group” subcommittee. They will brainstorm and develop training strategies (workshops, modules, meetings, etc.). Rafael Alvarez will also be called upon to join the group in the beginning stages as he has experience working with data/surveys. The first meeting will likely take place in fall 2011.

 Provide a link on the Research Committee webpage for summaries/testimonials from those who have conducted research projects; Post examples of research requests from various departments/disciplines

Peter emphasized the need to promote a culture of inquiry and sharing, not simply provide data. Research users should be reporting on what their data were used for and the results of their studies. Xi indicated that she has asked for actions taken on received data from research users in the past but has not received a single response. Several strategies were discussed including sending a letter from the committee to the research users and use of a multiple-choice “Exit Summary” form that provides examples of data that were useful and data that were not. The committee also suggested that two additional bullets will be added to the research webpage: SDCC Research Committee Meeting of May 10, 2011 Page 2 Research at City Completed and Research at City Underway, under which research by topics will be posted along with the name of requestors. (Xi will follow up).

 Provide training via Webinars and individual modules

To be reviewed by the “User Group” subcommittee.

 Integrate components of “Research” into all aspects of the college including professional development, Master Planning, grant proposals, etc.;

 Solicit information from researchers (faculty) via a “exit evaluation” wherein the researcher can share important information (i.e., what worked, what didn’t work, tips for others). Have researcher provide a short letter/paragraph to indicate what has been done with the data provided; and

 Invite experienced researchers to attend faculty/department meetings to discuss their experiences

Committee members discussed incorporating research users as a standing agenda item during faculty/department/school meetings. The Committee also recommended that Xi convene meetings periodically (i.e., one in the fall and one in the spring) with a selected group of people who have completed research projects within the year. This interaction would provide a forum of information sharing. The User Group and Research Committee members would also be invited to attend.

Research Committee Composition

Committee members agreed to omit the District Chief Researcher as it is unlikely this position will be filled in the near future. It was also noted that Elva Salinas was appointed to attend as a faculty representative in lieu of Jan Jarrell; however, class conflicts have prevented her from attending most meetings.

Research Committee Charge

Peter will wordsmith the committee’s charge to include reference to two subcommittees—the Training/Sharing subcommittee and the IRB subcommittee—and their functions. He will email a draft to members for their input.

II. Research Updates and Requests

Xi presented some of the issues she encounters when reviewing research proposals sent by doctoral students for IRB review. The proposals propose to use City College students for their research; the research design implied that they would use students’ contact information and academic records which may violate FERPA. In one other case, a SDCC Research Committee Meeting of May 10, 2011 Page 3 researcher performed the “research”, then requested permission to collect the data after the fact. There also appears to be a disconnect with SDSU’s IRB protocol.

III. Research Updates and Requests (continued)

Cathy Hasson will meet with SDSU’s IRB director this week to review some of these issues. She will report her findings to Peter and the IRB Subcommittee.

IV. College Research Agenda and Priorities

Xi reported she receives 3-4 dissertation research requests per semester. Reviewing the proposals and instruments is a time-consuming process. She noted that Mesa has a separate IRB subcommittee that focuses entirely on IRB requests. Committee members agreed to form a separate IRB subcommittee (for now Berta, Xi and Peter) to assist in the review of IRB proposals and to recommend revisions to the IRB processes and timelines. They will meet next week to discuss next steps.

V. District Research Committee – Update

Xi indicated that Mesa and Miramar have at least 2-3 representatives on the District Research Committee and suggested we may want to send more reps from City. Peter will be sure to attend in the future but could not attend the May 6 District meeting due to a conflict with another meeting. There will be no district meetings during the summer.

Fall 2011 Meetings (meets 2nd Tuesday of each month, 12:30-2:00 p.m.):

September 13 October 11 November 8 December 13