Social
work graduate students join to change thesis
program
By
Jamie Rowe
On-line Forty-Niner
Students
earning their master’s degree in the
Social Work department have advocated for
and won changes to their thesis program.
Prior
to the changes, the program required students
to employ either quantitative or qualitative
research methods to answer questions within
their fields, said Christine Kleinpeter,
associate director and coordinator of Academic
Programs.
“In
the past, students used methods involving
humans, like case records and interviews,”
she said.
Michael
Turner, a graduate student in the master’s
program, is looking into a phenomenon known
as Bug Chasers.
“There
are these men who have sex with men and
try to catch HIV. Most people say, ‘Well
why would they want to do that?’ In
a social work job, you need to understand
why people make choices; what are they thinking
about,” Turner said.
The
complaints arose from problems in the protocol
review process, which approves the projects.
Because the research involved human subjects,
the protocols needed to go through the institutional
review board, which evaluates the level
of risk to the subjects.
The
problem is the length of time it takes to
approve or request changes for a project.
Before the changes, all the students went
through the review board and protocol review
process, said Kleinpeter.
There
are more than 600 students, all of which
are required to do a thesis.” Kleinpeter
said.
“We
have the largest graduate program on campus,”
said director of the social work program
John Oliver.
In
addition to the number of students on campus,
the department also does distance learning.
Every three years the distance learning
students also go through the process, said
Kleinpeter. The sheer number of projects
going through review bogs down the review
board.
Turner
is one of the students held up by the reviewing
process.
“I
was one of the first people to submit my
protocol and it took four months to approve,”
he said.
“The
solution is to have research not involving
human subjects,” Kleinpeter said.
The changes include offering students the
option to collect historical data.
The
students will still have questions and they
must write five chapters discussing and
coming up with a method to answer the question,
she said.
“Sometimes
students are caught [in the review process]
because they ask questions or use methods
that are too high in risk.” Kleinpeter
said.
The
solution here is to educate faculty and
students on the current laws for human subject,
as well as talking to both groups about
methods that will pass the IRB with more
ease she said.
“I
worked closely with my adviser to make sure
I would be taking care of my subjects,”
Turner said. “Even after all that,
it wasn’t good enough.”
Turner
said he feels he was required to hit a moving
target.
“They
changed the rules on me,” he said.
“They told me if I do it on the phone,
that’s OK. But if I do it in person,
I have to report any illegal activities.”
The
students in the department decided to bring
their concerns to the attention of the administration.
“We’re
taught to advocate,” said Jim Hurley,
a graduate student in the program. “I
have to be able to advocate for myself.”
Analisa
Serna, another social work graduate student,
drew up a petition to express the matter
She then collected signatures from 64 students.
The thesis project “is a lonely process,”
Serna said. She talked to other students
individually and discovered they were experiencing
delays as well.
“We
wanted to let the department know how we
felt collectively,” Serna said. “We
just wanted to voice opinions, to make an
impact, which we seem to have done.”
“When
64 of my students get upset, I see it as
a failure of the school.” Oliver said.
The
students who do not complete their thesis
in the semester must enroll in a class to
extend student status to students who have
already graduated, Kleinpeter said. The
class is essentially a $145 administrative
fee that allows students to continue using
the facilities.
Because
he was delayed in completing his project,
Turner will have to enroll in the extension
class. “I asked that the fee be waived,”
Turner said. “They waived the fee
for me and for other students. We’re
just waiting to hear for the final word
on what we need to do.”
He
expressed his disappointment with the thesis
process.
“I
was looking forward to thesis,” he
said. “Now it makes me sick to think
about it. I never want to do research again.
This ruined my last year at school. It was
more pain than it was worth.”
Hurley
expressed optimism.
“It’s
a fantastic program. And now we have options,”
he said. “It’s necessary for
others to have options because they have
different strengths. I think it’s
fantastic that the department heard the
students’ needs."
“We didn’t expect anything to
help us. We wanted it to be better for the
students after us,” Turner added.
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