GDEV 5045

Data and Development

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

Development is inherently a multidisciplinary and applied field, one that requires academics, practitioners, and policymakers to consider and consult a wide range of information, data, perspectives, and questions. But how do policymakers use data to make informed decisions? How do practitioners use data to inform program development and practice? What sources and types of data do they use? What is the role of data in grant writing, assessment and evaluation, and in communicating policy issues to the public? What questions can (and can't) data help answer? Students in this class will learn about the role of data in community development practice, programming, and policy, and connections to asset- and needs-based assessments and frameworks.

When Offered Spring.

• Identify and compare multiple sources of data for use with applied audiences and partners.
• Integrate data-analytic work with knowledge of development, including how communities function and interact between individuals and state and national and global enablers and constraints.
• Analyze multiple data sources and understand their particular strengths and weaknesses.
• Distinguish verifiable facts from value claims; distinguish findings and claims based on rigorous methods from political arguments; summarize, analyze, and interpret research findings to help impact various policy issues.
• Understand the political and empirical realities of public service through direct collaboration with local and state-level partners.
• Demonstrate clear and persuasive writing skills for an applied audience of partners.

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