Jason Despain and Dr. Eric Eide, Department of Economics

A commonly repeated axiom states, “Life is what happens when you make other plans.” In other words, most endeavors in life rarely go as planned or according to proposed timelines, although the end result is most often positive and desirable. Such has been the case with this research assignment. It continues to go forward, and I continue to learn about the overall researching process, but it has not yet gone according to plan. This final report details the last six months of the project, its current state, and the expected future.

Review of Project to this Point

When the grant proposal was written, I was coordinating with Geir Solvang at the Wyoming Department of Education to obtain a data set of Wyoming Hathway Scholarship students.¹ Because the nature of the data was unidentifiable (i.e. we would not receive names, social security numbers, etc.), I was under the impression that the data transfer would occur easily. In fact, in my proposal, I stated that I had spoken with officials at the Department of Education who were happy to coordinate the data transfer and the transfer should continue to proceed without problems. I then learned that bureaucracy takes much longer than I had proposed.

After conducting a lengthy email conversation to learn the basics of our project, Geir informed me that I would need to write a formal, multi-page proposal before the department could legally release any of the data to me. He helped by sending an example of a successful proposal, and I was able to go to work to write the document. After submitting the proposal, the Department of Education identified some concerns, which we were able to resolve. Finally, after signing an affidavit, we eventually received permission to obtain the needed data.

The next question to answer was how to properly transfer the data. Geir proposed sending the data through the National Transcript Center, which the admission’s office manages at BYU. The admission’s office quickly informed me that they were unable to do anything, because assisting with our request was beyond their responsibility. We decided to try another route, and after settling some other issues, Geir was able to securely mail a disc with the data to Dr. Eide.

I naively thought that the Department of Education would simply email me the data because they expressed willingness to help with the project and the data was unidentifiable. This was not the case, and I have learned that working with the government takes time. I am also pleased to learn that the Wyoming Department of Education takes the confidentiality of its citizens very seriously, as it rightfully should.

Current Status and Future Plan

Since receiving the data, I have accepted a full time position working for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation for the Administration for Children and Families for the federal government in Washington DC. Currently, I am working with Dr. Eide to develop a plan for how I can finish the research remotely from Washington DC. Once we have this issue settled, I will continue the plan as stated in the proposal – I will use statistical software to regress the data, and depending on the results, Dr. Eide and I will discuss possible outlets to share our findings.

My office in Washington DC conducts social science research on government programs, and they often have researchers come and present during the lunch hour. Regardless of the outcome of the research, I plan on making a presentation about the Hathaway Scholarship and the ORCA grant to co-workers in my office. I look forward to receiving feedback from them and continuing to learn from professionals in this field.

Overall, my experience with this project has been overwhelmingly positive. My proposal has not gone according to plan, but I have learned a tremendous amount during the process. I am grateful to the Office of Research and Creative Activities, the donors who sponsored my research, the Wyoming Department of Education, and Dr. Eric Eide for assisting me with this endeavor, and I look forward to continuing and completing our research proposal.

References

[1] Geir has assisted in numerous ways throughout the course of the project, and I am grateful to him and the entire Department of Education for their support.