Published December 16, 2024
CAPTION: (L-R) ÌýDr. Daniel Hummel, Asst. Professor of Political Science, Braxton Jackson, Monroe Mayor
Friday Ellis, Vincent Winston, Grady DesidereÌý
MONROE, LA – Vincent Winston and Braxton Jackson, ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ political science students taking POLS 3001
(Research Methods), recently gave a presentation to Monroe Mayor Friday Ellis and
his staff on three years of surveys collected from students in POLS 2002 (State and
Local Government) on the quality of services in Monroe.Ìý
The students were able to use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collected
over the years to share trends in the perceptions of city services. This was useful
information for the mayor to assess how students at ÃÛ½ÛÖ±²¥ feel about the city, including
what is going well and what needs to be improved. Some of this may be due to a lack
of information indicating that more needs to be done to connect students with the
city and all of the amazing things happening here in Monroe.Ìý
Dr. Daniel Hummel (POLS), who teaches both classes, discussed a valuable feedback
loop with these kinds of projects where data collected by the city as well as on campus
can be used to inform city leaders on resident satisfaction with city services. At
the same time, political science students are learning how to collect and analyze
data, an increasingly important aspect of governing and policymaking. Importantly,
they are learning how to translate their analysis into something easily understood
by decision-makers through these kinds of presentations, memos, and short reports.Ìý
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