O'Neill School Undergraduate Thesis Blog – O'Neill Thesis Writers Sharing What They've Learned

How Might Public Interaction Shape the Motivations of Front Line Bureaucrats?

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Gram Johnson

Imagine that you’re a city employee whose job is to answer questions from citizens. Every day, you sit at your desk from 9:00 to 5:00, answering calls from concerned citizens. Today, multiple people called to complain that their trash wasn’t picked up. Another person called to report littering at a city park. Someone else called to report that their electricity was shut off, even though that isn’t really the city’s problem. Most interactions are positive, though some are negative. Would you have the same motivations and passion for public service as your friend, an engineer with the street department who sits across the hall?

In the 1990s, a group of researchers sought to understand the motivations of public employees, developing a theory that is now known as “public service motivation” (PSM). This theory claims that public employees are motivated by unique, altruistic motives that drive them to make a difference in their community. This doesn’t impact those in the private sector, who are more likely to make career decisions based on compensation or job satisfaction.

When beginning my thesis, I began to think about employees like those described in the anecdote above, from a perspective of public service motivation. Specifically, I hypothesized that negative interactions with members of the public would decrease levels of public service motivation in public-facing roles. Doesn’t it seem natural that there would be great variation between these two categories of employees, those who work with citizen complaints all day, and those who work in more back-office, administrative roles? Through my research, I sought to answer this question.

To determine if public interaction drives levels of public service motivation, I decided to administer a survey to two groups of public employees, those who interact with the public daily, and those who do not. Specifically, I used Dr. James L. Perry’s 1996 survey to measure PSM. (link) This survey assigns respondents a “public service motivation score” from 1 to 7. To evaluate how public interaction plays a role, I also asked respondents to estimate the proportion of their typical workday in which they expect to interact directly with a member of the public.

In the end, I analyzed responses from 82 public employees in Allen County, Indiana, 38 of whom worked for the City of Fort Wayne and 44 of whom worked for various agencies in the county’s government. The results were found to be statistically significant, confirming the validity of Perry’s method to measure public service motivation. However, my hypothesis was not confirmed, nor did I find any other interesting correlations between any variables.

Moving swiftly along, I decided to assess if there were any interesting relationships between employee tenure, public interaction, and public service motivation. I thought this might show that levels of PSM change over time, employees with higher levels of interaction have lower tenure, or perhaps that PSM develops differently over time in employees with higher levels of public interaction. Once again, there were no interesting relationships discovered.

Of course, this study took place on a very small scale, so the results were not too surprising or disappointing. However, I went back to the literature, which offers a few interesting explanations for why I may have found this to be the case.

Some literature suggests that public interaction may in fact drive levels of public service motivation to increase. That sort of undermined my hypothesis, but it makes sense. Positive feedback from constituents can be motivational, and it makes sense that individuals with passions for public service would benefit greatly from being able to see the good they are doing in the community first-hand.

Additionally, public service motivation has been shown to weaken turnover intention among front-line bureaucrats. Simply put, those with high levels of public service motivation are more likely to remain in their jobs despite increased stress from public interaction. This resilience to workplace stressors may explain why I found tenure to be about the same across the board.

Finally, my research failed to capture the day-to-day variation that comes with the nature of these public-facing jobs. For example, a city’s customer service representatives would face increased stress after a natural disaster, which could cause a deluge of complaints regarding fallen trees, flooding, and power outages. If levels of public service motivation were to be measured shortly after such an event, I suspect they would be found to be lower, as I originally hypothesized.

In the end, though these results were inconclusive, they offered an intriguing look into the field of public service motivation research. Further research could more adequately capture the effects of the variation between employees in public-facing roles, better understanding how public interaction may shape public service motivation.

Gram Johnson is a senior studying Law & Public Policy at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. After graduation, he will pursue a J.D. at the Maurer School of Law, joining the class of 2027.

What were the Impacts of International Accountability Mechanisms on the Philippine War on Drugs?

Posted on December 20, 2024 by anntraut

Rodrigo Duterte testifying about the Philippine War on Drugs. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts … I’d be happy to slaughter them.” –Rodrigo Duterte

This chilling quote is from former President Rodrigo Duterte and encapsulates the brutal rhetoric that defined the Philippine War on Drugs. The Philippine War on Drugs is a bloody anti-drug campaign that spanned from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022, and lead to the deaths of up to 30,000 Filipinos according to the International Criminal Court.

Figure 1. Number of Extra Judicial Killings from the War on Drugs (2016-2022)

As I began delving into data on the death tolls from the War on Drugs, I noticed an interesting trend. Fatalities peaked the year former President Duterte was inaugurated in 2016, at 3,547 deaths, reflecting the beginning of a deadly anti-drug campaign.

Following the initial spike in deaths, there was a significant decline in the following year. By 2017, the total decreased to 2,294 deaths, a 35% reduction. This downward trend steadily continued, with fatalities dropping to 1,452 in 2018. By 2019, the deaths reached 1,123, and by 2020, the reported death toll was 904. In 2021, the numbers further declined to 694, and by 2022, which marks the end of the war on drugs, fatalities reached an all-time low at 455 deaths.

The extrajudicial killings from the War on Drugs show a consistent downward trend each year, raising the question: what exactly caused this decline?

Past research focuses on the impact of local internal accountability mechanisms, such as controversies surrounding corruption, injustices related to extrajudicial killings, and Philippine Senate investigations (Iglesias, 2023). This study aims to provide a broader understanding of the mechanisms that effectively curbed the War on Drugs, not only domestically but on the international scale. Globally renowned organizations, i.e.: International Accountability Mechanisms (within the context of this research) include the United Nations (UN) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), who have extensively reported on the situation. To further expand the scope, this research incorporates insights from international press agencies like Reuters, which have monitored and reported on the Philippines, as well as Human Rights Watch, a prominent international non-governmental organization.

This research aims to also provide the broader picture and thus understand the impact of International Accountability Mechanisms on presidential rhetoric as well.

Research Question

“What were the impact of international accountability mechanisms on curbing the Philippine War on Drug under former President Duterte?”

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: An intensification of international accountability mechanisms is expected to lead to a decrease in extrajudicial killings.

Hypothesis 2: International accountability mechanisms are expected to decrease violent and inflammatory rhetoric in former President Duterte’s speeches.

Finally, the null hypothesis is that international accountability mechanisms had no impact on the decrease in violence, and subsequently, had no effect on a change in presidential rhetoric.

Data

This research uses mixed collection methods, both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative information is sourced from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED). The quantitative data, the number of extrajudicial killings provided by the ACLED, is contrasted with international accountability mechanisms, which are defined as the UN, the ICC, Reuters, and Human Rights Watch.

The qualitative data consists of 6 of Duterte’s State of the Nation Addresses (SONA’s). The president’s SONAs were initially sourced from the Malacañang palace (Philippines), and all 6 speeches were transcribed by Rappler. Rappler is a Filipino news website.

Figure 2. Rodrigo Duterte speeches State of the Nation Addresses (SONA)

July 25, 2016	Duterte delivers his first SONA
July 24, 2017	Duterte delivers his second SONA
July 23, 2018	Duterte delivers his third SONA
July 22, 2019	Duterte delivers his fourth SONA
July 27, 2020	Duterte delivers his fifth SONA
July 26, 2021	Duterte delivers his sixth (and final) SONA

Findings:

Hypothesis 1: Proven. International accountability mechanisms contribute to a decline in extrajudicial killings

Data from the ACLED shows that starting in 2016, the number of extrajudicial killings peaked, and then steadily decreased the years following. This decline can be attributed to a number of factors, both internal and external. International accountability mechanisms from the UN, ICC, Reuters and Human Rights Watch had an impact in the decline in violence.

Hypothesis 2: Disproven. The more criticism former President Duterte receives, the more inflamed and violent his rhetoric becomes.

Presidential rhetoric has shown an opposite effect, and international accountability mechanisms seemed to have had an adverse effect, resulting in an increase in violent rhetoric on President Duterte’s end. As the UN and ICC began probing into the situation that was occurring in the Philippines, the President’s rhetoric became more and more incendiary and contained increasingly violent language.

Conclusion

This research underscores the importance of sustained pressure from these mechanisms as an effective way to combat grave human rights violations (extrajudicial killings). Accordingly, there is a need for greater collaboration with local organizations to amplify the effectiveness of international accountability mechanisms.

Understanding the importance of international accountability mechanisms contributes to a broader understanding of soft authoritarian regimes (such as the Philippines). Identifying challenges in holding the government accountable sheds light on the complexities involved in ensuring justice and accountability for alleged human rights abuses. This information is essential for not only the international community, but to policymakers and human rights advocates, helping them devise effective strategies for promoting human rights and holding governments accountable for their actions.

Anna Trautmann is a senior from the Philippines in the O’Neill Honors Program studying Law and Public Policy and French. Growing up in the Philippines, she first handedly witnessed Duterte’s War on Drugs, which motivated her to conduct research on this topic. On the side, she works as a research assistant for the School of Public Health, as well as a Teaching Assistant and Undergraduate Student Engagement Coordinator for O’Neill!

The Effect of Conflict on the Education of Young Girls

Posted on December 20, 2024 by abbrmill

Abandoned Classroom Abandoned Classroom in Pripyat, Chernobyl, Ukraine school destroyed stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images

In 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria by an armed group. Since then, 1,600 children have been abducted or kidnapped across northern Nigeria, many of them while in school or on their way to school.

Education is vital to ensuring that countries’ economies are able to grow and succeed. Education also benefits individuals by providing them with more opportunities for work and to contribute to their society. While education is important, it is under attack globally in many countries that are going through internal armed conflict, which especially impacts primary and secondary-aged girls. The United Nations has highlighted education as one of their Sustainable Development Goals due to the world “falling far behind in achieving quality education”.

In many countries experiencing conflict, there are barriers that keep young girls from being able to go to school and receive a proper education. These impact how girls are treated in school and the type of education they will receive if they are able to. Schools are shut down due to safety concerns from the conflicts, and other schools have strict laws put on them by the government.

In order to ensure girls have opportunities to succeed and contribute to the betterment of society in these countries, there needs to be an evaluation to see the impact that conflict has on education to find ways the government and NGOs can work to keep girls safe while they are in school and work on making citizens understand the value of girls’ education. The research questions for this thesis look at 1) whether conflict will have a significant negative impact on girls’ literacy rates and 2) whether conflict will have a significant negative impact on progression to secondary school. These questions help to further evaluate the impact conflict is having on girls’ education.

The data for this thesis was collected from the World Bank and Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) websites. Education data for youth female literacy rates and females’ progression to secondary school came from the World Bank. The data for countries experiencing internal armed conflicts and the number of battle deaths came from the UCDP. There were 17 countries included in the final dataset after cleaning the data, with education data and number of battle deaths data being analyzed from the years 1989 to 2020.

The finding from the quantitative research for the first hypothesis was the relationship between youth female literacy rates and battle deaths was not statistically significant. This means that for every additional death the country experiences during a battle, the literacy rate is expected to decrease by 0.084% which is a very small change in literacy rates over time. The model suggests that battle deaths are not a strong predictor of literacy rates in the dataset.

The finding from the quantitative research for the second hypothesis was that the relationship between female students’ progression to secondary school and battle deaths was not statistically significant. This means that for each unit increase in battle deaths, the progression to secondary school is predicted to decrease by 0.16%. The effect of this predicted decrease is very small, but it will have a greater impact than the change in literacy rates over time. The model suggests that battle deaths are not a strong predictor of progression to secondary school.

While the results of the models were not statistically significant, this does not mean that the findings were not important to this research question. This model shows that although the literacy rates and the progression to secondary school are low in some countries, the change is not heavily impacted due to battle deaths. The deaths cause a negative impact even if it is very small.

The results of the model indicate that there is another factor that is impacting the girls’ education in countries experiencing conflict. Further research on this topic is vital in order to find ways that governments and NGOs can help countries keep girls in school during conflicts. There needs to be further research done to find the root problems of how conflicts are impacting girls’ education in order to solve the problems and ensure that girls are able to receive an education to then help contribute to their countries and help the economy grow.

Abbey Miller is a graduating senior majoring in Policy Analysis at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

Breaking Barriers: How Telehealth is Shaping the Future of Healthcare

Posted on December 20, 2024 by lroskoph

In 2020, the world turned upside down as the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way we think about healthcare. Among its most significant shifts was the rapid adoption of telehealth services, which created a digital bridge between patients and providers as a temporary solution to the accessibility challenges the world was facing. While telehealth was not a new concept, the pandemic accelerated its widespread adoption, turning it from an underutilized option into a critical tool for modern healthcare.

Now, as telehealth continues to revolutionize access to care, my research focuses on exploring how likely people are to continue utilizing these online platforms in the future. By understanding these trends, we can better predict the next chapter of healthcare choices and refine telehealth to meet evolving patient needs throughout the country.

A Lifeline for the Busy, the Remote, and the Future of Healthcare

Telehealth is not a new concept and was not invented during the pandemic, however the social distancing guidelines created during the Covid outbreak helped to increase its usage. For college students of all ages, Telehealth offers a solution to common challenges such as navigating unfamiliar healthcare systems, balancing busy schedules, or transportation issues. However, while the convenience of Telehealth is not debated, its acceptance has been mixed, and this work was undertaken to help understand why.

Key Findings

After surveying 250 Indiana University students, several key findings emerged:

Trust in Providers: When asked about their level of trust in doctors, 84% of respondents indicated a positive level of trust—29% strongly agreed, and 55% somewhat agreed. This demonstrates a high level of trust, which is an essential factor in both in-person and online healthcare.

Comfort with Technology: Regarding their comfort with technology, 85% of respondents feel very or somewhat comfortable, with 52% stating that they were very comfortable. This data suggests that technology is not a significant barrier for Indiana University students in using online healthcare services.

Perceived Helpfulness: Questions throughout the survey explored perceptions of telehealth’s helpfulness in managing healthcare needs. While 46% of the students found telehealth helpful, 21% were neutral or found it unhelpful. This indicates areas where telehealth services could use improvement.

Preference for In-Person Care: When comparing the effectiveness of in-person care and telehealth, in-person care was preferred significantly more. Nearly half (49%) of respondents found that in-person care was very effective. However, only 11% of students found telehealth to be very effective. While 39% rated telehealth as somewhat effective, 50% expressed neutrality or found it ineffective.

The findings throughout the survey showed that while Indiana University college students generally trust healthcare providers and are comfortable using technology, telehealth services are perceived as less effective than in-person care.

Enhancing Telehealth for Tomorrow

Although online healthcare has many benefits, it has not yet achieved the level of overall satisfaction currently associated with traditional in-person services. These insights highlight the need to enhance telehealth to address the specific concerns of college students and similar populations. Healthcare professionals must work to improve security measures, ensure continuity with familiar providers, and enhance the overall quality of care delivered through virtual platforms.

Why College Students’ Opinions Matter

College students represent the future of healthcare engagement. Their attitudes will shape not only their healthcare decisions and choices but also the trends throughout the entire industry. By understanding their trends, the healthcare industry as a whole can refine online healthcare to better serve the tech-savvy time contracted generation increasing not only access but also potentially affordability.

Closing the Gap

My research offers a comprehensive understanding of Indiana University-Bloomington college students’ perspectives and attitudes toward online healthcare services, which may potentially impact their future healthcare decisions. Through surveys across a variety of demographics and backgrounds on campus, this research provides insight into these attitudes and how they might influence the trajectory of healthcare delivery models.

Ultimately, this work substantiates previous studies which have shown that while telehealth is an acceptable option for many, in-person visits remain the preferred method of care. This conclusion remains true even in a population of college students who demonstrate a high comfort level with technology and minimal barriers to its use. Notably, this research was conducted after sufficient time had passed for adaptation to telehealth, yet the preference for in-person care remains consistent.

This research opens opportunities for further studies to explore the reasons behind college students’ perceptions. By doing so, healthcare systems can work toward better aligning with the needs and preferences of patients, paving the way for changes that enhance accessibility, affordability, privacy, safety, and ultimately the quality of care.

Lindsey Roskoph is a senior at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs.

You Just Have to be Patient and Keep Working

Posted on December 20, 2024 by abbrmill

Your thesis may feel daunting now, and it will potentially be one of the toughest challenges of your academic career, but it will all work out in the end. One of the biggest lessons I have learned throughout writing my thesis is that patience is necessary, especially if you are doing quantitative research because it is very unlikely your model will work on the first try or even the fifth. It may seem easy to give up, but here are some tips to keep you from wanting to quit.

1. Your topic is very important!

When choosing a topic, make sure you are passionate about it. Your thesis will take at least two semesters, so you want a topic that will keep you engaged. Through all the ups and many downs with my thesis, I was able to continue because of how I enjoyed my topic. I wanted to find the answers to my questions and keep reading as much as possible to see what others have found on the subject. It may take a few tries to find exactly what you want to study, but that is the purpose of V491!

2. Summer is the perfect time for data!

If I could give any advice to a student who has not yet started the Honors Program, it is to start in the spring semester and finish in the fall. My second piece of advice to pair with this is to make sure you go into the summer with preliminary datasets so that you can start the data-cleaning process and hopefully start analyzing the data before the fall semester. I offer this piece of advice because it took me FOREVER to find the right dataset that had enough data to do a regression. It took even more time to clean my data and finally get the regression to work. If you are able to get the data cleaned over the summer, you will be in a much better position at the beginning of V499.

3. Not statistically significant is NOT the end of the world.

My next piece of advice would be to not be discouraged if your regression in R or STATA comes back as “not statistically significant”. When I finally got my regression to work and saw that the results were not significant, I felt terrible. After months of work and trial and error it was discouraging to see that the data was “not statistically significant”. However, it made me look deeper into the reasons for why the data may be the way it is and evaluate other factors that could have been impacting my results.

The thesis process is long and will not always be enjoyable, but in the end, it is very rewarding to have a paper to show all the hard work that you have put in.

Abbey Miller is a graduating senior majoring in Policy Analysis at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Link Between Healthcare Shortages and Baby Boomer Retirements in the East North Central U.S.

Posted on December 20, 2024 by lglykins

The United States healthcare system is facing a critical challenge- a growing shortage of healthcare professionals, driven by the retirement of the baby boomer generation. This demographic shift began as baby boomers reached retirement age in the early 2010s, reshaping the healthcare workforce while increasing the demand for services. My thesis titled, “Examining the Association Between Healthcare Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Social Security Payments (OASDI) on Baby Boomer Healthcare Professional Retirements in the East North Central of the U.S.”, explores the interplay between Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Social Security payments (OASDI). These variables offer valuable insights into the severity of this crisis and potential strategies for addressing it.

The baby boom in the United States was a period of unprecedented growth in birth rates that occurred between 1946 and 1964, following the end of World War II. This era, often characterized as a demographic phenomenon, marked a dramatic and sustained increase in population growth that reshaped societal structures, economic trends, and cultural norms in the United States. Today, the baby boomer cohort amplifies the demand for healthcare services while exposing significant gaps in the healthcare workforce as many from this generation retire from their roles as healthcare professionals. Within the next decade, more than two out of every five active physicians in the United States will be 65 or older. This trend coincides with a rising demand for healthcare services. As baby boomers age, they require more medical attention, particularly for chronic conditions and age-related health issues. This dual pressure—a shrinking workforce and growing demand—is creating unprecedented challenges for the healthcare system.

The two variables used in this study are HPSAs and OASDI payments. HPSAs are federally designated regions that show areas that lack sufficient primary care providers, mental health professionals, or dental practitioners. These areas are assessed using criteria like population-to-provider ratios, poverty levels, and geographic access to care. High HPSA scores indicate severe shortages and significant barriers to healthcare access.

Meanwhile, OASDI payments—commonly known as Social Security—serve as a proxy for tracking the aging population and retirement trends. Analyzing OASDI data alongside HPSA scores helps reveal the geographic and demographic dimensions of healthcare professional shortages.

A recent analysis of five states in the East North Central region—Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin—provides a detailed look at these challenges. This region, with its mix of urban and rural areas, offers a representative snapshot of national healthcare access disparities. The study found that counties with higher retiree populations often experience more severe healthcare shortages, as reflected in elevated HPSA scores.

After conducting statistical analyses followed by an analysis of variance, graphs revealed the correlations between HPSAs and OASDI payments. For example, as pictured below, Illinois has counties with retiree populations exceeding 40,000 showing disproportionately high HPSA scores, signaling critical shortages.

Additionally, in Indiana, HPSA scores vary, highlighting the influence of additional factors on healthcare access disparities. Factors such as local healthcare infrastructure play a significant role in shaping these disparities.

Conducting this study, I was able to conclude that Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) do have a relationship to Social Security payments (OASDI). While some states show a clear correlation between the two, others highlight the need for continued research to examine additional factors.

Ultimately, these findings underscore the pressing need to address healthcare workforce shortages exacerbated by the retirement of baby boomers. As retiree populations grow and healthcare needs intensify, identifying and implementing targeted solutions will be crucial for ensuring equitable access to care across the United States.

Lauren Lykins is a senior Honors student from Chicago, IL, studying Healthcare Management and Policy with a minor in Public Finance at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She will graduate in May 2024 and plans to return to Chicago to begin her full-time career at Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The Racial Divide in Accessing Prenatal Care: Why White and Black Mothers Face Different Premature Birth Risks

Posted on December 20, 2024 by aleforsy

Black women are three times more likely to have a pregnancy-related death, compared to White women, and infants born to Black women are over twice as likely to die in their first year of life, relative to those born to White women. One contributing factor to those statistics can be attributed to a mother receiving prenatal care or not. Prenatal care is defined as care that is given to an expecting mother during pregnancy to monitor the health of the baby. Research shows that access to prenatal care during pregnancy may decrease the likelihood of premature births and infant mortality. However, due to many barriers, not all women in the United States have equal access to prenatal care, widening the gap between Black and White infant health outcomes.

Women face numerous challenges in accessing prenatal care, including transportation issues, low socioeconomic status, lack of insurance, low education levels, and disparities in rural and urban healthcare availability. Women in rural areas often face additional difficulties due to fewer healthcare providers and lower healthcare access, while women in urban areas generally have more access to needed care. Although these barriers can affect any woman, they are especially prevalent among minority populations, like Black women. Many Black women initiate prenatal care later than White or Asian women, and they are nearly twice as likely to have late or no prenatal care compared to White women. While Black women experience significant barriers, women of color and minorities also face disadvantages. Research shows that minority women, including 34% of Black women, receive inadequate prenatal care. Mistreatment from healthcare providers, violations of privacy, and verbal abuse contribute to inadequate care.

Early prenatal care is linked to improved infant health, while late or no care correlates with poorer outcomes. This study examined how factors like race and education level influence the timing of prenatal care among Black and White women and its impact on full-term pregnancies. It was hypothesized that late initiation or lack of prenatal care increases preterm birth risk, with maternal education level playing a role.

Birth records were retrieved from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), which had information on maternal demographics, timing of prenatal care initiation, and infant health outcomes. The analysis examined how maternal education levels influenced the timing of prenatal care initiation, and its relationship to premature births. Prematurity, defined as birth before 37 weeks of gestation, was assessed through separate linear regressions for Black and White women to identify racial disparities.

The results showed that even when both racial groups had a high-school education and initiated prenatal care in months 1–3, White mothers were still 4.5 percentage points more likely than Black mothers to not have a premature birth. Furthermore, it was found that if prenatal care was initiated in months 4–6, White women had a higher likelihood of a full-term birth, with a 4.5 percentage point decrease in chances of premature birth, versus only a 3.7 percentage point decrease for Black mothers. These results highlight how even with similar education levels, early prenatal care lowers the premature birth risk more for White mothers than Black mothers.

The barriers Black women face in accessing prenatal care and the disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes highlight a critical public health issue. Understanding the barriers to care is fundamental to developing health policies that will address and reduce these racial disparities. Our generation represents the future of healthcare leadership—let’s make it count.

Allie Forsyth is a senior at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She studies Healthcare Management and Policy with a minor in Law and Public Policy. Allie is from Chicago, Illinois, and hopes to pursue a career in Medical Device Sales.

You Are What You Write: Four Tips for Owning Your Thesis

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Morgan Browne

Because you’re reading this blog post, you’re likely taking the first steps to learn more about the O’Neill Honors Thesis process. Congratulations are in order! No matter your current grade level, you are beginning the capstone experience of your undergraduate career. I hope you will find it as meaningful and rewarding as I did; in and out of the classroom, I have learned so much and become a better researcher, writer, and professional!

Your thesis-writing will be unlike any other courses you take, especially because you have so much freedom to shape your experience and own your work! From beginning to end, you get to dictate all the specifics. Several pointers follow to help you choose these specifics and make your experience as beneficial to you as possible. I wish I knew each of these concepts right off the bat, when I first enrolled in V491.

Choose a topic you love. You’re going to spend so much time with your topic and within the research of your chosen field, so make sure it’s one you’re truly interested in. And no, it doesn’t have to be within your major; while I’m a Law and Public Policy major, my topic of music education policy ventured more into the arts administration side of O’Neill. I am so glad I followed my passion instead of trying to fit in one box.
Find a mentor in your advisor. I was incredibly lucky to have the best advisor ever. She encouraged me as I wrote my thesis, kept me organized, and supported me through my busy junior and senior years. When you’re looking for a thesis advisor of your own, search for a faculty member that you get along with! That way, they’ll be someone you can go to for subject-matter advice but can also be completely real with.
Seek out resources. Help is everywhere you could possibly look: in corners of the internet, in your professor’s office, in a book you order off Amazon, in an email to another IU professor, and in your living room as you practice your presentation for your roommates yet again! While your thesis is specific to you, completing it is not something you should do alone. Every professor that fielded my questions and friend who kept me accountable helped me immensely, making the process less stressful.
Channel confidence! By the end of your semester in V499, you’ll be an expert on your topic. Be proud of this! In casual conversations and your final presentation alike, confidence is the key to communicating effectively and showing others just how hard you have worked.

Good luck on your thesis journey! You’re going to do great things.

Morgan Browne is a senior studying Law and Public Policy at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington. Her passion for music education policy sparked through Notable Measures and continues through minors in Music Studies and Communication and Public Advocacy. Following graduation, she will pursue a law degree.

Your Thesis Journey: Time Management and Connections

Posted on December 20, 2024 by lglykins

To all those reading, first of all, congratulations! Deciding to begin your undergraduate thesis is a huge accomplishment and an exciting step in your academic journey. As a senior who has just finished the thesis process, I want to say that while there is a lot ahead of you, do not stress. To help you along the way, I’ve included two key pieces of advice that made all the difference during my thesis process: mastering time management and connecting with others.

Time Management

One of the biggest challenges of writing a thesis is staying on top of the workload. A common mistake students make is thinking they have plenty of time and can put off working on their thesis until later. However, this approach will quickly lead to feeling overwhelmed. Instead, dedicate consistent time each week to work on your thesis. Whether it is a few hours every other day or a longer block of time on weekends, creating a schedule will help you break the process into manageable pieces

Set specific goals for each week- like completing a literature review section, analyzing a data set, or writing a few pages. By setting smaller, achievable milestones, the project will feel far less daunting. Additionally, it’s important to stick to your writing schedule. Treat these blocks of time as you would a class or work shift- something you’re committed to showing up for. Consistency will not only keep you on track but also allow you to make steady progress without burning out. Trust me, your future self will thank you when you’re not scrambling at the last minute to pull everything together.

Connect with Others

While writing a thesis is often seen as an independent project, connecting with others is essential for success. Your professors, Ph.D. students, and professionals with expertise in your research area are invaluable resources. Do not hesitate to reach out to them. Whether it’s for advice, feedback, or general guidance, their experience can provide insights you may not have considered. They’ve likely encountered similar challenges and can offer practical suggestions to improve your work.

For me, connecting with experts in my research field was one of the most helpful parts of the thesis process. A quick conversation or meeting often led to valuable suggestions on research methods, sources, or ways to strengthen my paper. If you’re unsure where to start, begin with your thesis advisor or a professor whose course relates to your topic. Attend office hours, send a thoughtful email, or ask if they know someone who could offer additional perspective. These connections can not only benefit your thesis but also expand your professional network for the future.

Final Thoughts

You got this! While the thesis journey may feel overwhelming at times, remember that you are more than capable of accomplishing this. Stay consistent, stay confident, and dont be afraid to ask for help when needed. This is your opportunity to explore a topic you care about and produce something that will make a difference in the world!

Lauren Lykins is a senior Honors student from Chicago, IL, studying Healthcare Management and Policy with a minor in Public Finance at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She will graduate in May 2024 and plans to return to Chicago to begin her full-time career at Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The Viability of Relocation Incentive Strategies – Tulsa Remote

Posted on December 20, 2024 by noshefsk

Relocation incentive strategies, an innovative form of economic development incentives, boost short-term economic growth, but leave mixed demographic and economic measures in the medium-term. The Tulsa Remote program led to medium-term boosts in both housing supply and births in the surrounding, non-program implementation areas, boosting regional growth.

Would you move to a new place if you were offered $10,000 to do so?

Around 3,000 individuals, or a mere three percent of those who applied to the Tulsa Remote program, had just that opportunity. The program provides a $10,000 incentive to participants who relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma. To be eligible for the award, applicants must meet certain eligibility criteria, like holding a remote job outside of the state of Oklahoma.

The Tulsa Remote program is a type of relocation incentive strategy supported by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The program was designed with unique elements, including social networking events, with an aim to build an entrepreneurial community among Tulsa Remote participants.

Sub-national governments and regional nonprofits are turning towards relocation incentive strategies as an innovative economic development solution during the era of remote work. Governmental units, or other sponsor organizations, are able to pay individuals directly to relocate to their area, as an alternative to traditional economic development incentives aimed at businesses (click here).

The United State’s labor force participation rate is declining (click here). Many cities and community organizations in middle America are attempting to find new sources of labor to boost their stagnating economies. A fall in fertility and uncertainty around the continued supply of international immigration, which is quantitatively controlled by federal policy, is leading sub-national governments into a policy entrepreneurship role.

The Tulsa Remote program led to various direct effects and in the short-term has a positive net-benefit (click here). The program, which began in November 2018, boosted direct employment income within Tulsa by $563.6 million across diverse professional industries. Tulsa Remote also drew participants from 45 states and eight nations and increased the demand for local services, including healthcare and real estate through the end of 2023 (click here).

Tulsa, Oklahoma, the experimental or program implementation area, was compared to two control groups. The first control group, the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, included the dark gray counties excluding Tulsa, Oklahoma, the area outlined in black. The second control group, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, included the area outlined in orange, excluding Tulsa, Oklahoma. Graphic provided courtesy of Dr. Annie Hsu and Nicholas Oshefsky.

The existence of a relocation incentive strategy, the Tulsa Remote program, produced minimal differences over time in our indicator measures. In the first analysis, we found that in the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, the first control group, there was a greater increase in housing supply growth during the implementation period relative to the time period before program implementation. In addition, we found that the number of births was consistently greater, within the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, relative to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the program implementation period.

In the second analysis, there were no significant differences across our indicator measures. There was a positive, yet not significant, impact on the amount of births in Tulsa County, Oklahoma relative to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

These results point to a potential secondary effect, where the existence of the relocation incentive strategy in the MSA’s central city, Tulsa, Oklahoma, (relatively) increases the rate of housing supply growth and births in the surrounding areas. The Tulsa Remote program increased the region’s direct employment income (click here) and contributed to population growth. The increase in growth within Tulsa, Oklahoma may have pushed individuals and families to the region’s peripheries for housing availability and affordability. Stable housing is generally a precondition for procreation (click here).

Overall, we find that the Tulsa Remote Program is an affordable program alternative to expensive infrastructure and other capital improvements which may draw migrating talent and create economic growth in the short-term. A relocation incentive strategy may be an applicable short-term solution to fill labor gaps, or diversify a regional economy and a probable way to boost economic growth. In the longer-term, if labor shortages, falling fertility and immigration continue to be top political issues, policymakers should work across levels of governance to find more sustainable solutions.

Nicholas Oshefsky is a fourth-year student at Indiana University Bloomington’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He studies public financial management and desires to make a positive impact after graduation in the spring.

Creativity, not Checkboxes: Indiana Elementary Music Teachers Like Their Standards Now

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Morgan Browne

Even though it ranks as the 43rd most highly educated state, Indiana may be doing something right. As students are less likely to pursue higher education and contribute to the academic vitality of the state than they are in many others, Indiana’s education policies – and their main implementers – are worth examining. At the elementary level, music teachers instruct students in foundational principles of learning and promote student success beyond their own classrooms. These elementary school music teachers have been impacted by many changes to standards, which guide their teaching, in the 21st century. Specifically, their Indiana guidelines were significantly revised in 2010 and 2018. The 2018 standards significantly decreased in specificity from the 2010 revision. This leads to my research question: how do today’s elementary school music teachers perceive their attitudes about the Indiana Academic Standards for General Music have changed since 2010?

An example of a modern Indiana elementary music standard.

Across ten interviews with elementary music teachers across Indiana, I found that teachers perceive their attitudes have changed from negative to positive. Nine of the ten relied on state standards often; this was a higher frequency than national, district, or individual-level standards. The teachers had an average of 20 years of teaching experience and were geographically spread across northern, central, and southern Indiana. Interestingly, all ten subjects had moved schools or districts at least once during their teaching careers. One even taught abroad for a year before settling in Indiana!

Nine out of ten interview subjects frequently relied on state standards.

First, teachers relayed their respect for standards in general. Interview subjects noted that standards in general are “really good guidelines” that are necessary for cohesive music education. For example, even if a student were to move schools or districts in elementary school, teachers basing their curriculum and classroom activities on the standards would ensure learning continuity for that student. Teachers voiced their appreciation for standards by saying they were “important,” “holistic,” and “very well done.”

Second, interview subjects talked about their attitudes about the standards before they changed. Their retrospective perceptions of their attitudes before the 2018 revision revealed high levels of dissatisfaction with the previous Indiana music standards. Negative attitudes abounded, as teachers said the standards were stressful in their early years of teaching and set unrealistically specific expectations. For example, guidelines for teachers to use percussion, keyboard, and wind instruments in the classroom were too specific for teachers who did not have access to all these resources. Teachers also felt that before standards were revised, they constrained instructors’ creativity. While they felt standards were important, they did not enjoy feeling boxed in by them.

Interviews supported that as standards were revised, teachers’ attitudes changed from negative to positive. Elementary music teachers felt the revised, less specific standards were much more practical. Teachers felt they were granted artistic liberties, letting them play to their strengths as instructors; this centered student exploration and enjoyment of music instead of pushing teachers to “check a box” for each standard.

Discussion of attitudes was not entirely uniform, as some teachers expressed different sentiments about standards today. One felt that they were a little too biased towards one pedagogy, or teaching style. Another personally valued modern ambiguity but worried about new teachers feeling lost. And the one subject that did not rely on state standards preferred complete creative freedom in the classroom.

However, every interviewee brought up two main themes central to the experience of a music teacher. The first was a high level of pride in their profession. Music teachers felt their job was highly specialized and required a specifically trained person to teach it properly. One interview subject stated, “music teachers are the experts. Everyone should leave music up to the experts.” Their sense of community was incredibly strong, as elementary music teachers often conferred with fellow teachers in their district and across Indiana to talk over the state standards and share advice. Interview subjects also shared concerns about Indiana’s support for music education in general. They cited a lack of attention, inclusion of teacher perspectives, and decreasing resources as stressors. One teacher even said about her peers, “it’s a viewpoint of people who are really qualified; they don’t want to stay here.”

This research should inform policymakers, administrators, and supporters of music education in Indiana and beyond: when elementary music teachers are allowed to march to the beats of their own drums – both literally and figuratively – they feel positively and are able to successfully impact students.