Analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, & make decisions
Overview
The ability to clearly articulate what you know about problem solving is essential to public service and to your professional growth in the workplace. Opportunities for increased responsibility and promotion will depend on how well you can communicate your ability to systematically solve problems and present your finding through policy briefs. Thus, not only do you need to be able to solve problems, you must also be able to explain how you do so. For example, a writing prompt given to applicants for a management fellowship program includes the following: "Describe the most complex analysis that you have completed either in a past internship, job or school assignment. Please specify where you completed the analysis, why it was done, what the outcome of the analysis was and any analytical tools used to complete the project." Many of your courses have required you to prepare policy briefs describing your analysis of a policy issue and a position or a course of action for a decision maker. Other assignments, including those completed collaboratively, have required you to clarify the policy problem, examine the data, identify support for a particular position, and write an argument for the adoption of your position and rationale for the rejection of other alternatives, with the pros and cons of each. Drawing from the assignments and projects you have recently prepared, reflect on the process of problem solving that helped you arrive at your recommendations. If you have permission from your instructor to attach the projects as samples of your work you completed in their courses, include them with your reflection. If not, you may want to include only the executive summary or your project abstract with your reflection.
See Writing about Class Assignments and Writing about Projects for guiding questions specific to assignments and projects.
Problem-Solving Guiding Questions
What did you do? Identify & Analyze
What steps did you take to arrive at a thoughtful policy recommendation, to a solution to a problem posed by a client, or one identified through your research? What was involved with each step or with each critical component to solve a problem and prepare the brief? What did you need to learn or determine and how did you do it?What does it mean? Evaluate & Synthesize
Based upon your understanding of the critical components needed to draw sound conclusions and make reasonable recommendations, explain why each step/component is important? (What happens if you skip a step?) How do you know if your solution worked? What was the outcome of your analysis or recommendation? What type of feedback did you receive? Support your claims with compelling evidence.Who benefits and how? Transfer (Bottom Line)
How do you expect to use these steps when analyzing new problems, requiring you to evaluate an issue and advise accordingly? What are you learning about problem solving and decision making? Describe how this credential will be useful in the professional work you will be pursuing after graduation.
In addition, your coursework, projects, internships, and capstone have increased your ability to think critically, solve problems, and make decisions. What have you learned about the following topics below? Where, how, and when did you learn it, and what will this mean to the work you will do post graduation?
designing research strategies appropriate for addressing different kinds of policy and management issues
using different kinds of data and data-gathering techniques
using statistical methods as well as qualitative techniques in conducting research
applying concepts of validity and reliability
applying concepts such as pareto optimality, supply and demand, indifference curves, price inelasticities, the incidence of taxes and subsidies, and market imperfections
knowing normative implications of approaches to management and policy making
understanding different models of policy making and decision making
reconstructing and criticizing research by others
synthesizing the findings of literature on a given topic and to identify issues that remain to be addressed
producing memoranda, briefs, reports, and research papers that are logically organized and clearly written
discussing competing viewpoints in an open and respectful way
Courses, assignments, and high-impact experiences that address this outcome
PSAA 611: Public Policy Formation, Deborah Kerr. Assignments include the following: Briefing papers and collaborative project requiring analysis of a policy issue and recommendations for future action. Analysis papers on assigned readings regarding a particular theory addressed through class discussions. Rejoinders responding to another student's analysis, pointing out strengths, adding information to remedy gaps, and identifying alternative viewpoints and interpretations.