Implementation Research for Social Services Mentoring Programme (January 2022)
Registration
Interested applicants can register for the course via NUS Online Application Portal.
Registration has closed.
Kindly note that in addition to registering through the NUS Online Application Portal, interested applicants must submit a brief research proposal at this link.
About
This 13-week mentoring programme on implementation research offers social service professionals an opportunity to complete a small-scale research project to study the implementation of a programme, a policy or an intervention.
Implementation research studies any aspect of implementation, for example, the factors affecting implementation, the processes of implementation, and the outcomes of implementation, including how to disseminate and scale up a programme, a policy or an intervention. The intent of the research seeks to understand what, why, and how programmes, policies or interventions work in real world settings and to work towards improving them.
Participants in this programme will be supported by training workshops, peer group discussions and regular feedback from experienced researcher-mentors. Throughout the programme, social service professionals will be guided from the conceptualisation of the research study to data collection, data-analysis and presentation of their research findings for their implementation research project.
While the workshops and mentors may provide support on specific research methods or skills, these would tailor towards the needs and requirements of the research projects proposed. The programme strives to provide a holistic guidance and support on the different stages of research for each proposed research project.
At the end of the programme, participants are expected to achieve the following objectives:
• Conceptualise and complete a small-scale research project to study the design and implementation of a programme, a policy or an intervention independently
• Apply theories and concepts from the implementation research literature to the study
• Present and apply research findings at work
Programme Structure
The research mentoring programme will be conducted over 13 weeks. There will be 2 full-day workshops, 6 mentoring sessions, and 1 end-of-course graduation presentation.
• Workshop 1: 17 Jan 2022, 9:30AM – 5:00PM (online)
• Workshop 2: 18 Jan 2022, 9:30AM – 5:00PM (online)
• 6 mentoring sessions: to be arranged with mentors (online)
• Graduation presentation (for participants): 11 Apr 2022 (TBC)
For each mentoring session, participants will be organised in small groups of 3-4 members each and they will arrange with their mentors on suitable times to meet. Each mentoring session will last about 2 hours at timings agreed by the group.
Programme Mentors
Dr Chong Wan Har is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education, NTU. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from NTU and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from NUS. She has been a principal investigator and collaborator in the evaluation of a number of early childhood and social service programmes. She teaches programme evaluation and implementation issues in in-service and graduate level programmes at NIE.
Dr Robyn Tan is a Research Fellow at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), NUS. Her research interests include studying the implementation of policies, programmes and interventions. She has a keen interest in applying theory-driven evaluation approaches, particularly, the realist logic of inquiry in real world policy and service settings.
Programme Fee
This course is SSG-approved. Participants who are Singaporeans or Singaporean Permanent Residents will be eligible for subsidies of 70% of the course fees, excluding GST. Singaporean participants who are aged 40 years old and above will be eligible for higher subsidies of up to 90% of course fees. Participants are required to attend at least 75% of the course and obtain a pass grade for the required assignments.
Programme Fee Breakdown
