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MA/PhD Theses Abstracts of Current Students & Alumni |
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Von Trapp, Carolena (MA). Parental involvement at Creative Clay, a community arts center, (Bird). 2003.
Creative Clay, Inc. Cultural Arts Center (CC) is a relatively small but very successful non-profit organization that serves as an Adult Day Training (ADT) facility for adults with Intellectual Disabilities (IDs). The center has two campuses, and would like to expand by adding a third in a neighboring sate. Before such an expansion was finalized the directors decided take stock of the existing organization and determine where there may be opportunities for growth and revenue that have heretofore gone untapped. The directors and board members initiated a full scale program evaluation. As part of that evaluation they requested a supplemental investigation into the degree of parental involvement they were currently experiencing. The purpose of this paper is to report on a nine month anthropological study which set out to determine degrees of parental involvement at CC. Ethnographic methods such as participant-observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews were performed on 28% (n =16) of the parents of student's with IDs who participate in CC's program offerings. A single researcher performed all data gathering activities and all data analysis. The data shows that for the most part the parents of the 57 students at CC are uninvolved. Three factors that account for low parental involvement surfaced, (1) parents had lowered expectations of outcomes from an ADT facility, (2) disparity in key operational definitions between CC directors and parents, and (3) lack of clarity and direction on the part of the directors of CC as to what exactly they want from the parents. Recommendations are conservative for eliciting a wider distribution of parental involvement. It is recommended however, that seeking a deeper but narrow distribution of parental involvement may well be achieved through outreach, communication, and a redefining of goals. The outcomes of this study may be a useful guide to similar organizations who seek to expand services. The practice of applied anthropology is informed by this study in that a number of methodological and ethical issues arose during the course of research. These issues are explored in terms of the solutions that were employed and lessons learned in the practice of ethnographic research.
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