Course Description
The social sciences are a valuable but often overlooked element of coastal zone management. Issues from marsh restoration to flood mitigation all involve understanding critical human elements— knowledge, values, and attitudes—of the people who live, work, and play in these areas. Topics to choose from for this online course include Understanding Stakeholders, Conducting Interviews, and Writing Effective Survey Questions.
Module 1: Understanding Stakeholders
This live, online module introduces the novice participant to prominent social science disciplines, important social science questions, and ways in which social science can be used to meaningfully and systematically engage stakeholders.
You will learn how to
- Recall the major social science disciplines and their applicability to coastal zone management
- Identify and incorporate behavioral considerations from the social sciences in defining a problem
- Conduct a stakeholder analysis
- Evaluate the strengths and limitations of different stakeholder engagement techniques
Duration: 2.5 hours
Module 2: Conducting Interviews
This live, online module provides participants with the knowledge to create an “interview guide” tool and conduct effective interviews that can be used in multiple resource management settings.
You will learn how to
- Recognize three types of interviews, as well as their purposes, strengths, and limitations
- Construct an interview guide using best practices for question construction and sequencing
- Design and conduct a mock interview, ensuring that all components are included
- Critique mock interviews and identify best practices and common pitfalls for execution of an interview
Duration: 2 hours
Module 3: Writing Effective Survey Questions
Surveys are a popular information collection tool to help coastal managers understand their stakeholders and quickly assess large populations. Unfortunately, because of their popularity, many people untrained in survey creation administer poorly designed surveys that yield questionable results. This live, online module serves to provide coastal managers with best practices to write more effective survey questions.
You will learn how to
- Review and critique surveys, and identify common mistakes in question design
- Incorporate 25 best practices when creating survey questions
- Create appropriate question layout and design
- Identify ways to improve survey questions that yield desired data types
Duration: 1.5-2 hours
Continuing Education Credits
Depending on the number of modules attended, this course offers one to five hours of continuing education credit for Certified Floodplain Manager professional certifications.
Participant Requirements
Internet connection, speakers, training handouts accessible (preferably printed)