Final Reflection

Due Week 15 (Friday, December 11)

Author

Prof. Jack Reilly

Published

Fall 2026

Instructions

Write a minimum two-page single-spaced (12 pt. Times New Roman) letter to your client making a recommendation based on your research this semester.

Write, address, and format the letter as if it were a formal communication. This will not be given to your client unless you choose to send it to them.

Organization, clarity, and grammar will be considered during marking. Please cite sources where appropriate using APA-style citations. Use in-text citations and include a references page.

There are three required parts to this letter:

  1. An introductory paragraph
  2. A policy proposal or a research proposal
  3. An organizational process proposal
Note

Individuals in groups must indicate what elements of the final deliverable were completed by each group member.

Required: brief introductory paragraph

Briefly thank your client for being your client; explain why you are writing them the letter (that is, a central thesis statement); summarize the proposals you make; and conclude with the key takeaways of the letter.

Choose one: policy proposal or research proposal

Option 1: Policy proposal

Create a policy proposal to improve the organization or its policies.

  • Policy formulation. Discuss the problem, goal, causes, and your policy proposal. Cite at least three graphs you made in your final report and include them as an appendix.
  • Policy implementation. Discuss administration and political feasibility of implementing this program. Discuss (i) monetary costs, (ii) staffing and workload involved, and (iii) other challenges to implementation.
  • Policy evaluation. How would you design a feasible study or any data collection method to measure your policy’s impact? Please describe these impacts in terms of (i) improving accuracy and representativeness, (ii) the use of benchmarks and forecasts to chart progress, (iii) effectiveness in achieving the mission statement, and (iv) efficiency in terms of resources necessary.

Option 2: Future research study

Detail one research project that the agency might want to conduct to follow up on your study. Explain why.

  • Question formulation. Identify a new study the agency might want to conduct to better understand their agency, clients, and so on. Cite findings from your study that suggest need for a new study, and/or external sources that support the value of such a new study.
  • Research questions. What questions should the new study ask, and how should it ask them? Should the agency use a survey or collect data elsewhere to answer these questions? If a survey, who should be surveyed, and how? If data elsewhere, where and how would this data be gathered? Are there any specialized methods the study will need to use to answer these questions and analyze the data? Discuss at minimum four new questions or findings the study seeks to address.
  • Research significance. Why would the agency benefit from seeing the results of this new study? What specific information would the study give the client that would be valuable to its operation?

Required: organizational process proposal

Comment on how future students completing Community Link research projects could work more effectively with the agency. Discuss how the process of working with them could have been streamlined. Please keep Dale Carnegie principles in mind when writing this section.