Blood from a Stone Researching the Public Sector

Background Thesis Title: Affordable Family Rental Housing: Successful Practices In Massachusetts Communities Research Question: What factors influence success in affordable housing development?

Methodology 1) Obtain a list of recent “successful” affordable housing developments Success accepted by community (eventually) financially feasible generally considered an asset to the community 2) Choose 3 cases 3) Determine why these developments were “successful” where so many encounter serious obstacles

Timeframe December 10 – Thesis Proposal Approved 24 – Complete Selection of Bibliographic Materials January 15 – Literature Review Substantially Complete February 6 – Preliminary interviews with key informants completed; project examples selected 13 – Interviews with project contacts set up March 8 – 1st Draft Completed & Submitted to readers 18 – Thesis Review Meeting completed April 1 – Comments incorporated into final draft and submitted to advisor 9 – Thesis Approved 14 – Thesis Printed and Submitted

Process Initial Interviews Director: MA Affordable Housing Trust Fund Deputy Director for Policy Development: Massachusetts Department of Housing & Community Development Executive Director: Massachusetts Housing Partnership Case Interviews Developer Housing agency employees; policy directors Local Community Development professionals

Dealing with the Public Sector Getting the interview Highlight benefits to interviewees Be flexible Leverage relationships Beg Conducting the interview Treat the time spent as a personal favor and sacrifice Guarantee confidentiality if requested Minimize fears or suspicion After the Interview Be endlessly grateful Send a follow-up thank you letter Offer to share your final project or research results Include all interviewees in your acknowledgements

Problems: Interviewing Interviewing Initial timeframe did not take busy schedules into consideration Ability to meet for interviews extremely difficult General suspicion of research aims by public officials Clarify research aims Confidentiality Issues 2 of 3 selected cases incurred a high degree of non- response – had to replace cases Student status carries little cache You are their last priority Travel to case sites in the middle of winter in a 1989 Tercel Breakdowns – of various sorts Could not conduct all interviews in person

Dealing with Your Committee Choose your committee wisely No such thing as “just” a reader Advisor=adversary or obstacle? Establish deadlines and stick to them If you don’t, why should they? Be persistent when (not if) readers are slow in getting comments back Don’t try and do too much Keep big picture in sight Take criticism well – these people know what they’re doing BUT, don’t lose your vision to others’ input Get OK on research questions and goals early on Stick to them

Problems: Writing Thesis Committee turnaround Persistence or annoyance? Divergent goals between author and committee Whose research goals are we dealing with here? Motivation Balancing classes and writing Senioritis – focus on the present

The Key to your Future? Dealing with the public sector Conducting yourself well could lead to a dream job Interviewing public figures demonstrates your knowledge and passion for their subject Being demanding, disrespectful, or inflexible can shut a lot of doors Dealing with your committee Good process=great recommendations Bad process=apathy How self-motivated are you? How well do you handle stress? Are you flexible enough to handle obstacles? How well do you respond to criticism?