Mediation Needs Assessment:
Evaluating Conflict on Campus
This module is designed for individuals or teams who are
considering developing mediation services for an institution
of higher education. It is intended to assist you in
assessing the need for a mediation service on your campus
and identifying the most appropriate types of service for
the campus community. Specifically, you will be able
to:
* gather information concerning the current
level of conflict resolution practices;
* discover the state of general knowledge
regarding conflict resolution;
* identify the types of conflict
that occur and the locations in which these conflicts most
often arise;
* locate other stakeholders who may act
as resource people for a mediation service; and,
* learn about how members of your campus
have been affected by conflict in their classrooms, workplaces,
recreational, and living spaces.
The module consists of five research tools. Varying
levels of expertise are needed for using each tool; for some,
little or no knowledge of research methods are necessary,
whereas others will require skills and expertise in survey
research, sampling techniques, or descriptive statistics.
It is recommended that your team begin by considering which
tools will generate the knowledge needed to begin forming
a mediation service; you may find that only one research tool
is needed, or you may wish to use all five.
What is a Needs Assessment?
In general, a needs assessment is a type of research.
It is usually performed before a new program is implemented,
providing you valuable information about existing conditions
that could be addressed. For example, conducting a needs
assessment during the planning stages for a campus mediation
program will allow the program sponsors to evaluate the need
for conflict services on campus.
How Do You Use the Tools?
Before you begin collecting your own information on the need
for conflict services (using the suggested research tools
contained in this module), you may wish to consult information
sources that already exist. These may give you a preliminary
idea about the type, intensity, and level of conflict on campus,
as well as the resources that people in conflict have been
utilizing. Suggestions for valuable information sources
include:
* Student Judicial Affairs/Honor Board
case reports
* Ombuds annual reports
* Letters to campus or community newspapers
dealing with conflict situations
* Union grievance records
* Residence Hall incident reports
* Campus security statistics
* Sexual harassment complaints
* Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints
Tread carefully when gathering information from many of the
above sources; much of the information is sensitive and/or
confidential in nature. Gaining access to some types
of documents may require special permissions and/or agreements
on your part regarding the specific use of the data.
In addition to helping you understand the patterns of conflict
on your campus, annual reports listing counts or summaries
of the kinds of complaints/disputes/cases handled by various
campus offices can also be helpful for establishing a baseline
prior to the implementation of your program. Reviewing
these figures annually, or after your program has been in
place for some time, can be revealing, especially if case
patterns in other areas change after your system goes into
service.
Each research tool comes with instructions and/or examples.
In some cases, you may wish to adapt or modify the tools to
more closely reflect the culture of your campus. Each
tool is preceded by a description, intended to help your team
plan for a needs assessment, that includes the following information:
(1) the questions that can be addressed; (2) how to
use the tool; and, (3) insight into what the results may provide.
Research tools in this needs assessment module include:
- Where would they go? (case examples
to indicate the current state of knowledge regarding conflict
resolution on campus).
- HotSpot Mapping (physically
locates the sites of frequent conflict).
- Conflict Typology Matrix (determines
what types of conflict are being experienced by whom, about
what, and their level of frequency and intensity).
- Stakeholder Analysis Chart (identifies
allies in your mission).
- Conflict Management Inventory
(assesses conflict styles used by individuals on campus
such as confrontation, emotional expression, conflict avoidance).
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