Knox Area Family and Child Study (KAFACS) Lab
M.S. in CFS • Ph.D. in CFS • Applications • Assistantships • Graduate Courses • Graduate Handbook
The Knox Area Family and Child Study Lab is a department-wide, faculty-initiated and monitored research training laboratory. Through KAFACS projects, a research practicum experience is provided that integrates both graduate and undergraduate methods training with hands-on research experience. At least once every two years, a KAFACS project will involve data collection from a panel or sample of families and children in the Knox County area. Samples will be drawn from the surrounding Knox County area population, from child care facilities, from agencies, from schools, and so forth, depending upon the topic and design of the research. The topic of study will be determined by the faculty member or members selected to supervise the KAFACS project for that year. The research methods implemented will be determined by the topic and the interests of the supervising faculty member and/or his/her team, but it is expected that legitimate opportunities to engage in a variety of methods of data collection and analysis will be made available as part of the KAFACS experience for graduate students.
To be successful, the KAFACS lab must be orderly, systematic, and able to draw upon a cadre of trained graduate students capable of supervising undergraduate research methods students. In their first or second year of doctoral study, all graduate students would enroll in the KAFACS lab for six CR over the course of a full academic year. These students would form the heart of the KAFACS research labor pool. A second tier of leadership would be provided by two more senior graduate assistants assigned to the KAFACS lab and working under the guidance of the faculty supervisor/s.
Over time, KAFACS projects will not only provide a hands-on research opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students, but the projects themselves can serve as valuable generators of pilot data for faculty in their search for external funding. The data collected with each project will form an archive of valuable data that can be used to inform class papers and assignments, and for student theses, pre-doctoral projects, and dissertations. More immediately, the resulting data and analyses will be a means for reporting valuable community-based information on issues of concern to members of the local community (ie, outreach).
Contact CEHHS
335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996
Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718