Laboratory Coordinator
Dr. Emma Sunnassee
J-9 Research Directorate
Patrick AFB, FL 32925
US Citizens and Permanent Residents (PR)
The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) Summer Faculty and Sabbatical Leave Programs provide college/university faculty the opportunity to conduct research at the Defense Department's premier equal opportunity training and research center located at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida (on Florida's Space Coast). DEOMI has served as the clearinghouse for equal opportunity research within the Department of Defense since 1987. Both the Summer Faculty and Sabbatical Leave programs are designed to provide expert research in five program areas:
Diversity, Organizational Characteristics, and Organizational Effectiveness
The main objective of this element is to understand the complex relationships between personnel diversity and unit effectiveness. Our expectation is that organizational processes (see below) are an important component of this relationship. Examples of representative research questions include:
-- How do we define and measure "diversity"? What are the elements of diversity? What are the effects of varying demographic patterns within an organization?
-- What organizational processes are necessary to understand the effects of diversity on organizational effectiveness (e.g., communication, training, leadership, motivation, EO/EEO compliance practices, stressors, organizational design, etc.)?
-- How do we define and measure "organizational effectiveness"?
DEOMI Institutional Research
This element directly supports DEOMI institutional needs. These projects are designed to enhance the effectiveness of DEOMI's internal processes particularly instruction, faculty development, equal employment opportunity ,and resource development for Equal Opportunity Advisors (EOAs) in the field. Examples of typical institutional research projects include:
-- Training effectiveness as measured by performance of students and faculty, student feedback, and feedback from unit commanders
-- Program effectiveness including research, consultation, library, and other support services
-- Validation of student performance measures
-- Curriculum development
-- Development of and needs assessment for EOA publications such as the special observance pamphlets and other publications used for the Directorate clearinghouse function.
Organizational Assessment System Development
Organizational surveys are complex systems involving ongoing evaluation of the questionnaires for content relevance, user reactions and feedback, design of the report package, incorporation of state-of-the-art technology, and consultation and training for users in effective application of survey results. Examples of issues relevant to this line of research include:
-- Psychometric research on survey instruments, including questionnaire length reduction, item wording changes to reduce reactivity, and scale development to address issue coverage
-- Develop and implement a process consultation capability to provide organizational assessment, action planning, implementation, and evaluation of change
-- Design and evaluation of survey feedback report designs
DoD Demographic Analysis
The objective of this element is to understand the composition of the military and civilian force. This includes cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Examples of research issues in this area include:
-- What are the distributions of various demographic groups in terms of occupational tracks, rank, promotions, and other indicators of integration and career success?
-- Longitudinal modeling and projections
OSD / DEOMI special projects
These projects are typically special requests from the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity (ODUSD(EO)). Listed below are examples of typical projects that have been proposed.
-- Military Equal Opportunity Analysis (MEOA) annual aggregation analysis
-- Historical analysis of "Black Americans in Defense of our Country"
-- Develop an ongoing series of papers to alert senior managers of "horizon" diversity issues
-- "Costing" of diversity
-- Benchmarking models