Research and Grants

students attend a conferenceResearch at the CDR

The CDR’s many community and campus programs provide rich and varied opportunities for research that can impact not only the programs themselves and the communities they serve but the field of conflict management as a whole. As an organization committed to the public affairs mission of the University, and to student involvement, the CDR involves students in its research work at every level. This not only provides assistance to the CDR but also encourages students to apply what they have learned in the classroom while gaining hands-on experience with the ways in which research can offer practical and theoretical benefits to our society.

Student research examples

Examples of research that has been or is being conducted which involves or is led by undergraduate and graduate students include (but are not limited to):

  • a qualitative examination of essays submitted by youth participating in the CDR’s Victim-Impact Panel program, looking for indications of remorse, perspective taking, and transformation (among other themes)
  • an examination of themes presented in the journals of high-conflict divorcing and never-married co-parents taking part in the CDR’s Shared Spaces program
  • an artifact analysis of images of conflict generated by high-conflict co-parents and their children
  • an analysis of the advantages and challenges the CDR’s University-Court collaboration to provide an educational program for high-conflict co-parents
  • a qualitative review of the impact of the Girls Circle support group program for at-risk girls taking part in the CDR’s Networks for Girls Program
  • a qualitative analysis of the experiences of facilitators in the CDR's Family Group Conferencing program
  • an assessment of the training of "victim presenters" in the CDR's Victim Impact Program for Youth

Additionally, students taking part in the research activities of the CDR have opportunities to present their research at regional and national conferences - an outstanding opportunity for scholarship that further exposes them to professionals and academics who work with and study communication and conflict management.

The CDR’s programs offer a wealth of research data that is sure to entice students and enrich their education. These opportunities benefit students, the CDR, Missouri State University, and society as a whole.

Grant funding

The CDR secures grant funding to support many of its high-impact community programs.

History of grant funding:

2016-2018, Collaborative Grant with Greene County Family Court, Shared Spaces Program

  • Collaborative grant with the Greene County Family Court, funded by the Missouri Office of State Court Administrators. Funds the CDR to offer the Shared Spaces program, which addresses high-conflict impacts on divorcing couples with children in Greene County by reducing the level of family and inter-parental conflict, children’s exposure to parental conflict, and the frequency of re-litigation over residential arrangements and parenting plans. Families in the program take part in a parent education session that focus on communication and conflict skills, followed by an intensive series of conflict coaching sessions.

2012 – 2017, Regional Partnership Grant

  • Collaborative grant with Alternative Opportunities Inc. (AOI), provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. Provides funds for support services for parents in recovery who are at risk of having their children removed from the home. The CDR receives funding from this grant to provide Family Group Conferences for children with a parent in recovery.

2010 – 2012, Title II Grant

  • Provided by the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the Missouri Juvenile Justice Advisory Group from monies provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Funds the CDR to offer the Networks for Girls program, which provides family group conferencing services and a Girls Circle program for youthful female offenders in Greene County.

2008-2010, Juvenile Justice Grant

  • Collaborative grant with Missouri’s 26th Circuit Juvenile Office. Funded the CDR to provide training and support to assist Camden, Laclede, Miller, Morgan, and Moniteau counties to develop and administer a Juvenile Victim-Offender Mediation Program.

2008, Collaborative Grant with Greene County Juvenile Court and Family Court

  • This collaborative grant funded the CDR to provide a seminar for professionals who work with high-conflict families, as well as advanced mediation training sessions for court staff and local mediators for use in direct practice with their clients and families involved in contested court cases.

2006, Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Juvenile Victim Offender Mediation Program Training

  • This grant provided support to bring in Dr. Mark Umbreit, of the Center for Peace and Restorative Justice at the University of Minnesota, to train volunteer mediators for the CDR’s Juvenile Victim-Offender Mediation Program, which is a collaborative effort with the Greene County Juvenile Office.

2006, Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Shared Spaces Family Conflict Support Program

  • This grant provided ongoing support for materials acquisition, staff, and delivery of a youth conflict program and targeted conflict interventions and mediation support for families participating in Shared Spaces, a supervised access program of the Greene County Family Court.

2004-2005, Junior League of Springfield. Program for Young Negotiators

  • Provided support for materials acquisition and delivery of the Program for Young Negotiators conflict program for middle school students.

2003, Junior League of Springfield. Program for Young Negotiators

Provided support for materials acquisition and delivery of the Program for Young Negotiators conflict program for middle school students.