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The United States contracts foreign democracy assistance work out to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Although this is a long-standing practice, rooted in development assistance norms, the efficacy of such delegation remains to be determined due to inconsistent and methodologically flawed evaluation practices. This paper examines the manner in which nongovernmental organizations - as democracy assistance contractors - seek to deliver on their commitments to donor states and evaluate the effectiveness of their democracy assistance endeavors. The paper finds that NGO democracy assistance practices seek direct impact in terms of capacity building at the individual level, yet report on impact at the state level. NGO evaluations that ignore individual level change undermine the ability of states to hold NGO contractors accountable. A new approach to democracy assistance evaluation is proposed that seeks to increase NGO accountability through a shift in focus to individual level analysis and data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching undergraduate international studies research methods to large classes poses many challenges to professors and students alike. One solution that many professors adopt is group research projects. This paper examines the utility of group learning in large research methods courses. The objectives of group projects in large research methods courses are to maximize the individual contact that students have with the professor through regular small group meetings, to allow students to learn from each other, and to help students share the burden of conducting original social science research in one short semester. However, group learning is also very risky in terms of the increased opportunity it provides for free-riding, interpersonal conflict, and misguided group-think throughout the research process. Survey data from two semesters of large research methods courses is analyzed to determine the utility of group learning in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]