Research

Ciara’s research has focused on applying socio-behavioral theories to racial/ethnic and culturally diverse programs, evaluation, and applied settings. For example, her master’s thesis tested a model representing how stereotype threat perceptions operate in the workplace, particularly the effect on working women and their intent to leave the organization. Her model was supported, and she used it to emphasize the importance of diversity management in organizations. Similarly, Ciara’s doctorate thesis focused on how stereotype threat could operate in evaluation environments and negatively impact evaluation practice. Findings provided insight for future research on how evaluators are trained. Ciara also has a fascination with communitive-based participatory research (CBPR). For example, she was part of a CBPR team that studied the impact of culturally tailored health interventions on health behavior among Pacific Islanders in Southern California. Additional research topics Ciara has been exploring concern the use of data visualization in communicating program theory (i.e., logic models) and the role of cultural and political contexts in evaluation practice.