WAVERLY - Seniors in the social work program at Wartburg College presented their findings from a special project at the Saemann Student Center on campus Wednesday.

The students performed research on the impact of Iowa's recent minimum wage increases on the child care industry as part of a joint project with child care directors in the community. While most student research papers are graded and tossed aside, the students in Wartburg's social work research class will have their research passed along to state policymakers and child care directors across the state.

"We do a lot with civic engagement," said Dr. Tamara Faux, the class' professor. "In fact, that has been the theme here at Wartburg this year."

The seniors engaged child care directors and parents of children in child care with surveys and focus groups for their research. The goal of the research was to gage the impact of the law changes on the child care industry question. Although results were mixed, the January minimum wage boost could leave child care facilities scrambling to make ends meet.

Child care directors are concerned that the wage increases will increase payroll, meaning the quality of service could diminish. They were also concerned that parents of children at their facility could lose their government funding if the minimum wage bumps them over the salary requirements.

"There is a lot of concern about the minimum wage," said Mike Knapp, director of Grin and Grow Day Care in Waterloo. "But sometimes I feel like one voice in the wilderness."

Knapp was the one who originally approached Faux about the joint research program. The idea was kicked around before finally becoming a reality, and he thinks the information gained will be useful as he champions his cause.

"We will go back to legislators and show them these results," he said.

The students benefited from seeing their hard work applied to a current issue that affects the real world.

"They didn't know very much about research or the child care industry when they came into this project," said Faux. "Now they are using words like 'convenience sample' as if it had been in their vocabulary since birth."

Faux admitted that the research was not without its mistakes, as the students were still learning about the process as they were performing the research. However, the research could mark the starting point for a more inclusive study.

The students involved were Elizabeth Martin, Nikki Mettlin, Jeremy Ostman, Leo Sweeting, Katrina Meyer, Betsy Jacobsen, Tash Hauschild, Jessica Bates, Alycia Heneke, Lindsey Keeney, Heather Roby, Sarah Witte, Sara Eppley, Nikki Gamble, Katie LeGrand and Ayako Toyama.

Contact Drew Andersen at (319) 291-1418 or drew.andersen@wcfcourier.com.