Intersecting Faith and Data within the Classroom

Kristina Khederlarian, PhD, an Azusa Pacific alumni and new faculty member, decided to embed a service-learning project in her first semester of teaching in APU’s School of Business and Management.

Here at APU, we proudly merge faith and academia. Professor Khederlarian took the initiative to offer her students a way to practically intertwine their beliefs and coursework. Before doing so, she asked her students…

“Is it possible for data and faith to mix?”

Serving the Community

Students charged with this question chose to answer by using data skills to serve vulnerable populations in the local LA county community and give a voice to disabled children that are not able to speak for themselves. Khederlarian states their found dilemma below:

“COVID has created a care economy collapse. As a result of the pandemic, incentive programs have been created to encourage LVNs to participate in COVID related programs. Many of these programs pay significantly more than the typical salary for LVNs working in home care. An unintended consequence of these programs is a storage of available LVNs to work with vulnerable populations that need in-home care. Research has previously shown that keeping people with disabilities in the home results in better outcomes than placement in facilities.”

Students in the School of Business and Management were able to not only identify this problem, but find quantitative data to address the shortage of at-home LVN support before there is forced institutionalization. Khederlarian shares how they did so below:

“Using predictive analysis to show decision makers the long-term unintended effects of this phenomenon, students pulled data and created visualizations that explain the implications of salary incentive programs. They looked at the average pay for LVNs working in home care, the pay for LVNs who are working in the COVID related facilities, and then the cost of living in the community for a single-family home. The data showed them that the average LVN pay for nurses working in home care is significantly lower than the pay offered for LVNs participating in the COVID related incentive programs. The results showed that they were getting paid close to double the amount to work in vaccine clinics. In addition, they saw that the cost of living in LA county may be unobtainable by the average home care LVN salary. It was a no brainer, of course employees would make the choice to get higher pay for less work, especially when they are barely making ends meet.”

Admiring their Work

By finding and visualizing this data, students were able to help decision makers in LA County to understand and address this phenomenon. This project proved, through connecting data analysis and community engagement, that faith and data indeed do mix! Khederlarian was so pleased with the results of her hypothesis that the work of these students will be featured in a documentary.

Note: This information is current for the 2023-24 academic year; however, all stated academic information is subject to change. Refer to the current Academic Catalog for more information.