In the summer of 2005, Minnesota regional extension
educators were asked by researchers from Tufts University to help
collect statewide data as part of their national longitudinal study
of positive youth development. Research and evaluation staff at
the U of M Center for 4-H Youth Development wanted to learn more
about their experience as data collectors. To obtain this feedback
Center staff put together a short survey. The goals of this survey
were to:
1) understand the strengths as well the obstacles of the data
collection process,
2) determine if continuing participation in the longitudinal
study is feasible (i.e., if improvements are made, do benefits
outweigh the costs?), and
3) refine the study implementation process to make it more efficient
for future research endeavors here in Minnesota.
We present a few findings here to illustrate the next step toward
reaching those goals. A total of 19 respondents filled out this
survey. The sample is primarily made up of REEs, but APLs and other
Extension staff familiar with the study were also invited to respond.
Notable Insights
- While staff felt communication about the study process was clear,
tasks like ordering surveys, identifying youth participants, and
finding a time for youth to take the survey created some difficulty.
- A major concern about the study was the length of the student
survey (e.g., it took some youth more than two hours to complete).
- Winter is most likely the best time to conduct a study that
involves REEs as coordinators/data collectors.
- In general, respondents said they were motivated to participate
as data collectors.
- 18 of the 19 respondents rated their overall experience participating
in this study as either fair or good.
- Improvement ideas for future research were encorporating sample
publicity matierals (for parents and youth), more communication
about how research results will be used, more attractive incentives
for study participation, and more time to implement the study.
- Results were mixed regarding whether the benefits of participation
outweighed the costs.
A complete listing of the results by survey item can be found here.
Note that open-ended responses are not included.
Please feel free to contact Brent Bolstrom (bolst038@umn) or Mary
Marczak (marcz001@umn.edu) if you would like to offer more feedback
or learn more about the 4-H National Longitudinal Study of Positive
Youth Development. We hope to provide summary results from the study
when they are made available by the Tufts researchers.
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