W1023: Understanding Recruitment and Retention in the 4H Club Program

(Multistate Research Project)

Status: Inactive/Terminating

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SAES-422 Reports

Annual/Termination Reports:

[11/07/2019] [01/01/1970]

Date of Annual Report: 11/07/2019

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/04/2019 - 09/04/2019
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2018 - 09/30/2019

Participants

Torbert, Sarah (sarahzt@ufl.ed)-University of Florida; Ewers, Tim (tewers@uidaho.edu)-University of Idaho-Cameron, Velynda (cameronv@missouri.edu) - University of Missouri; Kok, Car Mun (cmkok@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Bird, Marianne (mbird@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Cummings, Missy (missy.cummins@wsu.edu) - Washington State University; Fete, Emma (emfete@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Hill, Russell (rdhill@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Wells, Cindy (WellsCI@missouri.edu) - University of Missouri; Simpson, Rebecca (simpsonre@missouri.edu) - University of Missouri; Miller, JoLynn (jlmiller@ucanr.edu) - University of California; Rea-Keywood, Jeannette (keywood@njaes.rutgers.edu) - Rutgers University; Espinoza, Dorina (dmespinoza@ucanr.edu) - University of California

Brief Summary of Minutes

Meeting minutes:

https://ucdavis.box.com/s/ujrvjo1erwemiwttj2fyllhdf2z5l7cz

Accomplishments

Since our official announcement of multi-state status last year, our team has grown to include nine states including California, Idaho, New Jersey, Wyoming, Florida, Louisiana, Washington, New Mexico, and Missouri. Data collection for our 5th and current year is still ongoing and we hope to have final numbers reported soon.   Short-term Outcomes: There has been increased interest in states in participating in the study; each year more states join the study. Further, findings from this study have been presented at conferences (such as American Evaluation Association and National Association for Extension 4-H Agents). Fact sheets, webinars, and volunteer trainings have also been venues for dissemination. We expected that as the study continues our outcomes will include increased awareness of generalizability of multistate findings for 4-H youth and family retention; publication of joint (across the states involved) research articles and/or review articles; and greater understanding of 4-H as a culturally relevant program and barriers that exist to inclusion.   Outputs: Since last year, outputs have included a Spanish draft version of the Family Handbook in California, as well as having the California Family Handbook go through the peer review process to become an official publication with UCANR. In addition, the team has presented at many conferences including the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents, the American Evaluation Association, Western Region 4-H Leaders Forum, Society for Research on Child Development, Hawaii International Conference on Education, and the Southern 4-H Regional Directors meeting, as well as presentations in counties via the Data Party model. This model, presents data in a way that clientele can easily understand; it asks relevant questions, and encourages the clientele to come up with the own understanding of the data.   Activities: Activities the past year have remained status quo. Collecting data from first year families and youth and analyzing that data. The biggest hurdle to date is the sheer amount of qualitative data and lack of resources to process. It was discussed at our annual meeting that we may need to refine how we ask our questions in future years, so that we don’t get bogged down in thousands of qualitative responses. In addition, our team has created teams to look at other aspects of this project including impact of the family handbook, communication issues, and a team specifically intended to create tools that extension agents can put to use.   Milestones: This past year our team presented all over the country and increased awareness of our project. To have nine states on board as we move forward will help in our ability to generalize results. Activities: The research team will consider relevant findings and program improvements made as a result of the work of this group to help inform whether these improvements have impacted retention. For example, the team will continually track retention rates to see if this increases over time. Further, the team will test the impact of some programmatic changes (such as the implementation for the Family Handbook) to see if the changes made increase retention.   Milestones: The team will disseminate findings at national conferences, webinars, facts sheets, journal articles, etc. They will also incorporate recommended practices into programming to help increase recruitment and retention.   Indicators: Number of youth enrolled in the 4-H program; percentage of youth that return to the 4-H program annually.

Publications

Espinoza, D., Miller, J., Borba, J., Hill, R., Lewis, K. M., Schoenfelder, E., Trzesniewski, K. (2019, January). 4-H Volunteers define success as knowledge and learning and suggest perceived characteristics that lead youth to success. Paper presented at Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI

Impact Statements

Anticipated long-term impacts include: 1) increased youth retention in 4-H in participating states, and in turn, more youth nationwide reaching their full potential as a result of their 4-H experience; 2) increased number of youth involved in their community; and 3) increased civic, science, and health literacy of youth.

Date of Annual Report: 01/01/1970

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 09/15/2020 - 09/18/2020
Period the Report Covers: 01/01/1970 - 01/01/1970

Participants

University Of California: JoLynn Miller, Marianne Bird, Emma Fete, Russell Hill, CarMun Kok, Claudia P Diaz Carrasco, John Borba, Kali Trzesniewski, Dorina Espinoza, Liliana Vega
University of Wyoming: Sarah Torbert
Louisiana State University: Janet Fox
University of Idaho: Nancy Shelstad, Tim Ewers
Rutgers University: Jeannette Rea Keywood
University of Florida: Sarah Hensley, Dale Pracht
University of Missouri: Veylnda Cameron, Rebecca Simpson, Cindy Wells
Washington State University: Missy Cummins

Brief Summary of Minutes

The biggest decision made was to pause survey data collection for the 2019/2020 program year. This reason was twofold. Firstly, we have already collected five years of data and there are few differences year to year and state to state. If a new state joins the study, they can individually collect data to compare against the group data. Likewise, any state can use the survey-we just ask they cite our study appropriately. In addition, the group wanted to spend the majority of their time using more intense qualitative measure to look at first-year member retention. The decision was made to focus data collection on exit interviews. The implementation team will work on larger projects of dissemination regarding importance of communication and belonging to staff and volunteers.

Based on conversations at our annual meeting, the group chose to focus time on Organization of data across the four years provide a cumulative data set by theme versus by year. This will allow the team to interpret the findings across the duration of the study to make inferences about program practices that will enhance both our recruitment and retention efforts. The findings have already given insight into the for training of both county agents/educators and volunteers is needed in organization and communication. The qualitative team also provided insight based on the results of this effort to the team preparing for exit interviews and the development of the interview guide.

We used a lot of our time to do work as a team. The implementation team started on the communication/belonging video and a fact sheet for staff. In addition, the exit interview team began the paperwork for IRB, which was just approved.

Accomplishments

Currently our team consists of 8 states; California, Idaho, New Jersey, Washington, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and Wyoming. We’ve concluded collecting data via survey after five years and are finishing the analysis. Our next project is to start having in depth interviews with families who have left 4-H after their first year.    Short-term Outcomes: We have transitioned our leadership to include co-chairs from three states. Fact sheets, webinars, and volunteer trainings have also been venues for dissemination. Our group continues to have accepted presentations at national conferences. <a title="Open and view the Adult Perceptions of First-Year Experiences in 4-H poster." href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/files/344502.pdf">Adult Perceptions of First-Year Experiences in 4-H</a>. Poster presented at the Joint Council of Extension Professionals Extension Leadership Conference, San Antonio, Texas. Hensley, S., Rea-Keywood, J., Miller, J., Cummins, M. & Hill, R. (2020, February).  <a title="Open and view the Enhancing Your Program’s Peak Performance by Engaging Stakeholders in Data Interpretation presentation." href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/files/344312.pdf">Enhancing Your Program’s Peak Performance by Engaging Stakeholders in Data Interpretation</a>. Research Presentation at Epsilon Sigma Phi Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Hill, R., Rea-Keywood, J., Hensley, S. and Fox, J. (2019, October). <a title="Open and view the Adult Perceptions of First-Year Experience in 4-H poster." href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/files/342305.pdf">Adult Perceptions of First-Year Experience in 4-H</a>. Poster Session at Epsilon Sigma Phi Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Rea-Keywood, J., Hensley, S., Miller, J., Kok, C. Cummins, M. Pracht, D. (2019, October). <a title="Open and view the Understanding Program Recruitment and Retention: Lessons Learned from 4-H Youth Development presentation." href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/files/344507.pdf">Understanding Program Recruitment and Retention: Lessons Learned from 4-H Youth Development</a>. Seminar at Epsilon Sigma Phi Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Fox, J., Cummins, M. Rea-Keywood, J., and Miller, J. (2019, October). <a title="Open and view the Perceptions of First-Year Experience in 4-H (Adult) poster." href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/files/344504.pdf">Perceptions of First-Year Experience in 4-H (Adult)</a>. Poster Session at Epsilon Sigma Phi Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Rea-Keywood, J., Fox, J., Hill, R., & Hensley, S. (2019, October). In addition, our team was selected fort two awards: National Susan Barkman Research and Evaluation Award. (J. Miller, J. Rea-Keywood, S. Hensley, K. Lewis & Youth Retention Study Team), NAE4-HYDP, (2020). National Outstanding Poster Presentation Award - Adult Perceptions of First-Year Experience in 4-H. (J. Rea-Keywood, J.C. Miller, S. Hensley, J. Fox, R. Hill, & K. Lewis), Epsilon Sigma Phi, (2019). Outputs: Since our last report, the group has created a centralized pubic website to disseminate our project and share findings (<a href="https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/">https://ucanr.edu/sites/4-H_YouthRetentionStudy/</a>). In addition, our team created a two-minute video for leaders that give tips on how to welcome new members. This topic was selected based on our research findings which show belonging and communication are consistently topics new families mention when talking about their experiences as first-year members. The video has been shared over 27 times and has over 1.3 thousand views.  Activities: Based on the conversations at our 2020 annual meeting the group decided to stop collecting data via the current survey. There was so much qualitative data from the survey, we’re still analyzing some of it. In addition, there wasn’t much change year to year or state to state. The group feels we have an excellent baseline on which to move forward. The next big project is to transition to exit interviews for families who have participated in 4-H for one year and have chosen no to re-enroll. IRB exemption has been cleared in three states and interviews will begin in 2021.

Publications

Two publications are currently being reviewed by journals, while multiple others are being written and will be ready for submission soon.

Impact Statements

Anticipated impacts are increased number of youth enrolled in the 4-H program and/or increased percentage of youth that return to the 4-H program annually.