April 25th, 2022 | RESEARCH
Many youth programs seek to understand their influence over time on participant outcomes. This paper offers a methodology for measuring a participant’s perception of a program’s contribution amid their perception of other youth influences such as those from family, school, peer groups, hobbies, and other organized activities. The instrument built on the large body of work on youth influences in order to capture the dominant factors in development of the item bank. In addition to item development, the paper documents face validity followed by content assessment of items using a research panel, a principal component analysis using a second panel, and a full pilot with older teens in other summer intensive programs. The scale’s implementation for baseline and annual follow-up measures of an intensive summer research experience revealed stable and high relative contribution to older teen participants’ academic and career decision making over time. The final scale includes 19 items in 6 factors of family & religion; interests organized by others; adult responsibilities; school; arts; and interests organized by self. The scale proved to be responsive to changes in influences while remaining stable over time
Document
Team Members
Joe E Heimlich, Author, COSIDeborah Wasserman, Author, COSI
Karen Tingley, Author, WCS
Su-Jen Roberts, Author, WCS
Jason Aloisio, Author, WCS
Citation
Identifier Type: DOI
Identifier: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2022.102091
Publication: Evaluation and Program Planning
Volume: 92
Page(s): 102091
Funders
Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: AISL
Award Number: 1421017
Funding Amount: 577573
Funding Program: AISL
Award Number: 1421019
Funding Amount: 568271
Related URLs
Collaborative Research: Project TRUE (Teens Researching Urban Ecology)
Tags
Audience: Educators | Teachers | Families | Learning Researchers | Museum | ISE Professionals | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Ecology | forestry | agriculture | Education and learning science
Resource Type: Peer-reviewed article | Research Products
Environment Type: Public Programs | Summer and Extended Camps