Youth Connectedness Project: Methodology and dissemination strategies

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Youth Connectedness Project Methodology and
dissemination strategies

• Crespo, C., Pryor, J., Kleeb, J. Jose, P.
• Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families
• Victoria University of Wellington

6th Australia New Zealand Health
Conference Christchurch -September, 2007
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WHO WE ARE

• Researchers from
• and
• Funded by

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A BRIEF HISTORY

• Official title Connectedness in young New
  Zealanders
• social connectedness, transitions, and
  well-being
• We began in mid-2004 and are scheduled to finish
  the grant
• in mid-2009.
• Our chief goal is to collect annual self-report
  longitudinal
• data, via survey, on a large sample of early
  adolescents over
• three years (06, 07, and 08). We also collect
  data, each
• year, from parents and school principals.
• We surveyed 2173 young people in 06, and have
  currently
• recollected from 88 (n1914) of young people in
  07 (ongoing).

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BUILDING THE YOUTH SURVEY
Survey construction was founded on a grounded
approach of engaging with the following
people -Youth Advisory Boards (YABs) -Youth
focus groups interviews -Interviews with
teachers, parents, youth workers. -Stakeholder
Advisory Boards (Govt. youth
relevant NGOs) In the first instance we asked
YABs to define connectedness and doing well
and to give examples. This information was
probed and built upon. We also conducted both
NZ-specific and international literature reviews.
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THE PROCESS
Literature Review
YAB 1
Youth focus groups
YAB 2
Youth focus groups Interviews with
youth, parents, teachers, youth workers. Stakehold
er meeting
YAB 3
1st draft survey
YAB 4 pretests
Pilot 1 survey (4 schools)
Pilot 2 survey (5 schools, 4 community groups)
Year 1 survey (78 schools)
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KEY DOMAINS IDENTIFIED
Wellbeing
Connectedness to/between
Family/Whanau
Mental/Physical Health
Schools/Kura
Identity
Culture
Impacts on
Happiness/Confidence
Friends/Peers
Communities
Education
Technology
Self Worth
Spirituality
Also measured stress, coping and personality
factors. Core assumption is that connectedness
impacts on wellbeing, but also strong likelihood
the pattern is bi-directional/reinforcing.
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YOUTH ADVISORS AT WORK YAB 4
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BY YAB 4 WE WERE YCP WHANAU!
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BIG MIHI/RESPECT TO YAB

• When our time together came to an end both sides
  felt sad.
• You are the experts, you confidently articulated
  youth reality. You have a voice that needs to be
  listened to.
• The more we built our relationships the greater
  the quality of information shared between us.
• We gave you certificates and letters of support
  and hope these serve you well as you move into
  the future.
• In addition, we gave tangible recognition to the
  time and
• commitment of YABs, Youth Focus Groups and our
• survey participants.

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SURVEY AGE SAMPLING
Age Group
Distib. 06
(2006)
(2007)
(2008)
1
10-11
11-12
12-13
36.4
14-15
13-14
32.7
2
12-13
16-17
30.9
3
14-15
15-16
Corresponds to Year 6, 8 and 10 students in
2006. Note pre-tests were extremely important
to make sure the generic Year 1 survey was
equally understandable to all.
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IN 06 THE SURVEY WAS FILLED OUT ON LAPTOPS
The survey took an average time of 50 minutes to
complete. Research assistants were there to help
young people with the survey.
In 07 it was completed either on laptop or via
the internet.
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PROS CONS OF LAPTOP DELIVERY

• PROS
• Allows inclusion of more questions as skips and
  branches ensure participants only view questions
  of relevance to their life circumstances.
• Youth enjoy interacting with this medium.
• Researcher input errors and time to input data
  are eliminated.
• Eliminates concerns about differing computer
  operating systems and cross-school variability in
  web access facilities.
• Data collection can be conducted in a free
  space that does not disrupt wider school
  activities.
• CONS
• We purchased 30 laptops - big initial outlay.
• Transporting 30 laptops is strenuous and requires
  appropriate vehicles.
• Uploading data from 30 laptops is monotonous.
• We have now activated web surveys, but have yet
  to trial them in
• schools.

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• Dissemination Strategy
• Main goals
• - Commitment to feed back the project results
  to participants and relevant agents in the wider
  community
• Receive feed back and actively use it during the
• projects life time

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• Questions asked
• Who? What? When? Why and How?
• Goals for Year 1
• Dissemination of year 1 data and ground
  preparation for the
• following years
• Challenges for Year 1
• Balance between open and closed parts
• Balance between action/information and reflection
  
• Balance between face to face and more indirect
  rapport
• Effective resources management

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Dissemination Targets
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Stakeholders Wider community Media

• Meetings with stakeholders
• Conferences
• Website improvement and update
• Media (consultation and action)
• Project Day Seminar (4th October, Wellington)

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Councils

• Reports to councils
• Including.
• - data addressing community experiences
  and perceptions
• - data from participants of 12 areas in
  the North Island
• Wellington city
• Porirua
• Lower Hutt
• Upper Hutt
• Otaki
• Kapiti
• Taranaki
• New Pymouth
• Waitara
• Wanganui
• Wairarapa
• Ongoing work with Wellington City Council

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Schools

• - Reports to schools
• Including
• - results from young peoples survey and
  principals survey
• - results from the overall sample and also
  results from each school and community
• - Meetings with some of the participating schools

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Families

• - Reports/feed back to families
• Contact families/parents associations and
• promote a closer contact with them
• - Discussion group with parents (?)

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Young people

• Focus groups
• Youth presence in our Day Seminar
• Work with youth groups (?)

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Methodology and Dissemination What brings them
together?

• Building meaningful relationships along the way
  (from targets to partners)
• Encouraging a collaborative and grounded
  approach
• Endeavouring to do research with and for more
  than research on

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Youth Connectedness Project

• Spiral learning
• (Bateson, M. C., 2004)

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Year 3 Young peoples participation ( e.g.,
focus groups)
Year 2 Young peoples participation ( e.g.,
focus groups)
Year 1 Young peoples participation ( e.g.,
focus groups)
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Year 3 Survey design
Year 2 Survey design
Year 1 Survey design
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Year 3 Data collection
Year 2 Data collection
Year 1 Data collection
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Year 3 Data analysis
Year 2 Data analysis
Year 1 Data analysis
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Year 3 Dissemination
Year 2 Dissemination
Year 1 Dissemination
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Year 3
Young peoples participation
Dissemination
Data analysis
Data collection
Survey
Year 2
Young peoples participation
Survey
Data collection
Data analysis
Dissemination
Year 1
Young peoples participation
Dissemination
Data collection
Data analysis
Survey
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CHALLENGES AND LEARNING POINTS

• We found it very important to do the ground work
  for our project it was important to allocate
  resources to establish processes and connections
  within the team, and with others (schools,
  stakeholders, and above all - participants).
• It is important to encourage development of
  skills within the team. Contingencies of
  research mean that multi-tasking is sometimes
  needed (e.g. a research assistant might be
  involved in establishing a relationship with a
  school).
• It is essential to employ multiple methods of
  keeping track of participants (e.g. checking with
  schools for student destinations, mail-outs
  asking for address confirmation and - at the
  start - obtaining multiple contact addresses).

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CHALLENGES AND LEARNING POINTS - 2

• There is a need to find a balance between too
  many meetings and not enough.
• It is important to keep a focus on the big
  picture - what are we trying to achieve with this
  project? At the same time as being open to
  changes as new ideas, new opportunities and even
  new resources become available.
• A vital and continuing challenge is to combine
  different research paradigms and cultures in the
  cause of the project. This involves partnership,
  respect, curiosity about each others
  disciplines, a continuing focus on the big
  picture, and a sense of humour.

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Thank you!

• For any queries, please contact
• Carla.Crespo_at_vuw.ac.nz
• For further information, please visit
• http//www.victoria.ac.nz/mckenzie-centre/