Programs to Develop Youth Introduction Chapter

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Youth Development Empirical Study

There are numerous programs that currently exist which allege to benefit youths and youth development. Many of these programs are attempting to address the fact that children and adolescents directly represent the future. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare youths for a future world in which they become leaders, decision makers, and ultimately, stewards of the planet and of society itself. Nonetheless, there are a variety of ways of attempting to equip youths for their leadership of the coming generation. One can argue that it does little good to merely create a new generation of workers to fill the same positions that exist in society today, which only perpetuates the social inequality and problems that plague the current generation. Instead, it is more advantageous to empower youths by giving them the tools and experience they need to think for themselves and address the problems of society so that they do not simply become a continuation of those of today.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the most efficacious means of motivating youth to take an active interest in not only their individual future, but also that of the country collectively. Engagement is a critical element of this research topic: both how to facilitate it effectively and how to utilize it as a means of motivating youths to desire to develop accordingly so that they can positively impact posterity. One of the traditional points of apathy among youths that creates an apathetic disinterest between their lives and their future is a dearth of a connection between what they want to do, and the means of actually doing it. This study, then, is seeking to determine how best to pinpoint youth goals and provide avenues to help them fulfill them in a way that bolsters their own agency -- and the possibilities that it can create.

The study problem is likely best stated in the subsequent manner. There are multitudes of programs for youth development. Many of these, however, simply mold young people into the same roles that are found in contemporary society, which merely perpetuates the status quo. A more holistic solution could possibly involve empowering young people to make social changes to shift the paradigm, and ultimately redefine those social roles while hopefully reducing instances of social injustice.

Nature of the Study

This study will leverage a mixed research method that combines both elements of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Specifically, it will conduct a series of semi-structured interviews with youths who are participating in various arts programs for after school activities. The interview questions will include both open-ended questions and those that are otherwise. The latter will include basic demographic information. The former will largely pertain to the perspectives of the subjects regarding the efficacy of their programs and what it is that they are learning.

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The demographic information will represent the quantitative aspect of the study, and will pertain to the ages of the subjects (which will be stratified for relevance with categories such as late adolescents, mid and early adolescents, preadolescence, and other germane ones.

Moreover, some of the interview questions will involve a 7-point Likert scale about the efficacy of the program overall, the level of engagement that the subjects feel, and other facets of the program such as its best and worst points. The most significant variables will involve determining the overall value that the subjects believe that they are gaining from the program, and its applicability to their respective and collective futures. The interviews will enable the subjects to evaluate their interest in the different skills and experiences they are gaining through these programs. Moreover, there is a need to examine variables relating to the degree of empowerment the subjects believe they are attaining from these programs. The instruments that the study will utilize are questionnaires. Some of the items on these questionnaires will incorporate a seven-point Likert scale; most of the items will be open ended questions.

After the data is attained, the researchers will parse through them both quantitatively and qualitatively. The latter will involve searching for various thematic issues to emerge in the interviews and in the open-ended questions in particular. The researchers anticipate that these themes may arise around the aforementioned variables. However, it is also possible that the themes elucidated in the interviews can actually identify new variables for future research. Apropos quantiative data will involve statistical information about the ages of the participants, the subjects that they are engaged in with these after school programs, and points of correlation between their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the programs and their results.

Although this design is informed by some quantitative data, it is still equivocally phenomenonlogical in nature. The purpose of the semi-structured interview questions is to uncover the data in a way in which phenomena become apparent. Therefore, the researchers will not attempt to lead the subjects with the interview questions. Some interviews may take as little as five minutes time, others, the better part of an hour. Researchers will attempt to explore phenomena through the incorporation of follow up questions, which will be assiduously documented. The determination of the sample size will be predicated upon the different types of demographics unveiled and the realities of the number of students enrolled in youth programs which the researchers can access.

Significance of the Study

This study is significant because of its purpose. It is seeking to find empirical evidence to demonstrate the fact that it is not….....

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