Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

Barber, Elizabeth

Abstract

This ethnographic case study (Flyvbjerg, 2011) drew on intensive participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival materials, to document the experiences and perspectives of high school and college age participants in the Shelton Challenge, a summer camp designed to inspire and scaffold values-based, transformative leadership. This study focused in particular on youth reports of the impact of the Shelton Challenge experience on their use of reflection, critical thinking, and values in decision-making. Purposeful sampling (Creswell, 2009) across 13 high school and 4 college students ages 14-19, allowed depiction of differently-positioned informant perspectives. Participant observation (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2009); fieldnotes (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011); online, face-to-face, and teleconference interviews (Briggs, 1986; Gatson, 2011; Hammersley & Atkinson, 2009); “power sensitive conversations” (Bhavnani, 1993; Haraway, 1988); and analysis of program-related documents and artifacts (Peräkylä & Ruusuvuori, 2011) were layered (Ronai, 1995) to produce a multiply-voiced account. Data were indexed by emergent themes (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2009), analyzed using the constant comparative method (Creswell, 2009), and member checking (Creswell, 2009) provided informant verification. Cognitive reflection, decision-making, honesty and integrity, and to a certain degree, critical thinking emerged as key outcomes. Youth participants stated that they had learned to recognize the effects of values-based decision-making, reflection, and critical thinking on others, and its importance in leadership. Overall, the youth who participated in this study credited the Shelton Challenge with providing life-changing opportunities to lead, collaborate with teammates, face their fears, learn better communication skills, come out of their shell, gain a sense of accomplishment, and increase their self confidence. Narrative analysis (Chase, 2011) of themes emerging from indexed field observations, archival documents, and transcripts of conversations with youth, yielded the following four moments in youth experience of the Shelton Challenge: a movement from initial isolation and disequilibrium to group cohesion; breaking out of the comfort zone; learning the value of teamwork; and reflection on a life changing experience. Thus the study documents both the process through which the youth moved across their experience in the Shelton Challenge, and also the outcomes of that experience. Such findings hold promise to inform program development for youth, particularly in the area of ethical leadership development, and future research on outcomes and processes involved in youth leadership development overall. Finally, the study’s findings support the methodological importance of participant observation, interviews, and power sensitive conversations – as opposed to online interviews alone – to more authentically capture youth understandings of phenomena, which might not get expressed if the right questions are not asked.

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