ENGAGING STUDENT VOLUNTEERS:

A Comparative Case Study of Two Best Buddies College Chapters

LAUREN WENDLING

ED 530/531 Summer 2013

Why do Best Buddies college programs differ in levels of

student recruitment and engagement?

How can I assist Best Buddies college chapters

recruit, engage, and maintain student volunteers?

RESEARCH QUESTION

• I currently work at Best Buddies, managing the Indiana college programs.

• I work with chapter leadership - university students, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and community partners - both in the field and at the Indiana state office.

• I have noticed many students struggle to stay involved and be actively engaged throughout the school year. I want to know why this happens and how to overcome it!

• I want to assist all Indiana colleges achieve program success and engage quality student volunteers.

BACKGROUND

Personal

• Best Buddies Mission Statement (Best Buddies International [BBI], 2013)

• Best Buddies College Training and Recruiting Materials (Best Buddies Programs, 2013)

• Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle, 1985)

• Best Buddies Indiana (Best Buddies Indiana [BBIN], 2013)

LITERATURE

Best Buddies

• Promoting Friendship through Best Buddies: A National Survey of College Program Participants (Hardman & Clarke, 2006)

• Friendship Standards: The Dimensions of Ideal Expectations (Hall, 2012)

• A Morally Defensible Mission for Schools in the 21st Century (Noddings, 1997)

LITERATURE

Volunteer Recruitment

• Volunteer Recruitment : The Role of Organizational Support and Anticipated Respect in Non-Volunteers' Attraction to Charitable Volunteer Organizations (Boezeman & Ellemers, 2008)

• Why People Volunteer (Ancans, 1992)

• 101 Volunteer Recruitment Secrets (Heyman, 2011)

• Volunteer Motivations and Constraints Among College Students (Gage III & Thapa, 2012)

• Volunteer Engagement: Does Engagement Predict the Degree of Satisfaction among New Volunteers and the Commitment of Those who have been Active Longer?” (Vecina, Chacon, Sueiro & Barron, 2012)

• Got Strategy? The 7 Elements of a Strategic Volunteer Engagement Plan (Russell, 2012)

LITERATURE

Volunteer Engagement

RESEARCH DESIGN

Action ResearchLocal knowledge / Systematic Inquiry

Quantitative and Qualitative Data

I am an active participant in the research.

Attempting to answer “why” and “how”.

Comparative Case StudyUtilizing both qualitative and quantitative data.

Butler University and the University of Indianapolis

METHODOLOGY

Data Sources

• Friendship Updates / Testimonialso (Maclean & Mohr, 1999)

• Program Statisticso # of participants, attendance, etc. (Maclean & Mohr, 1999)

• Personal Interviewso Students, Buddies, Community Partners (Shagoury-o Hubbard & Miller-Power, 2003, MacLean & Mohr, 1999)

• Surveyso Students, Community Partners / Pre and Post

(MacLean & Mohr, 1999)

• Observationso In the “field” (Shagoury-Hubbard & o Miller-Power, 2003)

• Research Journalo (MacLean & Mohr, 1991, Shagoury-Hubbard

o & Miller-Power, 2003)

• School Philosophy• Greek life, required service, etc. (MacLean & Mohr, 1999)

• Best Buddies IN Materialso (MacLean & Mohr, 1999)

• Friendship Updates / Testimonialso Coding – Constant Comparison / Trends (Shagoury-

Hubbard & Miller-Power, 2003)

• Program Statisticso Statistical Comparison (MacLean & Mohr, 1999)

• Personal Interviewso Coding – Theorizing, categorizing, comparing, looking

for themes to emerge (Shagoury-Hubbard & Miller-Power, 2003)

• Surveyso Coding – Theorizing, categorizing, comparing,

identifying and constructing perceptions (Shagoury-Hubbard & Miller-Power, 2003)

• Observations and Research Journalo Cooked Notes - Indexing, Memos (Shagoury-Hubbard

& Miller-Power, 2003)

METHODOLOGY

Approach to Data Analysis

• School Philosophy• Coding – theorizing, categorizing, comparing (Shagoury-Hubbard & Miller-Power, 1999)

• Best Buddies IN Materials• Coding comparison and sorting – theorizing, categorizing (MacLean & Mohr, 1999, Shagoury-Hubbard & Miller-Power, 2003)

Audiences

• Me• Best Buddies• Student Leadership• Student Volunteers• Community Partners

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Ancans, I. S. Voluntary Action Directorate, Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada. (1992). Why people volunteer. Ottawa, Ontario: Volunteer Centre Ottawa-Carleton.

• Aristotle. (1985). Nicomachean ethics. Indianapolis: Hackett.

• Best Buddies Indiana. (2013). Best buddies. Retrieved from http://www.bestbuddiesindiana.org

• Best Buddies International. (2013). Best buddies. Retrieved from http://www.bestbuddies.org/best-buddies

• Best Buddies Programs. (2013). College Training Material. Indianapolis, IN.

• Boezeman, E. J., & Ellemers, N. (2008). Volunteer recruitment: The role of organizational support and anticipated respect in non-volunteers’ attraction to charitable volunteer organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(5), 1013-1026.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (1993). Concepts and contexts for teacher research. In Inside/outside: Teachers research and knowledge (pp 1-22). New York Teachers College Press.

• Gage III, R. L., & Thapa, B. (2012). Volunteer motivations and constraints among college students: Analysis of the volunteer function inventory and leisure constraints models. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(3), 405-430.

• Hall, J. A. (2012). Friendship standards: The dimensions of ideal expectations. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 29(7), 884-907.

• Hardman, M. L., & Clark, C. (2006). Promoting friendship through best buddies: A national survey of college program participants. Mental Retardation, 44(1), 56-63.

• Heyman, D. R. (2011). 101 volunteer recruitment secrets. Volunteer Match. Retrieved from http://media.volunteermatch.org/docs/101Secrets/VolunteerMatch_101Secrets.pdf

• MacLean, M., & Mohr, M. (1991). A teacher research process: Beginning: What do you need? In Teacher researchers at work (pp. 1-18). Berkley, California: National Writing Project.

• Noddings, N. (1997). A morally defensible mission for schools in the 21st century. In E. Clinchy (Ed.), Transforming public education: A new course for America’s future (pp.27-37. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

• Russell, N. (2012, March 5). Got strategy? the 7 elements of a strategic volunteer engagement plan. Retrieved from http://vannw.org/professional-development/got-strategy-the-7-elements-of-a-strategic-volunteer-engagement-plan/

• Russell, N. (2012, March 5). Got strategy? the 7 elements of a strategic volunteer engagement plan. Retrieved from http://vannw.org/professional-development/got-strategy-the-7-elements-of-a-strategic-volunteer-engagement-plan/

• Shagoury-Hubbard, R., & Miller-Power, B. (2003). The art of classroom inquiry: A handbook for teacher-researchers. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.

• Vecina, M. L., Chacon, F., Sueiro, M., & Barron, A. (2012). Volunteer engagement: Does engagement predict the degree of satisfaction among new volunteers and the commitment of those who have been active longer?. Applied Psychology, 61(1), 130-148.

• All photos property of Lauren Wendling and Best Buddies Indiana.

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THE END!