Case studies reveal camper growth

Camping Magazine, Jan-Feb, 1999 by Steve Brannan, Ann Fullerton

Every year camp directors receive letters from campers' parents describing growth experiences that began at camp and have continued to impact their son's or daughter's life in the home and community. Counselors often note similar descriptions of growth in the same campers during program sessions. Most likely, though, camp administrators do not include these testimonials and descriptions of change in evaluations of their camp program. In other words, the data are available, are recognized as important, but probably aren't being effectively utilized.

In these times of increasing pressure to engage in program evaluation and demonstrate the benefits of camp programs, camp directors may well ask themselves: "How do I use these rich, personal experiences of growth as 'data' that will help confirm (or substantiate) the impact of our program?" "Aren't these 'data' valuable?" " Can't they count?"

Take a closer look at the importance of such rich information in your evaluation efforts, and look specifically at the potential use of case studies in providing qualitative data for evaluation efforts. Case studies of youth in two nationwide projects, the National Camp Evaluation Project (NCEP): 1993-96 and the National Inclusive Camp Practices (NICP): 1997-2000, have yielded positive results. These studies have incorporated qualitative data and comparative case analysis to explore the impact of camp programs on individuals with and without disabilities. This method can potentially be used as a component of overall program evaluation.

Importance of Case Study Research and Evaluation

Case studies are often used to describe the real-life context in which programs impact participants and to explore various effects in situations where there may be no clear, single set of outcomes for all participants. Data about the case are collected using multiple methods and multiple sources. When a number of cases are collected, then comparative case analysis can be used to summarize and analyze common and unique experiences and outcomes across individuals. Single and multi-case studies of this kind have been long-used by qualitative researchers.

Case studies provide the big picture

Qualitative data can be used to complement the quantitative data obtained from forced-choice surveys or rating scales that camps often use to evaluate their programs. Collecting qualitative data is time-consuming, and for most camp programs, it is rarely feasible to engage in individual case studies. However, when used as a complement to quantitative methods, collecting a small number of case studies can provide a context-rich, in-depth picture of how program experiences might be related to camper outcomes.

Case studies can help a camp program explore what underlies the quantitative data in terms of the individual's unique experiences that are recorded during or following a camp program. Case studies are also useful for discovering the specific ways a camp experience unfolded for a particular child and how that experience relates to the outcomes, both positive and negative, for the individual. Case studies can help camp program staff understand why a participant had particular outcomes in the context of the overall camp experience.

NCEP and NICP Dynamics

The NCEP was a three-year research project across fourteen states that focused on determining the personal/social and recreation skill dimensions of camper performance through use of both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition to the objective testing, seventy-three case studies of campers were conducted in residential camp programs specializing in serving campers with disabilities. The NICP study, currently in progress, is being conducted within approximately sixteen states and is focusing on residential camp and outdoor school programs. Its primary focus is on inclusive or mainstream programs serving youth with and without disabilities, and similar to the NCEP, case studies are being used to determine camper/student growth in addition to the objective measures. In both studies, researchers have incorporate case studies to achieve a more comprehensive approach to measure growth and to validate the quantitative data regarding camper/student outcomes.

Method Used in the Case Studies

Although the case-study procedures differed somewhat between the NCEP and NICP research, both studies have used identical interviews of key respondents as a major case study procedure. In each case study, the subject's camp counselor was interviewed on the last day of the camp session, and the camper's parents were interviewed either in person or by phone generally one to three weeks after their child returned home from camp.

Using questionnaires with identical content, trained research assistants interviewed counselors and parents on the growth, if any, the camper or child made in eight developmental areas:

* social interactions

* communication with others

* responsibilities

* self-reliance

* self-esteem

* participation in recreation

* skill achievement