Data Wanted: Surveys of Family Activities

[ShootingSports]

So, in our area we have a 0.9% market share of total available youth.  That leaves 99.1% not in scouting. 

Does anyone have survey data on what this 99% are doing with their time and their kids? 

Not looking for personal stories, I am looking for true survey data that has demographics, economic, social, and interests data. 

Anyone???? (Yes I asked at National)

[dk516]

@ShootingSportsI have never seen something like that. I guess you would have to go to individual other associations and see if you can find what there market share would be in terms of youth activities. Attached is the plan that our Council has shared on their website for market share and growth they are trying to achieve. Unfortunately, Council plan and reality are strongly drifting in our Council.

AWC BSA Strategic-Operational Plan 2021-23 (1).pdf

[yknot]

2 hours ago, ShootingSports said:

So, in our area we have a 0.9% market share of total available youth.  That leaves 99.1% not in scouting. 

Does anyone have survey data on what this 99% are doing with their time and their kids? 

Not looking for personal stories, I am looking for true survey data that has demographics, economic, social, and interests data. 

Anyone???? (Yes I asked at National)

I doubt you'd find that in any one study or document. You'd have to do some research and piece it together from various sources like this one: 

https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/National_Youth_Sports_Strategy.pdf

This states that about 55% of US high school age kids participate in a team sport and that percentage has stayed basically stable over time.

One of the issues is also determining how many youth are out there  because the number varies and different sources group them in different cohorts.

Youth sports actually are fairly well known. There are several studies from both private and government sources that track participation although the rates will vary according to the source and there are some inclusions/exclusions that also muddy the picture. There has been some interesting data compiled during and post Covid showing what kids were up to. You could probably track some of that down.

One of the interesting local and regional statistics I have noted is that during the pandemic, many nature centers and outdoor related sports facilities that offered things like golf, horseback riding, tennis, nature programming etc., reported exponential growth. That was truly a missed opportunity for cubs and scouting which instead experienced devastating membership losses.

Frankly, I wouldn't waste too much time on what else kids are doing. I'm wondering more why an outdoors oriented organization like scouting isn't doing a better job of attracting kids interested in outdoor activity. They clearly want it and are doing it, but they are just not doing it with BSA.  

[Eagledad]

44 minutes ago, yknot said:

Frankly, I wouldn't waste too much time on what else kids are doing. I'm wondering more why an outdoors oriented organization like scouting isn't doing a better job of attracting kids interested in outdoor activity. They clearly want it and are doing it, but they are just not doing it with BSA.  

Your past post over the years say you do think you know why.

Do your research ShootingSports, I did a lot of membership research in the past that often enlightsens and corrects the forum list. Good data is worth its weight in gold because it gives you direction for your program.

Barry

[ShootingSports]

1 hour ago, Eagledad said:

Your past post over the years say you do think you know why.

Do your research ShootingSports, I did a lot of membership research in the past that often enlightsens and corrects the forum list. Good data is worth its weight in gold because it gives you direction for your program.

Barry

I have done research, but my conjectures in the past have been based on speculation.  However, I still looking for the pot of gold, someone else has mined.

I was truly taken aback that our National organization does not have this data readily available.

[Eagledad]

2 hours ago, ShootingSports said:

I was truly taken aback that our National organization does not have this data readily available.

National, historically, has a reputation for using data to justify self serving objectives when the opposite trends were closer to reality. Don’t visualize the fine folks at National as professionals working to serve the noble reputation of the Scouting vision. In fact don’t think of them as professional. 

National likely has some of the data, but aren’t making it easily available because it isn’t to their advantage, both in general operation and public observation. Add that they have been very focused on saving the organization from bankruptcy the last couple of years.

I don’t believe the .9 number is a national trend. But, I could be under estimating Covid. I don’t believe the abuse issue is doing that much harm to the general community, because I’m not hearing it from the community, and cultural scandals haven’t pulled down the membership over the years like the naysayers pontificated.

National is clumsy with program at the national level, so real program organization will come from the local council. Or not, if you understand what I mean.

It’s not hopeless, you do have strength and leverage locally. focus on the pack numbers because they feed the rest of the organization. Raise the pack numbers and the rest of your local program will respond.

Barry

[PACAN]

I think I saw somewhere that National's goal was 2% minimum market share.

[MattR]

20 hours ago, ShootingSports said:

So, in our area we have a 0.9% market share of total available youth.  That leaves 99.1% not in scouting. 

Does anyone have survey data on what this 99% are doing with their time and their kids? 

Not looking for personal stories, I am looking for true survey data that has demographics, economic, social, and interests data. 

Anyone???? (Yes I asked at National)

I've seen lots of reports from the BSA, the US govt. and others of youth activities. That's not to say I can find them again or even want to, but Google is your friend.

Just be careful of what friends you choose. Google is a form of purgatory for people looking for "the answer". While it might be nice to see some of this information, will it really help increase interest in your council? We used to have 10% of available youth. I have no idea what it is now but it's dropped a lot.

My suggestion is to focus on quality rather than quantity. Kids having fun will lead to more kids. How to measure the quality of a unit or council, much less help improve it, is the real question.

[PACAN]

I would not be surprised if most councils are below the 2% considering the large loss of membership.

[Eagle94-A1]

12 hours ago, Eagledad said:

National, historically, has a reputation for using data to justify self serving objectives when the opposite trends were closer to reality. Don’t visualize the fine folks at National as professionals working to serve the noble reputation of the Scouting vision. In fact don’t think of them as professional. 

They most certainly do. Anyone see the results of the MEMBERSHIP (emphasis) survey prior to allowing girls into Cub Scout and Boy Scouts? The membership survey's results have never been published to my knowledge. Only the non member survey, and it was favorable.

12 hours ago, Eagledad said:

National likely has some of the data, but aren’t making it easily available because it isn’t to their advantage, both in general operation and public observation. Add that they have been very focused on saving the organization from bankruptcy the last couple of years.

Even before the bankruptcy, the only time they shared the survey data was the 2014/15 Eagle Palm Survey. That was published, with 94%  AGAINST/STONGLY AGAINST (16% Against 78% Strongly Against) "Instapalms." Yet they did it anyway.

 

12 hours ago, Eagledad said:

National is clumsy with program at the national level, so real program organization will come from the local council. Or not, if you understand what I mean.

National, clumsy.? That is the understatement of the year. As for council and program organization, it really depends upon your council. If you are lucky, you have a good council. Otherwise program is 100% on the units.

[yknot]

2 hours ago, PACAN said:

I would not be surprised if most councils are below the 2% considering the large loss of membership.

There are about 55 million kids aged 5-17 in the US. The latest membership numbers for BSA from March showed 650,000 kids registered. The percentage is somewhere around 1.2% or perhaps a little higher if post Covid recruitment has seen any kind of a bump this spring and summer.    

[qwazse]

There are well controlled national surveys (e.g. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm) of high school students, but they aren’t exactly asking all of your questions.

Even if they did, communities have quirks, and very few answers from the best surveys will capture exactly what the youth in yours are up to.