Training Programs and Leadership

¶ … adolescents lack the necessary skills needed for solving-problems, self-esteem, and communication skills (Fertman & Linden, 1999; Sullivan & Larson, 2010). Moreover, adolescents tend to lack self-esteem, motivation, moral value, and a positive outlook on life (Sullivan & Larson, 2010). However, to be competitive in the world of business, adolescents must learn and be trained on way to effectively manage their emotions.

Moreover, James Heckman states that investing in children's education to enhance "non-cognitive" skills such as motivation, perseverance, and self-control -- is a cost-effective approach to increasing the quality and productivity of the workforce (Brackett, Divecha & Stern, 2015, p.2).

According to the National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition (2010), youth leadership development helps encourage healthy adolescent growth by providing young people the ability to analyze their own strengths and weaknesses while being able to set their own personal and vocational goals; and to gain the self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and abilities to carry out those personal goals.

Most importantly, adolescents learn how to guide and direct others on a course of action, acting as a leader, which are skills most business want to see in its employees (Wehmeyer, Agran, & Hughes, 1998). As a result, researchers have found that promoting these skills will empower adolescents economically and socially. Development of the aforementioned skills encourages adolescents to develop resistance to negative influences, build self-esteem and the self-confidence required for a successful adult life (Zacharatos, Barling, & Kelloway, 2000).

More importantly, the development of these non-cognitive skills will better prepare adolescents to be future leaders in the workforce. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this qualitative embedded case study is to explore the perceptions of participants who previously participated in youth leadership training program on how the program impacted their self-esteem building, communication skills, and problem-solving skills within Charleston County in South Carolina. The participants for this study, ages 20 and above, previously participated in a youth leadership training program.

The curriculum consisted of participatory workshops on personal growth, building resiliency, leadership development, academic success, career awareness, community involvement, cultural awareness, financial literacy, and public policy and leadership. The researcher will conduct semi-structured interviews with previous participants of youth leadership training programs. The sample for this study will consist of eight participants now employed with various agencies in management positions.

In an effort, to prepare adolescents to be leaders in their communities and societies, this qualitative case study will explore if early leadership training for adolescents could be a vehicle to address these problems among adolescents. According to Nelson (2010), after 48 hours of leadership training, adult coaches and classroom teachers reported noted changes in adolescent participants' self-esteem, communication skills, and problem solving skills. Exposure to leadership training for children significantly enhanced problem-solving skills, self-awareness and self-esteem, and communication skills (Murphy & Johnson, 2011).

In addition, adolescents benefited socially as a result of participation in the leadership program. Avolio and Gibbons (1988) researched the life span of leaders, yet there was no continuous research to determine the correlation between adolescents and adult leadership skills. No follow-up studies were conducted to determine if there is a relationship between certain childhood characteristics and adult leadership skills (Amit, Popper, Gal, Levy, & Lisak, 2009).

Well-organized and planned adolescents development training programs is predicted to improve life skills such as communication, self-esteem, team building, and problem solving for adolescents (Sun & Shek, 2010, 2012). This chapter will discuss the research methodology and design and include a statement of the research questions. It will also include a discussion of the population, sample size, and materials/instruments. The chapter will also discuss data collection methods, processing, and analysis, which will be followed by an explanation of the assumptions, limitations, and delimitations of the study.

The final segments of this chapter will be ethical considerations of the study and a summary of the chapter. Research Questions A qualitative embedded case study will be conducted to explore the perceptions of past participants of youth leadership training programs impact on problem-solving skills, communication skills, and the building of self-esteem. Leadership training should transform adolescents' abilities to communicate effectively by encouraging them to practice active listening and communications skills (Bell & Smith, 2010).

Adolescents leadership programs that are inclusive of decision-making activities, encourages the participants to communicate with each other and employ critical analysis for solving problems (Larson and Angus, 2011). To explore the perspectives of past participants of youth leadership training programs and its' impact on effective communication abilities, the following research questions will be considered: Q1.What are the perceptions and experiences of past participants of youth leadership training programs? Q2. What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their communication skills? Q3.

What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their self-esteem? Q4. What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their problem-solving skills? Research Method and Design A qualitative approach for research was selected for this study because of its compelling reasons vis-a-vis the nature of the study, research questions, and purpose of the study.

Qualitative research methods are suitable for this study because they are beneficial in discovering the meaning people associate with the events they experience (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Denzin & London, 2000). The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of participants who previously participated in youth leadership training program on how the program impacted their self-esteem building, communication skills, and problem-solving skills within Charleston County in South Carolina.

Since this study focuses on exploring perceptions of participants of a youth leadership training program, a qualitative research approach will be useful in detecting the meanings participants give to their experiences in the program. According to Stake (1995), qualitative research approaches are necessary when the nature of the research problem and questions require exploration. The research questions begin with "what" in order for the researcher to obtain in-depth understanding of issues relating to the phenomenon under investigation.

For this study, I will explore the perceptions of participants of a youth leadership program in relation to communication skills, problem-solving skills, and self-esteem. In addition, qualitative research approaches enables researchers to explore thought processes, which is usually difficult to detect using other research approaches. Therefore, a qualitative research was suitable because I will explore the lived experiences or perceptions of participants of the early leadership training program. The qualitative research method to be utilized for this study is embedded case study whose motive was exploration of perceptions of participants.

Yin (2012), states that exploration is one of the motives of using case study method for a qualitative research. An embedded case study should be utilized when the focus of the researcher is to answer "what," "how," and "why" questions on the phenomena under investigation (Yin, 2003). Moreover, this approach is suitable when the researcher cannot manipulate the behavior of study participants, when contextual conditions that are relevant to study are considered, and when the boundaries of the study are not obvious.

This research design is appropriate because the researcher cannot influence the perceptions of participants of the youth leadership programs and the fact that contextual conditions that shape these perceptions are also covered. Embedded case study will also be utilized because the start and end point of this research design is gaining understanding of the case as a whole in its real-world context (Scholz & Tietje, 2002). Yin (2009) stated that an effective case study research design comprises five components i.e.

research questions, study propositions or purpose, unit of analysis, logic that create a relationship between data and propositions, and criteria for interpreting findings. Some of these components were utilized as the steps in this qualitative case study approach. First, the researcher identified the purpose of the study, which is a crucial component for effective qualitative case study. My purpose for this research is to understand the perceptions of past participants of youth leadership training programs impact on problem-solving skills, communication skills, and the building of self-esteem.

Secondly, the researcher determined the research questions that will be considered to achieve the purpose of the study. In this case, the most suitable questions were "what" forms of questions. The researcher specifically asked what the perceptions of past participants of youth leadership training programs were in relation to communication skills, self-esteem, and problem-solving skills. Additionally, the experiences of these participants of youth leadership training programs were also examined.

Third, the researcher identified the units of analysis, which according to Yin (2009) is directly linked to the research questions developed in the previous step. A unit of analysis is defined as the area of focus that a case study analyzes and is identified after primary research is accurately specified (Baxter & Jack, 2008). An embedded case study was selected for this research problem because it's useful when there are different units of analysis.

Since this study focuses on investigating a current phenomenon in depth and based on its real-life context, it comprises different units of analysis. The units of analysis for study are the youth leadership training programs within Charleston County in South Carolina as well as perceptions on self-esteem, communication skills, and problem-solving skills. The next step in this qualitative case study will be to connect data to the purpose of the study (Yazan, 2015).

This will be carried out after data collection and processing, which helped in identifying some themes relating to the research topic. In this case, the researcher will match emerging patterns in the data to the study's theoretical propositions during data analysis. The emerging patterns and themes during this process will act as answers to the research questions raised in Chapter 1. The final step in this study is the determination of criteria for interpreting results or findings.

Yin (2009), states that the researcher usually codes the data before developing patterns and/or themes. In this case, I will carefully group the findings based on their similarities in order to develop themes/patterns, which I will in turn use to extract meaning and determine recommendations for practice and future research. Population The targeted population for this qualitative case study is young people aged 20 years and above who previously participated in a youth leadership training program within Charleston County in South Carolina.

In comparison to other counties in South Carolina, Charleston County outperformed with regards to high education achievement in the past few years. Youth leadership training programs are usually conducted in this county to empower young adults to succeed in their professional careers. An example of an organization that conducts youth leadership training programs in this county is Year Up, which was founded in 2000 and has since trained more than 13,000 young adults in 16 cities across the country (Year Up, 2015).

Since this county has several youth leadership training programs, it's a suitable location for this qualitative case study. Additionally, more than 40% of the county residents are aged 20 years or more, which makes it a good location for identifying study participants. Youth leadership training programs for young adults in the county are conducted in various ways including workshops, summer camps, and youth seminars.

The curriculum of these programs comprised participatory workshops on personal growth, building resiliency, leadership development, academic success, career awareness, community involvement, cultural awareness, financial literacy, and public policy and leadership. While the county has a high number of people aged 20 or more years, not every young adult has participated in a youth leadership training program. Therefore, the sample for this study is primarily young adults who have previously participated in a youth leadership training program rather than simply focusing on the entire youth population in the county.

Sample Purposeful sampling will be utilized to select a sample or participants for this study to examine the impact of early leadership training programs on communication skills, problem-solving skills, and self-esteem among adolescents. Maxwell (2005) defines purposeful sampling as "a selection strategy in which particular in which particular settings, persons or activities are selected deliberately in order to provide information that can't be gotten as well from other choices" (p. 88). According to Palinkas et al.

(2013), purposeful sampling is commonly used in qualitative studies for identifying and selecting information-rich sources of information or cases to the phenomenon under investigation. This sampling method will be used for the study because of the nature of the research issue and the target population. The selection of young adults aged 20 or more years to interviewed for this research is purposeful or deliberate since these individuals must have previously participated in a youth leadership training program and meet the age requirements.

It is important to utilize this criterion for purposeful sampling in order to achieve a thick, rich description for the case and generate suitable findings or results. The selection criterion is based on the potential of every young adult to help in in-depth understanding impact of the training programs on their self-esteem, communication skills, and problem-solving skills. There are two factors under consideration when using purposeful sampling to select the sample for this study.

First, participants are required to be at least 20 years old because the target population was young adults. Secondly, participants are required to have previously engaged in a youth leadership training program because not every young adult has undergone such a program and the fact that the study focused on their experiences of such programs. To identify potential participants, professional organizations and agencies like Year Up will be contacted via email and requested to provide referrals of potential participants.

The referrals will then be contacted via email and requested to consider participating in the study. In this case, they will be informed of the purpose of the study, why it is being conducted, their role in the research, ethical considerations and other issues relating to the study. They will be required to inform the researcher on their decision on whether or not they will participate in the study within one week after receiving the email.

Through this process, a sample size of eight participants will be identified from a potential of twenty-five young adults who will be contacted. I will select a small sample because qualitative samples are relatively small (Luborsky & Rubinstein, 1995). Unlike quantitative methods that require larger samples that are selected randomly, qualitative studies typically rely on relatively small samples because they focus on in-depth inquiry (Patton, 1990). A relatively small sample is crucial in qualitative case studies because it helps in gaining in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under investigation (Coyne, 1997).

In addition, the logic and power of purposeful sampling will be utilized to identify the small sample for this study is based on identification of information-rich cases for in-depth inquiry (Patton, 1990). Therefore, this sampling method and size is suitable for this research because they help in identifying information-rich cases for in-depth analysis of the research problem/issue. Materials/Instruments Data for this study will be originally collected using semi-structured interviews that will be conducted on the eight participants.

The semi-structured interview will be developed based on a guide that entails a comprehensive review of the quality and impact of the youth leadership training programs. The interview guide will focus on exploring the perceptions and experiences of the participants of youth leadership training programs (Bean, Harlow & Forneris, 2016). The semi-structured interviews will contain questions relating to knowledge, experience, and opinion/belief (see Appendix A). The researcher will also utilize existing literature on the topic as the basis for understanding and conducting an in-depth analysis on the phenomenon under investigation.

Existing literature, especially recent studies on the issue, will be utilized to provide invaluable insights regarding the impact of leadership training programs (de Vries, Bakker-Pieper & Oostenveld, 2009). To ensure validity and reliability of the data collection instruments, the researcher will utilize the participants in the study as the paradigm or lens of validity. According to (Creswell & Miller, 2000), this qualitative paradigm or lens is based on the belief that reality is socially constructed and it shapes participants' perceptions.

This measure of ensuring validity postulates the significance of evaluating the accuracy of participants' realities in the final account. In this case, I will involve participants in determining whether their interpretations accurately represented their experiences and perceptions of the youth leadership training programs. This paradigm is characterized by collaboration and prolonged involvement in the field to ensure validity (Gofalshani, 2003). The use of this paradigm to ensure validity of data collection instruments will be based on the fact that leadership development is influenced by time and generational differences (Murphy & Johnson, 2011).

In essence, the researcher will rely on a transactional approach for ensuring validity in qualitative research since it's based on active interaction between the researcher and study participants (Cho & Trent, 2006). Data Collection, Processing, and Analysis The primary data collection tool will be interviews, which will be conducted carefully to enhance the reliability of this qualitative case study. Interviewing was selected because it helps in discovering things that cannot be observed, especially thought processes and perceptions (Patton, 1990).

The first step in data collection will involve identification of a suitable sample for the study. As previously indicated, purposeful sampling will be utilized to identify the study's participants based on their age and previous participation in a youth leadership training program. After identification of the sample size, interview questions will be developed to guide the interview process and help gather relevant data to the phenomenon under investigation. The interview questions will be classified into six categories i.e. experience/behavior, feeling, sensory, opinion/belief, background/demographic, and knowledge.

These categories are the most common types of questions used in the process of qualitative case study (Merriam, 2009). The researcher will utilize open-ended questions because close-ended questions are usually leading in nature and may not be useful in in-depth inquiry (Esterberg, 2002). Open ended questions will also be utilized because the goal of the research is to make the interviews conversational. After developing the questions and setting the interview date, time and place, I will conduct the interviews with each participant on his/her own.

I will start the interviews through building rapport through sharing information about myself. The interviews will be thematic because they will be designed to gain in-depth understanding of the meanings of lived experiences in the youth leadership training programs. The semi-structured interviews are in-depth interviews (Esterberg, 2002) because they allowed for freer conversations between the researcher and participants unlike structured interviews, which are rigid. The interviews will last at least an hour and will be carried out face-to-face at the participants' offices.

After obtaining approval from the participant, the interviews will be recorded to ensure accurate transcription and handwritten notes taken during each interview to highlight areas of significant interest. To seek for clarification and elaborations, follow-up questions and probing will be utilized. The recorded audios will be transcribed after all interviews are carried out and reviewed to ensure they are accurate. While the semi-structured interviews will be the primary data collection method, document review will also be carried out.

The researcher will collect and review documents in order to substantiate or clarify responses from the participants and develop a thick description of the case (Merriam, 2002; Esterberg, 2002). The documents to be used for review will include annual reports by professional agencies conducting these training programs and previous studies conducted on this phenomenon under investigation.

The type of data to be collected in this study will be demographic information regarding the participants and their perceptions and experiences on the impact of leadership training programs on their communication skills, self-esteem, and problem-solving skills. This data will be analyzed qualitatively using open coding, which incorporates several steps (Merriam, 1998). The first process in the data analysis process will be reading through data and searching for descriptions of perceptions and experiences of the youth leadership training programs.

This will be followed by sorting the data and classifying them into themes about experiences, communication skills, self-esteem, and problem-solving skills. The third step will entail selecting major categories using a dialectical process between theory and data. The final step will be interpreting these categories to determine responses to draw conclusions. The findings will be validated using triangulation of the data sources i.e. semi-structured interviews and document review. In this case, the triangulation process will be carried out by means of dialectic between theory and data.

Merriam (2002) states that triangulation involves using multiple sources of data to discover and ascertain emerging findings. Assumptions There are several assumptions that guide this research. First, the researcher assumes that the participants will be honest in their responses. To ensure participant honesty, participants will be reminded of the purpose of the research, its procedures, protection of confidentiality, expected benefits, and the right to withdraw from participating at any point in the research.

The second assumption is that the sample size is adequate for the study since qualitative studies rely on relatively small samples (Patton, 1990; Coyne, 1997, and Luborsky & Rubinstein, 1995). Actually, larger samples would be ineffective because of the difficulties in conducting an in-depth inquiry on a large sample. The third assumption is that the research design will help generate reliable findings given that semi-structured interviews allow freer exchanges and conversations between the researcher and participants (Esterberg, 2002).

Limitations The first limitation to this study is that its scope is limited to one county in South Carolina, which implies that findings may not be applicable to other counties. This limitation will be addressed through ensuring that participants are selected on the basis of the curriculum of the leadership training programs. The second limitation to the study is that data obtained in this research will largely depend on the participant and his/her willingness to share because it relies on interviews for data collection.

Consequently, the nature of data collected is limited to the participant's perspective of the lived experience. This will provide a potential threat to the validity of the study's findings because of differences in the participants' perspectives and experiences. This limitation will be addressed using triangulation, which will help in verifying findings and examining the accuracy of themes and patterns from the interviews. Delimitations The first delimitation is the narrow scope given that the qualitative case study will be carried out on one county in South Carolina.

While a complete perspective of the state could help generate findings that could be generalized, one county may differ from the other regardless of size. Therefore, the assumption that the study's findings will be generalized to reflect the entire state is discouraged. The narrow scope of the study is also facilitated by a small sample size and the use of semi-structured face-to-face interviews and document review. The other delimitation is the study's sole focus on how these young people experienced the leadership training programs.

A wider scope of questions to include the goals of each leadership training program could provide more insights into the experiences of these young adults. Ethical Assurances Since ethical considerations are likely to emerge in this study, several measures were undertaken towards ethical assurances. First, assurances for formal approval of the study will be obtained through seeking IRB approval before data collection. Secondly, the researcher will seek for permission from the participants' managers or supervisors before conducting the interviews (see Appendix B).

The participants will also be required to fill out an informed consent form and have the right to withdraw from the study at any point (see Appendix C). Third, participants will be informed that information provided will solely be used for the purpose of the study and will not be shared with anyone including their supervisors and/or managers. Fourth, the researcher will strictly follow the steps for conducting a qualitative case study and adhere to relevant regulations to ensure compliance with the standards for conducting research.

Summary The research problem to be addressed in this study is that adolescents lack the necessary skills needed for solving-problems, self-esteem, and communication skills (Fertman & Linden, 1999; Sullivan & Larson, 2010). Moreover, adolescents tend to lack self-esteem, motivation, moral value, and a positive outlook on life (Sullivan & Larson, 2010). The purpose of this qualitative embedded case study is to explore the perceptions of participants who previously participated in youth leadership training program on how the program impacted their self-esteem building, communication skills, and problem-solving skills within Charleston County in South Carolina.

The participants will be identified through purposive sampling and will be required to be age 20 or more years and have previously participated in a youth leadership training program. The sample for this study will consist of eight participants now employed with various agencies in management positions. A relatively small sample is crucial in qualitative case studies because it helps in gaining in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under investigation (Patton, 1990; Coyne, 1997).

To explore the perspectives of past participants of youth leadership training programs and its' impact on effective communication abilities, the following research questions will be considered: Q1.What are the perceptions and experiences of past participants of youth leadership training programs? Q2. What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their communication skills? Q3. What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their self-esteem? Q4.

What are the perceptions of past participants on how the youth leadership training program impacted their problem-solving skills? A qualitative research approach was selected because it's useful in discovering the meaning people associate with the events they experience (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Denzin & London, 2000) and that the nature of the research problem and questions require exploration. For this qualitative embedded case study, the researcher will identify the purpose of the study, determine research questions, identify units of analysis, link data to research propositions, and determine criteria for interpreting results.

Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions will be conducted to collect demographic information regarding the participants and their perceptions and experiences on the impact of leadership training programs. Document review will also be carried out to verify participants' responses and develop a thick description of the case. Data will be analyzed qualitatively using open coding and validated using triangulation of the data sources i.e. semi-structured interviews and document review (Merriam, 2002).

The assumptions in this study include the belief that the participants will be honest in their responses, that the sample size was adequate for the study, and that the research design will help generate reliable findings. The limitations of this study include limited scope and dependence on the participant for information in relation his/her willingness to share. The delimitations are narrow scope of the research and sole focus on how these young people experienced the leadership training programs.

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