Introduction

The Brownsburg BSA Units are experiencing communication issues with the parents and Scouts. To address this, the IU Team researched online databases and conducted a local study to gather more information. Based on our findings, we developed recommendations grounded in effective communication strategies.

Specifically, the communication issues include not receiving responses at all, or not receiving them in a timely manner, leading to an inability to plan effectively. The purpose of this recommendation report is to identify what the Units need help with, what strategies will increase parental involvement and responses, and how the Units can implement these ideas. We dedicated over 100 hours of research and team collaboration to develop recommendations informed by expert insight and first-hand evidence of effectiveness.

The following sections are presented in the order in which we completed the recommendation report, along with a description of the information included in each. You will first reach Methodology, which explains how we found the information and what we did to get it, including the interview with Lisa Barnard, online and database research, and the local study. You will then find the Analysis, which is where the detailed recommendations with expert insight are located. After, the List of Recommendations simplifies these ideas into a bulleted list.

The References section is followed by Appendix A, which encompasses our Review of Literature (where most of the hours of research came from!). Appendix B contains the raw data of the local study. Towards the end, you will see our Team Page, the “About Us” section, and finally, the W231 Overview, describing the class and its purpose in detail.

Methodology

We interviewed Lisa to clarify the research topic and talk about what has been done to strengthen communication among Scouts. We also asked previously prepared questions that we as a team wanted to discuss with Lisa. After the interview, we dove deeper into Indiana University's academic databases, along with Google Scholar, and found information that was relevant to what we were searching for. We gathered data on small group communication challenges and what strategies those groups partake in, but we also lacked data from localized individuals on this challenge.

Google Scholar gave us the option of finding more local information, such as blogs and other social media platforms, but Indiana University’s Library Database (ProQuest Central and EBSCOHost) provided access to a collection of peer-reviewed journals, case studies, and scholarly articles. These resources are used by college students, faculty, and university researchers who are actively conducting academic research. For our study, some of the search terms we used were:

Scouts OR Boy Scouts of America AND communication OR communication skills OR communication issues — EBSCOHost & ProQuest
Nonprofit OR not-for-profit AND communication OR communication strategies — EBSCOHost & ProQuest
“Boy Scout” AND Communication — EBSCOHost & ProQuest
“Communication resources” OR troop leader resources OR Scouting America — Google & ProQuest
Influence of Scout Movement OR Improving social skills — Google & ProQuest
“Communication strategies” AND nonprofits — Google & ProQuest
“Boy Scouts of America” AND communication — Google & ProQuest

This research helped us shape our recommendations for improving communication within the Brownsburg Units. We did further research on these specific recommendations using search terms such as:

“Communication barriers in teams”
“Team collaboration challenges”
“Improving communication with incentives”
“Benefits of a weekly newsletter”
“Direct forms of communication”
“Open communication channels”

However, none of the sources provided us with complete information regarding local input. This is where the local study comes in.

The local study gave us information we could not find from IUI databases or a simple Google search. We created a Google Forms Survey for parents to submit their answers; this was distributed via email and a Facebook post. We received 28 responses, allowing us to conduct a reliable analysis of the local data. Questions 1-7 are context questions, meaning the responses give us a better idea of who is taking the survey, what they think about the communication, and how aware they are of events. Questions 8-11 are all things recommendations, meaning they are based on the team’s recommendations to see what parents think about implementing these new strategies without knowing they’re real possibilities.