Reflection 4: Synthesizing Reading with Experience

The reading I did for this reflection was “Engaging with Young Adults: An analysis of strategies and techniques” by Kristin Brooks and Dr. Amy McCune. The way that their project aligns with mine is how it is centered around young adults; they even have the same age range as their focus. “Since we are defining young adults as the ages between 18-26 years old, this generational cohort is known as Generation Z with a few of the older young adults being millennials,” (Brooks and McCune). Their research is exploring the best ways to get young adults engaged in whatever issue you are working on, which is almost the same thing that I have been researching all semester. My specific research question is “how do young adults want to be engaged in nature conservation.” This brings me into how our research differs as Brooks and McCune focuses on “strategies and techniques for engaging young adults through meaningful program development,” (Brooks and McCune). This is different from my research as I am focusing on engaging young adults in activities and events solely based around nature conservation.
What I have learned from my work that adds greater insight to theirs is that young adults will be engaged in something if they happen to be passionate about it. However, during this day in age, we get almost all of our information online, so social media apps and websites are where we learn and grow. This leads me into my idea that in order to get young adults passionate about whatever issue you have, you need to publicize it heavily through these popular apps. There has been a multitude of movements and issues that young adults have gotten passionate about and engaged in because they were promoted on social media such as Instagram and TikTok. This allowed a wide variety of people my age to see and learn about those events, which in turn caused more young adults to show up and protest, or vouch, for the issue at hand. That is why I strongly suggest using physical and electronic advertisements when trying to connect with young adults.
What I have learned from reading about their work that might change something I’ve done in mine is incentives; “providing incentives toward gainful employment experiences influences participation (Skemer, 2017).” (Brooks and McCune) I realize that every time a survey is advertised either in my emails or on social media, I am always so much more inclined to partake in it and help out when there is an incentive. I have even been a part of an ongoing survey for the past 4, almost 5, years because they incentivized it from the get go. So, for almost half a decade, I have invested my time in surveys that can last up to an hour simply because I knew that there would be gift cards waiting for me at the end. So, going forward in my research, I will try my best to incorporate this in future products and studies as people should be paid for their time when helping me to take steps forward in my research.

Citation:
Brooks, Kristin and McCune, Amy. “Engaging with Young Adults: An Analysis of Strategies and Techniques GE.” United States Department of Agriculture, 2017, www.nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/resource/EngagingYoungAdults.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec. 2025