This Project Summary was prepared by Dr. Dave Rahn for Youthfest on September 4, 1999. It has been only slightly edited for web-site distribution.

This brief summary of the findings of Link Institute's Youthfest Research Project is intended to overview the highlights of our study. Conducted in late spring of 1999 the purpose of our study was to measure the effectiveness of Youthfest's impact on those students who had signed Pure for Sure cards pledging themselves to sexual purity. Youthfest is a one day festival--featuring music, speakers, and fun activity--that has as it's purpose "promoting sexual purity and Jesus Christ." It was begun in Bloomington, Indiana in 1994 and has expanded to other Midwest cities in recent years.

Our survey was designed to collect self-reported data from these students about how they remember their behavior patterns changing in each of the following three areas: religious commitment, drug use, and sexual behavior. As a result we asked students to give us responses to items referring to their patterns of activity for the years 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999.

The total number of surveys sent out was 909, and 257 were returned. This 28% return rate may be a limitation of the study. However it should be noted that this is a not uncommon difficulty with research related to sexual behavior. Further, the mailed surveys were complemented with 40 phone interviews to strengthen the research design. Our stratified random sampling procedure ensured that an appropriate number of surveys would be sent to those who signed Youthfest pledges in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. Since the distribution of surveys returned fairly accurately represented the distribution of surveys sent (1996 attendees had a greater return rate; 1998 attendees had a lesser response rate), the reliability of the data collected is satisfactory. And, while a greater return rate would have allowed for greater statements of confidence in the data, the collected sample of 257 represents 5.36% of the target population (Bloomington-based Pure for Sure respondents from 1994-1998) –nearly twice the acceptable sample size for a population over 5,000. (Dr. John Curry, North Texas State University, 1992 as cited in Dr. Rick Yount, 1990, Research Design and Statistical Analysis for Christian Ministry, p. 63).