Survey Results: Cadette Badges

 The numbers on this post came from a survey I conducted by posting a link on some Facebook pages for Girl Scout leaders.  For the record, I have had daughters in the older girl program, but I've never led Cadettes, Seniors or Amabassadors.  

Out of 235 responses, 4.3% said they hadn't been a Cadette in the current program, nor led them.  10.6% said their troop earned less than three Cadette badges per year.  32.3% said they earned 3-5 badges per year and 52.8% earned more than five per year.  

For each Cadette badge, I asked that it be rated as either 

• Haven't done it and don't want to
• Did it, loved it
• Did it, meh
• Did it, didn't like it
• Haven't done it but want to
• Didn't know it existed.

Rejected Badges

I looked at the responses and looked for outliers.  Badges that had 70 or more votes for "haven't done it and don't want to" were Basic Coding,  App Development, Cookie Innovator, Cookie Market Research, Think Like a Programmer, My Cookie Venture, Programming Robots, Designing Robots, Showcasing Robots, My Promise My Faith and Religious Awards.  

I think I'm going to do another survey about why badges were chosen or rejected.  While I'm not surprised that the religious awards were not often chosen by troops given the diversity of beliefs in most of them, Robotics sounds like fun.  Were the badges rejected because the leaders didn't want to/didn't feel qualified to lead them, because the plans in VTK didn't sound fun or because the girls weren't interested in robotics?  

Loved Badges

The badges that were done and loved by 70 people or more were Archery (113), New Cuisine (111), Babysitting (75), First Aid (79), Comic Artist (72), Night Owl (96), Outdoor Art (87), Primitive Camper 76), and Special Agent (74).  

The Unloved

On the other hand, no one said they had done  and loved Cookie Innovator, Cookie Market Research or My Cookie Venture.  Only two people loved Digital Leadership, but it is new this year, so we have to give it time.  Only four loved Digital Game Development and Business Creator.  Only three loved the religious recognitions.  

Badges that got a lot of "meh" votes were Trees (41), Business Plan (42), First Aid (45), Girl Scout Way (47), Comparison Shopping (40), Cookie Entrepreneur (51), Breathe (40) and Netiquitte (49).  

Popular Badges

Nine badges were done by more than 100 respondents.  Animal Helpers was done 101 times. 64 people loved it, 35 marked it meh, and 2 didn't like it.  Of the 128 people who did Archery, 113 loved it and 15 marked it meh.  75 of the 108 people who marked Babysitting loved it while 33 said meh.  None didn't like it.  First Aid was earned by 128.  79 loved it, 45 said meh and 4 didn't like it.  Girl Scout Way was done 111 times.  60 loved it, 47 said meh, and 4 didn't like it.  2 of the 109 people who did Comic Artist didn't like it, but 72 loved it and 35 felt it was meh. New Cuisine was chosen by 119 and 111 loved it and 8 found it meh. 96 of the 109 who did Night Owl loved it and only 13 found it meh. Of the 114 who did Outdoor Art, 87 loved it, 15 found it meh and 2 didn't like it.  

The Unpopular

On the other end of the scale, nine awards were done by less than twenty-five of those who responded.  They were My Cookie Venture (no one loved it, 6 meh, 2 didn't like), Showcasing Robots (6 loved it, 16 meh, 2 didn't like), Digital Game Development (9 loved, 7 meh, 2 disliked), App Development (4 loved, 3 meh, 2 disliked), Cookie Innovator (0 loved, 17 meh, 4 disliked), Cookie Market Research (0 loved, 18 meh and 5 disliked), Digital Leadership (2 loved, 5 meh, 3 disliked) and Religious Recognition (3 loved, 3 meh). 

Next, I looked at the dislike votes as a percent of the total votes.  Of the 89 who did Budgeting 10 disliked it, 59 found it meh and only 20 liked it.  Out of the 82 who did Comparison Shopping, 32 loved it, 40 found it meh and 10 disliked it.  10 of the 79 who did Breathe disliked it while 29 loved it and 40 found it meh. Amaze got similar results--37 love, 39 meh and 10 disliked. 

Do What? 

Before this survey went live I asked for some volunteer "pre-readers" to tell me if they thought anything as missing that should be asked.  One suggested "I didn't know it existed" as a choice on rating badges/awards, so I added it.  In reviewing the results, I looked for outliers.  For the most part those that got mentioned here were badges that have been added since the GGGS binders were published. These were the most mentioned badges in this category:

• STEM Career Exploration:  22
• App Development:  24
• Digital Leadership:  28
• My Cookie Venture:  24
• Space Science Researcher:  24
• Think Big:  35
• Service to Girl Scouting:  24
• Service to Community: 23
• Religious Awards:  34

 Not Yet

Especially with Covid out there, troops have not been able to do everything they want to do, and hopefully there are enough desirable awards to last three years in any case.  I asked which badges people have not done, but want to do.  These garnered the most votes

• Animal Helpers
• Archery
• Babysitter
• Book Artist
• Trail Adventure
• Snow or Climbing Adventure
• Digital Leadership
• Eco Trekker
• Silver Award
• Trailblazer
• Woodworker

Most of these badges showed up on other popular lists--the most chosen, the most "loved it" votes.  I'd be curious if a survey of girls would give the same results.  

Girls' Choice

The overwhelming majority of the people who responded to my survey were adults.  However, 11 were current Girl Scouts.  I found their responses and summarize them below:

Girl 1:  

She is a member of a multi-level C/S/A troop.  Badges she loved were Archery, Babysitter, Business Plan, First Aid, Girl Scout Way, Snow or Climbing Adventure, Trail Adventure, Digital Game Design, Comic Artist, Comparison Shopping, Digital Movie Maker, Eco Trekker, Financing My Dreams, Breathe, Outdoor Journey, Think Like a Citizen Scientist, Think Like an Engineer, New Cuisines, Night Owl, Outdoor Art, Primitive Camper, Programming Robots, Science of Happiness, Silver Award, Special Agent, Trailblazing, Trees. Service to Girl Scouting, Service to Community, Safety Pin, and My Promise My Faith.  

Awards she did not like were Amaze, Public Speaker, Netiquitte, 

I'll admit that the sheer number of badges she has earned astound me.  Also, she clicked a bunch of Senior and Ambassador badges as well, so that would make you think she is a current Ambassador, but if so she could not have heard the Cadette Adventure badges unless her troop was one that did a variety of C/S/A badges and just gave all the girls the same badge when they were finished.  

Girl 2: 

Girl 2 is a member of a multi-level troop that includes younger girls.  She must be a new Cadette because she listed a lot of badges as "want to do them" and none as done. She stays in Girl Scouts because it is fun.  Her troop spends a lot of time socializing but also works on badges.  Her troop did not earn Bronze, and did not even do a Journey. 

Girl 3: 

Girl 3 is also a member of a multi-level troop that includes younger girls.  Both she and Girl 2 said their troop was a permanent troop with girls joining and leaving all the time.  Girl 3 has earned some Ambassador awards so I assume that's her level.

Cadette Badges that Girl 3 loved were Archery, Book Artist, First Aid, Trail Adventure, Digital Movie Maker, Eco Trekker, Breathe, Outdoor Journey, New Cuisines, Night Owl, Primitive Camper, Trailblazing, Trees, Woodworker, and Safety Pin.  The only badge she disliked was Special Agent. 

Girl 4: 

 Girl 4 is a member of a single level troop that has been together since Daisies or Brownies and has taken in few if any girls since them.  Her troop did  Bronze project.  She appears to be a Cadette. 

Girl 4 loved the Babysitter, Snow or Climbing Adventure, Trail Adventure, Amaze Journey, New Cuisines, Service to Community, Safety Pin and My Promise My Faith. There were no badges she did and did not like. 

Girl 5:

Girl 5 appears to be a Cadette member of a single level troop that has been together since Daisies or Brownies.  She stays in Girl Scouts because of the outdoor activities. While she has a long list of Cadette Badges she wants to do, none she has done were marked "loved".  She has done New Cuisines, Girl Scout Way and First Aid and marked them all "meh". 

Girl 6:  

Girl 6 is in a multi-level troop that is older girls only. It is a permanent troop and she stays in it because that's what she does with that group of friends.  She appears to be a Senior.  The Cadette badges she loved were Digital Movie Maker, Primitive Camper, and Screenwriter, She did not like My Promise My Faith, My Cookie Venture, Netiquitte, Marketing, the Outdoor Journey, Media Journey, Financing My Dreams, Entrepreneur, Cookie Entrepreneur, Comparison Shopping, Cookie Innovator, Cookie Market Research, Budgeting, Business Creator, Business Plan and Girl Scout Way.  She did the Silver Award and rated it "meh". 

Girl 7:  

Girl 7 is in a multi-level troop that includes younger girls.  She appears to be a Cadette and said that her troop is a permanent troop with girls coming and going all the time.  She stays because it is fun.  She loved Book Artist, Snow or Climbing Adventure, Comic Artist, Think Like an Engineer, Special Agent and Woodworker.  There were none that she had done and didn't like.  

Girl 8: 

Girl 8 is in a single level troop that started in Juniors or later.  She appears to be a Senior and sticks with Girl Scouts because the leader made it fun and it helps with college.  Most of her troop earned the Bronze Award and at least one troop member has earn the Silver.  Badges she loved were Archery, First Aid, Snow or Climbing Adventure, Trail Adventure, Comic Artist, Democracy, Eco Trekker, Entrepreneur, Eating for You, Field Day, Financing My Dreams, Finding Common Grounds, Outdoor Journey, Think Like a Citizen Scientist, Amaze, Marketing, New Cuisine, Night Owl, Outdoor Art, Primitive Camper, all 3 Robotics badges, Science of Happiness, Silver Award, Trailblazer, Woodworker, Service to Community, Safety Pin, My Promise My Faith, and a religious award.  There were no badges she did and did not like. 

Girl 9: 

Girl 9 loved Archery, Girl Scout Way, First Aid, Comic Artist, Digital Movie Maker, Finding Common Ground, Netiquete, New Cuisines, Silver Award, and Trailblazing.  There were none that she disliked. She is a Senior who is part of a multi-level troop that includes younger girls.  Her troop started in Daisies or Brownies but has taken in a lot of girls since then. She stays in Girl Scouts for the outdoor activities.  

Girl 10: 

Girl 10 appears to be a Cadette.  Her troop has been together since Brownies or Daisies but has taken in a lot of new girls.  She remains in Girl Scouts because it is fun.  Badges she loved were Field Day, MEdia Journey, She didn't mark any badges as disliked but marked Woodworking as meh.  

Girl 11:  

It looks like Girl 11 is an Ambassador.  She is in a multi-level troop of older girls who have been together since Daisies or Brownies and have taken in few if any girls since then.  She stays in Girl Scouts for the Outdoor activities.  Cadette Badges she loved were First Aid, Trial Adventure, Eating for You, Outdoor Journey, New Cuisines, Night Owl, Outdoor Art, Primitive Camper, Trailblazing and Trees.  She did not like Woodworker or Comic Artist.  

My Comments

I've never led older girls but I do remember my daughter complaining that the badges weren't fun anymore.  

The financial literacy stuff doesn't seem very popular--it isn't chosen often and it isn't liked when it is chosen.  

I was a little surprised at the poor showing of the robotics badges.  I kind of figured that they wouldn't be chosen by many, but that those who chose them would like them. 

I also figured most troops would be pretty girl-led by this point so that if they didn't want to do a badge, they wouldn't choose it.  I realize that not everyone can get their way at every meeting, but I expected to see relatively few badges earned per girl, but that they would like the ones they earned.  It did seem that the girls who earned fewer badges tended to enjoy the ones they earned. 

I foresee another survey about how troops went about earning some of these badges.