Involving young people as researchers: uncovering multiple power relations among youths

Schäfer, Nadine; Yarwood, Richard

doi:10.1080/14733280801963003

Cited by 65 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Involving children as co-investigators or so called peer researchers in studies has taken many forms. Adult researchers have included children of all ages, although the dominant cohort usually consists of teenagers and young adults, in the design stage of projects (Kellett, 2011), data collection practices (Nairn et al, 2007;Porter et al, 2010;Schäfer & Yarwood, 2008) and analysis (Coad & Evans, 2008;Nind, 2011) as well as in the dissemination of findings (Kellett, 2004). These studies-which follow on from the example of others (see for example Alderson, 2001;Boocock, 1981;Oldfather, 1995)-have contributed to the popularisation of children as researchers.…”

Section: The Development Of Employing Children As Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, children and young people are often only employed for the data collection phase (Nairn et al, 2007;Porter et al, 2010;Schäfer & Yarwood, 2008). Although researchers often not explicitly state reasons for this practice, issues around logistics, adequate pay and time commitment as well as data confidentiality and quality of analysis (e.g., potential identifiability of participants despite anonyminisation) have been mentioned (Fleming & Boeck, 2012;Holland et al, 2010;Nind, 2011), Nonetheless, this overall limited involvement leaves little room for children's own interests, ideas and motivations to be integrated in a project as researchers, because they are positioned to respond to adult set tasks.…”

Section: The Development Of Employing Children As Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Advocating for a More Relational and Dynamic Model of Participation for Child Researchers

Ergler

2017

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Primary school children participating as researchers has become a moral obligation to meet the goal of children's participation rights. Yet, critical voices rarely question the ethical and practical implications of turning young children into mini-clones of adult researchers. While enabling and constraining aspects of participatory methods and inherent power issues per se are widely discussed, adult researchers still seem to struggle to critically engage with celebratory accounts of children as researchers. In particular, the practical obligations, ethical challenges and tensions that impact on primary school children's research experiences, are underexplored. Findings from two projects on play, which engaged children as active researchers, suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the messy realities of becoming and being a child researcher. In particular, researchers should be more attuned to children's capabilities and the ethical hurdles for child and adult researchers. This article argues therefore for a more dynamic, meaningful and realistic model of participation, that speaks to the messy realities of becoming and being a child-researcher. In other words, the article questions the dominant orthodoxy of children as researchers as the 'gold standard' of participatory research with children.

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Section: The Development Of Employing Children As Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Development Of Employing Children As Researchersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advocating for a More Relational and Dynamic Model of Participation for Child Researchers

Ergler

2017

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“…The researcher ran informal interview training sessions for the young people. This training equipped the young people with new skills, such as designing an interview schedule and gaining consent, which gave them more control over the project (see also Schäfer & Yarwood, 2008). Further, the transferable skills (Lushey & Munro, 2015) gained by young people, such as asking powerful questions and listening carefully, could be useful when seeking employment.…”

Section: Young People Alcohol and Urban Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, the transferable skills (Lushey & Munro, 2015) gained by young people, such as asking powerful questions and listening carefully, could be useful when seeking employment. Whilst some young people were more content using interview questions designed by the researcher, others were keen to develop their own questions (see also Schäfer & Yarwood, 2008).…”

Section: Young People Alcohol and Urban Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Doing It Write: Representation and Responsibility in Writing Up Participatory Research Involving Young People

Wilkinson

2017

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This article adopts a reflexive stance as the authors look back on their doctoral research projects; the first author exploring young people's relationships with community radio, and the second author studying young people's alcohol consumption practices and experiences, both in the North West of England, UK. The authors discuss the methods of data collection they employed, which enabled young people the opportunity to participate in meaningful ways. However, drawing on snapshots from their PhD theses, the authors question whether decisions made when writing up related to protecting anonymity, (re)presenting speech characteristics, and editing, independently of participants, potentially undid some of the hard work exerted in creating an equitable space for young people's contributions, resultantly perpetuating the regulation of young people and keeping them 'in their place'. The authors propose some recommendations for facilitating the inclusion of young people in the writing up of participatory research.

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“…While one of the core aims of PV is to destabilize traditional researcher/participant duality and hierarchical power relations by having participants speak for themselves (Kindon, 2003;Pain, 2004;Parr, 2007), it is naïve to expect all participants to feel ownership and control (Blazek and Hraňová, 2012) and it is important to also consider power relations between the youth participants themselves (Schäfer and Yarwood, 2009). Within the participant group, power hierarchies will naturally emerge based on local context, relationships, and personalities affecting differences in feelings of ownership and participation, and this should be expected and incorporated into the process (Schäfer and Yarwood, 2009;White and Bushin, 2011;Blazek and Hraňová, 2012;Mistry and Berardi, 2012).…”

Section: Participatory Videomentioning

confidence: 99%

Youth-Led Participatory Video as a Strategy to Enhance Inuit Youth Adaptive Capacities for Dealing with Climate Change

Macdonald¹,

Ford²,

Willox³

et al. 2015

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Rapid climatic and environmental changes experienced throughout the Canadian North are having significant impacts on the lives of Inuit, with implications for the future of the large Inuit youth population. Within the adaptation research and practitioner community, youth voices, perspectives, and involvement are essential in ensuring representative and sustainable adaptation strategies. This paper examines the potential of youth-led participatory video (PV) as a strategy to foster known protective factors that underpin the resilience of youth and their capacity to adapt to various stresses, including impacts of climate change. The work draws on a case study from the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada, where a two-week PV workshop was conducted with seven youth and followed by in-depth interviews with participants and community members. The findings show that PV may be a pathway to greater adaptive capacities because the process connects to known protective factors that enhance resilience of circumpolar indigenous youth. PV also shows promise as a strategy to engage youth in sharing insights and knowledge, connect generations, and involve young Inuit in planning and decision making in general.Key words: participatory video; protective factors; resilience; adaptive capacity; climate change adaptation; youth; Inuit; Nunatsiavut; Arctic; Canada RÉSUMÉ. Les changements climatiques et environnementaux rapides qui surviennent dans le Nord canadien ont des répercussions importantes sur la vie des Inuits, avec des conséquences pour l'avenir de la grande population de jeunes Inuits. Au sein de la communauté de praticiens et de recherche sur l'adaptation, la voix des jeunes, leurs perspectives et leur participation sont essentielles pour assurer la mise en oeuvre de stratégies d'adaptation représentatives et durables. Cet article examine la possibilité de faire des vidéos participatives dirigées par les jeunes comme stratégie pour favoriser les facteurs de protection connus qui sous-tendent la résilience chez les jeunes et leur capacité d'adaptation face à divers agents stressants, notamment les conséquences du changement climatique. Le document s'inspire d'une étude de cas de la communauté des Inuits de Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, au Labrador, Canada, où un atelier sur la vidéo participative d'une durée de deux semaines a eu lieu avec sept jeunes, suivi d'entrevues approfondies avec des participants et des membres de la communauté. Les résultats démontrent que la vidéo participative pourrait être une façon d'améliorer les capacités d'adaptation parce que le processus est relié à des facteurs de protection connus qui améliorent la résilience des jeunes indigènes de la région circumpolaire. La vidéo participative s'avère également une stratégie prometteuse pour amener les jeunes à échanger leurs idées et connaissances, établir un lien entre les générations et faire participer les jeunes Inuits à la planification et à la prise de décisions en général.

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Involving young people as researchers: uncovering multiple power relations among youths

Cited by 65 publications

References 47 publications

Advocating for a More Relational and Dynamic Model of Participation for Child Researchers

Advocating for a More Relational and Dynamic Model of Participation for Child Researchers

Doing It Write: Representation and Responsibility in Writing Up Participatory Research Involving Young People

Youth-Led Participatory Video as a Strategy to Enhance Inuit Youth Adaptive Capacities for Dealing with Climate Change

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