Power, Truth and Justice in Youth Participatory Action Research: Ethical Questions

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivor Pritchard
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right

What difference does it make, ethically speaking, to be part of an action research project involving youth? How are participants supposed to act towards one another? How are they supposed to act toward others- research subjects, peers, adults in positions of authority, community members- who they encounter in the course of their projects? Youth Participatory Action Research (Youth PAR), as reflected in this volume's various projects, raises ethical issues that deserve its supporters' attention. Action researchers who are serious about both achieving their objectives and doing the right thing in the process are bound to come across certain kinds of ethical challenges in their activity. This essay will try to illuminate some common and troubling challenges.

scholarly journals Kids in Action: the protocol of a Youth Participatory Action Research project to promote physical activity and dietary behaviour

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e025584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manou Anselma ◽  
Teatske Altenburg ◽  
Mai Chinapaw
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Dietary Behaviour ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Low Socioeconomic

IntroductionIn this study, researchers collaborate with children from a low socioeconomic neighbourhood in Amsterdam in developing, implementing and evaluating interventions targeting their health behaviours. This Youth Participatory Action Research project focuses on the promotion of physical activity and healthy dietary behaviour.Methods and analysisThis study is a controlled trial using participatory methods to develop interventions together with children aged 9–12 years. At four primary schools in a low socioeconomic neighbourhood in Amsterdam, an ‘Action Team’ is installed: a group of six to eight children who actively participate as co-researchers in developing, implementing and evaluating interventions. An academic researcher facilitates the participatory process. Four control schools, also located in low socioeconomic areas in and around Amsterdam, continue with their regular curriculum and do not participate in the participatory process. For the effect evaluation, physical activity and sedentary behaviour are assessed using accelerometers and self-reporting; dietary behaviour using self-reporting and motor fitness (strength, flexibility, coordination, speed and endurance) using the motor performance fitness test. Effectiveness of the interventions is evaluated by multilevel regression analysis. The process of co-creating interventions and the implemented interventions is continually evaluated during meetings of the Action Teams and with children participating in the interventions. Empowerment of children is evaluated during focus groups. Summaries and transcripts of meetings are coded and analysed to enrich children’s findings.Ethics and disseminationThe Medical Ethics Committee of the VU Medical Center approved the study protocol (2016.366).Trial registration numberTC=6604.

scholarly journals Youth Involvement in Participatory Action Research (PAR)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jangmin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Youth Community

Participatory Action Research (PAR) has been increasingly viewed as an effective strategy to enhance youth, community-based organizations that serve youth, and broader communities. However, young people have not been frequently involved in research and evaluation efforts as co-researchers or partners. This paper explored major challenges and barriers to the active engagement of youth identified in previous PAR projects. This critical literature review revealed relational, scientific, and ethical challenges. The relational challenges included a lack of trust and unequal power relationships between youth participants and adult researchers. The scientific issues were significantly associated with the major components of the PAR, such as transformative purposes, iterative processes, and flexible methods. Finally, significant ethical issues are identified in terms of potential risks to youth, confidentiality, and informed consent. This paper concludes with specific recommendations for effective strategies to deal with the challenges and barriers identified and possible directions for future research.

scholarly journals Creating a Relational Participatory Space: Insights from a Youth Participatory Action Research Project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Davis-Rae
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participatory Processes

<p><b>Since the ratification of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there has been a heightened focus on youth participation as a way of upholding young people’s right to have their say on decisions that affect them. However, programmes that attempt to engage young people in decision-making processes have often been poorly enacted and have failed to adequately address the barriers that limit young people’s ability to participate meaningfully and therefore rarely result in sustained change. This study examined processes with a youth participatory action research [YPAR] project in order to identify and explore processes and practices that might serve to sustain young people’s involvement and support authentic and meaningful participation. The research used an instrumental case study approach to examine an 18-month-long YPAR project operated through an existing youthwork programme. Data were collected through autoethnography, artefact analysis and participant interviews and reflections with youth participants. </b></p> <p>The study found that peer-to-peer and peer-to-leader relationships were foundational to youth participants’ ongoing involvement over the 18-month period. Such relationships appeared to drive much of the momentum of the action research and enable at times dynamic flows of power between youth participants and adults that encouraged an inter-generational space within the YPAR project. Young people stepped into leadership roles at different phases of the project while adult leaders managed the pace and progress of the project. The study identified five factors that helped to create this relational participatory space: reduced leader direction; valuing youth voice; openness of other participants, reworking adult-centric processes and the implementation of a variety of sharing activities. A number of factors that constrained youth voice were also identified. The study highlights how strong relationships were an integral part of the processes and practices of YPAR, rather than merely a positive outcome of participatory processes. These findings challenge traditional individualistic models of youth participation that frequently fail to acknowledge the importance of intergenerational and collective relationships within youth participatory action research projects. The study therefore calls for a heightened focus on relationship building within participatory processes both at a policy and practical level.</p>

Student action research: Preventing bullying in secondary school—Inkla project

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Wójcik ◽  
Maria Mondry
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
School Life ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
School Students

This article presents Inkla, a youth participatory action research project initiated by secondary school students and supported by university researchers and students. The main goal was to help secondary school students explore intragroup relations in school classes and problems students may encounter as bullying or peer group exclusion. It was also intended to design practical methods to stop bullying and create supportive peer groups. A group of secondary school students became student researchers and conducted interviews in their school classes which resulted in including their peers and teachers in well planned and research-based collective action to prevent bullying and improve school life. Outcomes demonstrate that the student voice can support or change a school’s antibullying policy if the responsibility for bullying prevention is shared with students who are treated as agents of change. This article also describes the complex process of building participative relationships in youth participatory action research.

“I’ll Save You a Seat”: Negotiating Power in a Participatory Action Research Project with Queer and Trans Young Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 004208592110231
Author(s):  
Amy Hillier ◽  
Kel Kroehle
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Youth Leadership ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Operational Issues ◽  
School Youth

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) provides a model for youth leadership in research aimed at tangible improvements to their lives. We employed YPAR with queer and trans young adults in a qualitative study about trans high school youth. In this paper, we highlight the importance of relationships, dialog and reflexivity to ensuring ongoing critical reflection on the ethical nature of what often appear as methodological and operational issues. Our research underscores the tensions, contradictions, and limitations of sharing power that emerge in collaborations across age, race, educational attainment, and lived experience.

scholarly journals Creating a Relational Participatory Space: Insights from a Youth Participatory Action Research Project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Davis-Rae
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participatory Processes

<p><b>Since the ratification of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there has been a heightened focus on youth participation as a way of upholding young people’s right to have their say on decisions that affect them. However, programmes that attempt to engage young people in decision-making processes have often been poorly enacted and have failed to adequately address the barriers that limit young people’s ability to participate meaningfully and therefore rarely result in sustained change. This study examined processes with a youth participatory action research [YPAR] project in order to identify and explore processes and practices that might serve to sustain young people’s involvement and support authentic and meaningful participation. The research used an instrumental case study approach to examine an 18-month-long YPAR project operated through an existing youthwork programme. Data were collected through autoethnography, artefact analysis and participant interviews and reflections with youth participants. </b></p> <p>The study found that peer-to-peer and peer-to-leader relationships were foundational to youth participants’ ongoing involvement over the 18-month period. Such relationships appeared to drive much of the momentum of the action research and enable at times dynamic flows of power between youth participants and adults that encouraged an inter-generational space within the YPAR project. Young people stepped into leadership roles at different phases of the project while adult leaders managed the pace and progress of the project. The study identified five factors that helped to create this relational participatory space: reduced leader direction; valuing youth voice; openness of other participants, reworking adult-centric processes and the implementation of a variety of sharing activities. A number of factors that constrained youth voice were also identified. The study highlights how strong relationships were an integral part of the processes and practices of YPAR, rather than merely a positive outcome of participatory processes. These findings challenge traditional individualistic models of youth participation that frequently fail to acknowledge the importance of intergenerational and collective relationships within youth participatory action research projects. The study therefore calls for a heightened focus on relationship building within participatory processes both at a policy and practical level.</p>

scholarly journals We Have Something to Say: Youth Participatory Action Research as a Promising Practice to Address Problems of Practice in Rural Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Darris Means ◽  
Sydney Blackmon ◽  
Elizabeth Drake ◽  
Paris Lawrence ◽  
Angel Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
School Library ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Problems Of Practice

The purpose of this article is to highlight a critical approach for practice, youth participatory action research, that can be used to invite rural youth to collaborate with school administrators, educators, and community leaders to identify and examine challenges, while building upon the strengths of a school and community to address challenges. Our youth participatory action research project was a collaboration between adult researchers and five students from a rural high school to examine and address postsecondary education access challenges. The adult and student researchers developed and implemented two evidence-based products: (a) a conference and (b) a resource corner in the school library. Student co-researchers demonstrated an increased commitment to the project, development of postsecondary education knowledge, and development as leaders during the project. Our project demonstrates evidence of youth participatory action research being an effective approach to address problems of practice in rural education.

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