Involving young people in research

This poster will highlight the benefits of including “peers” in research (in this case young people). It will draw on three studies, each of which included a strong participation element. The studies are based on... [ view full abstract ]

This poster will highlight the benefits of including “peers” in research (in this case young people). It will draw on three studies, each of which included a strong participation element. The studies are based on evaluations of new services for young people on the edge of care, leaving care and at risk of homelessness. Young people’s participation included two groups working as reference groups, which involved advising the evaluation team on the design of the research, development of the research questionnaires and interviews and the creation of information leaflets. The third group participated as research participants, taking part in focus groups and one- to-one interviews, as well as involvement in disseminating emerging findings. Young people ranged from 13 years to 21 years old.
The poster will present young people’s experiences of contributing to these studies including: what they have gained, what they have learnt and how they have supported the research. The poster will also highlight the benefits to research when including young people in a way that goes beyond being the respondents to interview questions. It will also explore the benefits and challenges of working with young people from the perspective of the research team.
Benefits to young people – Young people identified key learning opportunities:
• Communication, interview and interpersonal skills – (we can use what we have done and when we go for interviews we will know how to present ourselves)
• Confidence
• Respect
• Making a difference (we feel like we are actually part of something that could make things better for other young people like us)
• Become more sociable.
Benefits to the research - By having a participation element to the evaluation young people can support and shape the study to ensure it is relevant and meaningful to young respondents. By providing lived experiences they can work alongside academic researchers to ensure that the evaluation is the best it can be for both parties. Participation also enables young people:
• to be at the forefront of the evaluation
• to provide insights to the interpretation of findings (something researchers may miss)
The poster will present feedback from the three groups on skills development:
Reference groups
• How to write interview schedules (‘we made sure the interview questions were ethical and suited to the age of the participants.’)
• Interview skills (‘We practiced the interviews to make sure they weren't too long and to see if young people our age would be comfortable in answering the questions’)
• Skills in design and information sharing (‘information leaflets can be really boring so we removed a lot of the wording and wanted it to be bright colors’).
Participants
• How to think on the spot (‘it’s really hard to think of answers on the spot but it got easier and now I have a better way of knowing what to do in other interviews’)
• Team work (‘we have worked as a team to get this project up and running and its really good to meet everyone and work together’)
• Time management ‘(there are a lot of meetings and we all understand how important it is to be on time otherwise everyone is left waiting around for us’)
Challenges of participatory research methods
Participatory approaches can be expensive and time consuming, however, the outcome for both young people and research staff is invaluable. By including young people, the research team can support them in learning valuable skills for later in life, and by working with young people researchers can learn and better understand the needs of the participants from the young people themselves.