Power, Privilege, and Precarity

Attempts to Conduct Ethical Youth Participatory Action Research as Early Career Researchers

Bibliographic Data

ID21650786
AuthorsJennifer Renick (0000-0002-3975-8340, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA, corresponding author), J Turchi (0000-0001-7098-6256, Youth Villages, Memphis, TN, USA)
Year2024
Volume51
Issue5
Pages757-763
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth Education & Behavior (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1090-1981 • E-ISSN: 1552-6127
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/10901981241245058
PMID38606966
OpenAlexW4394750590
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited31

Though community-based participatory research (CBPR) boasts a robust history, challenges to conducting such work ethically and equitably remain. Common difficulties, such as addressing power dynamics and navigating mutuality, are heightened when doing participatory research with young people, specifically youth participatory action research (YPAR). Additional obstacles also emerge when engaging in such research as junior scholars, who lack tenure and occupy more precarious positions within academia. To elucidate these hurdles and illuminate the labor required to traverse them, we draw upon our experiences as early career academics facilitating YPAR projects with young people who have been historically marginalized. Employing an autoethnographic approach, we utilize qualitative data sources including field notes and reflective memos, from which three themes emerged after iterative rounds of reflection and review. Through descriptive vignettes, we unpack how we attended to positionality and power, interrogated shared benefit and mutuality, and engaged with the unique complexities of working with young people—as informed by our specific identities. In examining our experiences and their alignment with prior research, we aim to expand upon existing literature that has explored best practices within CBPR, but with a specific focus on youth-adult partnerships and consideration of the realities of junior scholars. It is our hope that this discussion will support early career researchers who wish to conduct YPAR but are unsure how to do so given their particular positionalities, by making visible the often-invisible work involved

Action research · Citizen journalism · Community-based participatory research · Participatory action research · Pedagogy · Photovoice · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access