Young people’s engagement in online research
Challenges and Lessons From Conducting Focus Groups With Young People Online
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6439481 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katherine A Smith (0000-0001-5366-1994, Nottingham Trent University and School for Business and Society, University of York, corresponding author), Christine Huebner (0000-0003-0321-2546, University of Sheffield), Thomas Loughran (0000-0001-7306-2227, Lancaster University), Jan Eichhorn (0000-0003-4988-8891, University of Edinburgh), Andrew Mycock (0000-0002-4181-1796, University of Huddersfield) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 585-600 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Youth Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1367-6261 • E-ISSN: 1469-9680 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13676261.2023.2288833 |
| OpenAlex | W4391225019 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 24 |
Online qualitative focus groups are a method which has been increasingly used, especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, including in research with young people. Studies have reflected upon the challenges of conducting online qualitative research with young people, often drawing on experiences from the pandemic’s earlier stages [e.g. Smithson et al. Citation2021; Woodrow et al. Citation2021]. This article reflects upon the challenges faced, and choices made, when conducting online focus groups with 80 young people aged 14–18 to study their democratic engagement during the later 2021 wave of the pandemic. It highlights specific issues around the method’s effectiveness in engaging young people who face different kinds of marginalisation from democratic processes. While online modes of delivery were positive for engaging some, including groups of geographically dispersed young people, they exacerbated existing inequalities for others: young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, from remote or rural areas and those with certain disabilities. Such inequalities in research participation can lead to variation in data quality, and therefore in the types of knowledge produced. Using these insights we outline a range of methodological and research design considerations for researchers when choosing whether to conduct online focus group research with young people
Focus (optics · Focus group · Sociology · Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Social Media and Politics
Adapting research methodology during Covid-19
Focus Group Interviews in Child, Youth, and Parent Research
Providing Incentives to Youth Participants in Research
Informed Consent with Children and Young People in Social Research
Covid-ized Ethnography
The lessons of 1969
Hard-to-Reach Youth Online
Finding Teens in TheirSpace
Focus groups with young people
Using and analysing focus groups
Intra-generational inequalities in young people’s political participation in Europe
Voting Age Reform, Political Partisanship and Multi-Level Governance in the UK
The focus groups in social research
Powerlessness and the Amplification of Threat
Putting Inequality in Its Place
It's More Complicated Than It Seems
Co-Researching With Children in the Time of Covid-19
Online Facebook Focus Group Research of Hard-to-Reach Participants
The methodology of Focus Groups
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |