Uit de spagaat! Naar een kwaliteitsraamwerk voor Participatief Jongeren Onderzoek

Abstract

This thesis reports the findings of a research project on the quality of participatory youth research, as well as the development of a quality framework related to the method. Participatory youth research involves young people as researchers. The method has been applied in the Netherlands since the 1990s on an increasingly regular basis. Stakeholders initiated discussions about the quality of the research method, however, no quality framework has been in place for the purpose of evaluating participatory youth research, while the diversity of its goals and the methods that had been developed has made the formulation of clear quality criteria difficult. Still, the development of a quality framework is important because participatory youth research often becomes young peoples’ first experience of participation, because ethical issues play a role and because policy decisions can be made based on research results. In order to gain insight into the quality of participatory youth research, a concept quality framework has been developed and subsequently been applied to case studies. Seven cases, from the period between 1996 and 2006, have been researched and have been analysed vertically (as per case) and horizontally (as per quality aspect). These analyses have indicated that the existence of different goals and the implicit strategies used to position participatory youth research have led to varying expectations amongst those involved. As a result, different criteria have been used to judge the quality of participatory youth research and objectives have not been achieved from the perspective of those involved, precisely due to the involvement of young people. The contradiction in goals has been called the participatory youth research paradigm-split. The conclusion has been reached that it is important to identify a clear theoretical base according to which participatory youth research can be evaluated. Dewey’s pragmatic, action theoretical perspective offers this. In his works, Dewey developed ideas on knowledge creation and research, enabling the integration of knowledge-, influence- and education objectives. The application of the action theoretical perspective both in theory and in practice has illustrated the way in which pivotal concepts of the action theoretical perspective - concepts such as ‘democratic knowledge creation’ , ‘growth’ and ‘warranted assertions’ – can be identified in a participatory youth research performed on young people and financial liabilities. This application has also provided information about the design of a participatory youth research quality framework from an action theoretical perspective. The quality framework and tools to determine quality have subsequently been developed. The first tool is a list of points of interest for the benefit of participatory youth researchers and policymakers. The list can also be used to evaluate participatory youth research. The aim of the second tool, the participatory youth research statement, has been to communicate with young people. It is flexible in design and aims to bring across the message in words and through actions. Thirdly, the participatory youth research evaluation list offers young participants the opportunity to evaluate participatory youth research.