Expanding Spaces of Learning Through Collaborative Research

• In Event: 72.020 - Education Expanded: Youth Learning Places and Youthspaces

Abstract

In “Expanding spaces of learning through collaborative research,” the fifth panelist identifies effective practices for and challenges of conducting collaborative research related to schooling inequities with educationally disenfranchised youth. The paper draws from three participatory action research (PAR) projects with Latina/o and Black adolescents young adults young people in low-income, urban communities. PAR is an empirical research methodology in which representatives of the population under study, who are directly impacted by the research problem(s), participate in all stages of the investigative process—study and instrument design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of research findings—and action or intervention into the research problem(s) is a component of the research design.  
Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, PAR is grounded in the epistemological perspective that, as experts of their own experiences, local people must participate in constructing "official" knowledge about and intervening into the challenges that limit their potential. Particularly for researchers who are new to PAR with youth, it can be difficult to access practical guidance on how to conceptualize and implement this type of research. This is due, in part, to the fact that the methodologies of PAR projects, which are responsive to local communities and their members, tend to be specific to the study population and context, the issues under investigation, and the composition of the research team. However, there are theoretical, methodological, and ethical approaches which are important across successful PAR projects with marginalized youth.
This paper will discuss the advantages and challenges of such approaches, drawing from three PAR projects which differ by research topic(s), study population and setting, and methods. The presenter will report on significant lessons learned across the three projects, as well as study-specific best practices. Topics include: (1) recruiting researchers and study participants, (2) capitalizing on the strengths and supporting the development of individual researchers, (3) power sharing, collaboration, and managing research teams, (4) negotiating disparate commitments within research teams, the academy, K-12 schools, and communities, and (5) using PAR to increase local researchers' access to educational and employment opportunities. Data sources for the presentation include documentation of the research processes through audio and video recordings, journal entries, field notes, analytic memos, as well as data collected from study participants.  
In educational research, there is a growing body of studies with, rather than on, young people who are negatively impacted by K-12 schooling inequities. This research shows that these young people hold valuable insights into educational problems that cannot be fully captured by academic researchers alone.  However, with the population and context specificity of these studies, distillations of "best practices" for collaborative research with young people remains lacking in the research literature.  This presentation will address this gap by identifying successes and challenges across three different PAR projects with educationally disenfranchised youth and young adults. Ultimately, this presentation seeks to expand the spaces through which young people can positively impact their educational experiences by participating in "official" knowledge construction through academic research.

Author

• Tara Marie Brown, University of Maryland - College Park