Methodological Reflections: Teaching and Learning the Qualitative Research Process With Youth Participants

• In Event: Caring and Being There: Toward a Framework for Care-Based Research With Youth in Schools

Abstract

Purpose
Conducting research with adolescents in K-12 environments presents unique methodological challenges to researchers using qualitative approaches and methods (e.g., Griffin et al., 2016; Tilley & Taylor, 2018). At the same time, graduate-level courses on qualitative research do not generally discuss the nuances of conducting interpretative work with adolescents. Due to this gap in content knowledge, graduate student and novice researchers are unaware of the many factors involved in conducting adolescent-centered research. In this poster, the authors present what enacting care looks like in a qualitative research classroom. Using their experiences as an instructor and graduate student, they ground the discussion in two critical components of the research process—building and maintaining relationships with adolescents (and by extension, their parents and communities) and ending a research project with adolescents (e.g., leaving a site, handling the consequences of research).

Theoretical Framework
For qualitative instructors, it is necessary to link ethics of care research (e.g., Noddings, 2012) to adolescent-centered research practices, as well as to their own teaching practices (Walker & Gleaves, 2016). For graduate students, their instructors must demonstrate and model an ethic of care and pedagogical caring (Hawk, 2017).
While care relationships are not always the priority in the curriculum of schools (Noblit et al., 1995), Noddings (2012) focused specifically on the role of care in educational spaces and outlined four key components in care relationships: modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation. Thinking through how these components connect to both teaching and learning of adolescent-centered research and to research practices themselves is vital for instructors who want to center care in their instruction.

Methods
We used narrative reflections to interrogate the teaching and learning of adolescent-centered research in qualitative courses.

Data sources
Data sources included field notes and personal communication.

Results
Through narrative reflections we found that modeling is an important tool for teachers of qualitative research methods. Graduate students can learn through watching instructors enact caring behaviors, such as listening or believing, the components of dialogue and practice are critical. Dialogue provides instructors and graduate students with opportunities to discuss what care looks like in the research process, especially if enacting care pushes against research norms of objectivity. Second, encouraging students to think through their positionality, and how it influences research practices, is an opportunity to practice caring actions. Third, ending the research project with care is particularly important for research conducted with adolescents. Long-term qualitative research with adolescents involves substantial trust-building and ending the research relationship abruptly, or without warning, does not reflect the important role of the adolescent in the process. Confirmation is valuable for both researcher and participant. Confirmation means acknowledging the importance of their contribution, reviewing findings, and offering guidance moving forward.

Scholarly Significance
Given the general lack of guidance in the literature on researching with youth participants, qualitative classrooms are an essential space for conversations to occur. Our results offer several suggestions for those teaching qualitative research classes to better prepare researchers on how to conduct care-based research with youth.

Authors

• Stephanie Masta, Purdue University

• Ophélie Allyssa Desmet, Valdosta State University