Conducting Virtual and Cross-Community Youth Participatory Action Research: Opportunities and Challenges in a Digital Research Setting

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 4:55 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Youth- and Community-Centered Research: Building Relationships for Empowerment and Racial Justice (Table 5)

Abstract

The paper explores the application of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) in a virtual cross-community setting to study youth ideas of transformative school mental health. The study engaged a cohort of 12 student activists from diverse locations in virtual YPAR sessions, which engaged students in co-analysis of data and the co-design of focus groups to gather additional data. Findings reveal that the virtual setting encouraged critical consciousness about educational inequity and facilitated digital community building. However, the research also faced challenges related to institutional review board approval, power dynamics, and participant positionality. The paper contributes insights for conducting virtual, cross-community YPAR to promote educational equity in the digital age.

Author

• Kate Somerville, University of Virginia