Power, agency and participatory agendas: A critical exploration of young people’s engagement in participative qualitative research

2010/08/01 by Sally Holland, Emma Renold, Nicola J. Ross +1 · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Children's Rights and Participation #Participatory Visual Research Methods #Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

paper · doi:10.1177/0907568210369310

openalex publication_date 2010/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

This article critically explores data generated within a participatory research project with young people in the care of a local authority, the (Extra)ordinary Lives project. The project involved ethnographic multi-media data generation methods used in groups and individually with eight participants (aged 10—20) over a school year and encouraged critical reflexive practices throughout. The article problematizes aspects of power, ethics and agency in participatory research from poststructural perspectives and cautions against the assumption that participatory research per se necessarily produces ‘better’ research data, equalizes power relations or enhances ethical integrity. Yet, throughout the article, there are examples of the potential contributions and challenges of participatory methodologies.

Citations

• Research with Children
• Methodological Immaturity in Childhood Research?
• Working with Ethical Symmetry in Social Research with Children

Cited by

• Ethical complexities in participatory childhood research: Rethinking the ‘least adult role’
• Reflecting on participation’s promises: Insights from collaborative research about unaccompanied child migrants, care, and the UK’s hostile immigration regime
• Research failure, crip temporalities and bipolar time in UK higher education
• Agency of Autistic Children in Technology Research—A Critical Literature Review

Related

• Participatory Research Approaches with Youth: Ethics, Engagement, and Meaningful Action
• Critical Participatory Co-Analysis: Advancing Analytic Methods for Participatory Qualitative Research
• Participatory Research Methods: A Methodological Approach in Motion
• Repositioning Ethical Commitments: Participatory Action Research as a Relational Praxis of Social Change
• The “Will to Participate”: Governmentality, Power, and Community-based Participatory Research