Youth Participatory Action Research
YPAR is a form of community-based participatory research, in which youth and adults are engaged as co-collaborators in a power-sharing research partnership that promotes youth development, the democratization of research evidence, and the generation of localized knowledge to improve their schools and communities.
YPAR & the IRB (Project)
Scholars interested in YPAR have notable investment in social justice and activist values, which at times come in direct tensions within their doctoral training and/or professional roles within academia. One monumental hurdle in conducting YPAR is obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Working with colleagues at Fordham, Florida State University, Boston University, and the larger Life Course Intervention Network (YPAR Node), we are: 1) documenting challenges and choice points for developing IRB YPAR-focused applications, 2) identifying strategies to support both IRBs and YPAR researchers in this research, and 3) disseminating resources and tools.
This study is funded by Adolescent & Young Adult Health Research Network: National Resource Center, Co-Principal Investigator: Kornbluh, Hoyt, Abraczinskas
YPAR & the Use of Research Evidence (Project)
Funded through the William T Grant Foundation (Consultant Kornbluh, PI Ozer), our research documented the potential for YPAR to both broaden and democratize the types of research available to school-district decision makers through explicit power brokering and relational capacity building. We also found that students directly benefit when youth-led research is utilized to inform the selection and implementation of primary prevention programming. Expanding on this work, we are partnering with PLUS (a school climate-focused YPAR program) in more than 100 California schools across 65 districts to test the impact of YPAR on research informed decision-making (selection of evidence-based prevention programs, staff understanding of youth needs), and direct youth outcomes (school climate, belonging, and academic engagement).