Doing the work to prepare
Now that you’ve read a few of the reasons why partnering with youth is so valuable, let’s dive into how to prepare to do so in a meaningful way. Any time young people and adults are working together, there are power dynamics at play. Adults – especially “researchers” – have authority, money, knowledge, and prestige. If we are not intentional about how we show up to this work, we risk alienating, tokenizing, offending, or using young people.
This section is meant to give you some food for thought, but we also want to be up-front about the reality that you’ll need to continuously return to this personal work. Unlike a microwave burrito, it’s not a quick fix. As you get older, as youth cultures continue to change, as new technologies emerge, and as circ*mstances in the world evolve, your own positionality and how you show up with young people will also change – and therefore, it’s important to adopt a posture of continuous learning. Hopefully this section will give you some tools to do that! Here are some of the guiding principles we find helpful.
Don’t lead the witness(es).
If you’re doing youth voice work to feel better about a decision you’ve already made…. don’t. Have you identified areas of your project you are genuinely interested in improving and co-creating with youth? Or are you asking them for some quick stamps of approval on work you’ve already pretty much finalized? If it’s the latter, that’s not the type of youth voice we’re talking about.
There are some parts of the research process that lend themselves more easily to youth participation, like reviewing methodology and tools, data collection, and data interpretation stages. Few research projects include youth at all stages of research (Fløtten, K. J., et al., 2021). We believe that there are meaningful upsides to engaging youth at all different stages of the project lifecycle; it just depends on the value and impact you are ultimately trying to achieve.
A few questions to consider:
- What do you know the least about or have the least experience with? What areas of your work do you sense are most ripe for youth voice?
- What parts of your project are actually up for discussion? Are there non-negotiable phases?
- If youth were to give feedback at ‘x’ point in the project, could you realistically implement their insight?
To be clear, it’s totally ok to set parameters for where you’re inviting youth engagement – and where you’re not. You just need to be clear with yourself, and then with the youth you involve, about which parts of a project you’re asking for them to help with, which parts you’re not, and why. Ask your team before you begin: what would change about our direction if youth shared one perspective vs. another? What are we really willing to change our minds about? Invite youth to join you in the sections of the project where their influence will really matter; otherwise their participation can feel (and be) tokenistic.
Figure out what you really want to know.
Do you want young people to help you interpret data you’ve already collected? Do you have a question that you really don’t know how they’ll answer? Are you genuinely curious about and open to the direction young people’s perspectives will lead? Document what you already know and (if applicable) emerging findings from prior phases of your work so you can identify the gaps that youth voice research can help you fill.
Clarify who you want to learn from.
Young people aren’t a monolith. It’s helpful to think carefully about the young people whose voices, perspectives, and identities you want to hear from (more on this and on recruiting in chapter 4.) But even if you have selected a really specific demographic group, remember that your participants still can’t speak for their entire group – even if that group is super specific, like “15-year-old evangelical White girls from rural Iowa who play the bassoon.” Your youth partners are individuals as well as representatives of a group; holding those two things together is an important part of doing this research with validity.
Respect their expertise.
Most of you reading this playbook will have more advanced degrees, years of life lived, and career experience than the young people you engage in your projects. You probably do know more about psychoneuroendocrinology or product development or whatever, but that’s not why you’re inviting youth to your project. You’re inviting them because they are subject matter experts in a subject you’re not an expert in: being a teen today. That expertise is valuable! It should be respected and compensated, just like other external experts you’d invite to join a project. (More on this in chapter 3.)
Be aware of etiquette, vocab, and cultural norms.
We are not trying to make young people sound like they’re from another planet – that trope has certainly been done enough. But it is true that young people often have ways of communicating, slang, and norms that are different from the ones you may use. Don’t try to talk like a teen, but do be ready to talk authentically with teens! You don’t want to be trying too hard (nobody wants their adult facilitator to tell them their answer “slaps”) but you also don’t want to be googling “what does yeet mean” on the side. If in doubt, just ask.
It’s also really important to think about how the words you use can create an inclusive space (or not). For example, our teams all ask people to include their gender pronouns when they introduce themselves at the start of a meeting, in order to make space for transgender, non-binary, or non-gender-conforming folks to introduce themselves comfortably and hopefully avoid being misgendered. This is becoming more common, but if it’s a new practice to you, we link to more resources about this below.
Keep an open mind and be flexible.
No matter how much you prepare, the reality is that you may not know ahead of time what is most important. Youth will guide you in directions you might not predict or expect. Come with an openness to the unexpected, and (if possible) a timeline that allows you to iterate and change your initial plans based on youth feedback. (More on this in chapter 3, Budgets & Resources.)
Reflection & planning guide
This worksheet, which was adapted from resources by Ahna Suleiman, can be used for personal reflection or leading a group conversation with your team as you’re. young people for the first time in a new project.
A youth leader’s guide to building cultural competence
This is a long resource, but chapter 2 includes some useful personal reflection questions focused on your own identity and positionality and how this might impact how you interact with young people.
