Research And Research Methods For Youth Practitioners

Rigorous research is crucial to effective work with young people and increasingly youth practitioners need to be able to develop, review and evidence their work using a variety of research and assessment tools. This text equips students and practitioners with a thorough understanding of research design, practice and dissemination, as well as approaches to evidence-based practice. A clear practice framework informs the book, outlining the significance of research to youth work, especially in relation to designing and developing services for young people. Research and Research Methods for Youth Practitioners: Analyses the research/practitioner role Explores the ethical context of research in youth work Offers a thorough analysis of key methodological questions in research in practice Provides a guide to data collection and analysis Presents five principal research strategies for youth work: ethnographic work and visual methods; interviewing and evaluation; surveys and evaluation; the use of secondary data and documentary analysis; and researching virtual and online settings Discusses the implications of research for work with young people as well as its dissemination. Written by experienced researchers and practitioner-researchers, each chapter in this accessible textbook includes an overview, a critical discussion of the pros and cons of the particular method or approach, a case study, a practice-based task, a summary and suggestions for further reading. This textbook is invaluable for student and practising youth workers. It is also a useful reference for other practitioners working with young people.

Increasingly youth practitioners need to be able to develop, review and evidence their work using a variety of research and assessment tools. This text equips students and practitioners with a thorough understanding of research design, practice and dissemination, as well as approaches to evidence-based practice.

This edited volume develops critical discussions of prominent methodological approaches in participatory youth research. Chapters give special attention to power issues and dilemmas concerning young people’s and researchers’ involvement in research processes. The collection brings together perspectives of authors from throughout Nordic countries, all with comprehensive experience of qualitative research methods involving young people.

There is now a widespread expectation that teachers and coaches should be reflective practitioners, an expectation written into national standards of education in many countries. This innovative book introduces the methods by which teachers and coaches can conduct research into their own professional practice and therefore become more effective reflective practitioners, improving their students’ learning as a result. As the only book on practitioner research that focuses specifically on the unique challenges of working in a physical education or youth sport environment, it uses real-life case studies and applied practical examples to guide the reader through the research process step-by-step. Examining the what, why and how of four key research methods in particular – action research, narrative enquiry, autoethnography and self-study – it provides an expert analysis of the strengths and limitations of each method and demonstrates how conducting reflective research can produce tangible results in improving both teaching and learning. This is an invaluable resource for all those interested in enhancing their professional development as students, practitioners or researchers of physical education and youth sport.

Youth-led research is increasing in popularity around the globe and empowers today's youth to help shape social interventions seeking to reach this population group. Designs and Methods for Youth-Led Research provides a foundation from which to plan and implement social research and program evaluation projects that place youth in central roles. In this text, author Melvin Delgado emphasizes how youth-led research represents a profound political and social statement about making relevant research result in significant changes to programs in the field of youth services. Key Features: Brings together the worlds of practice and academia by providing numerous examples of field-based youth-led research projects Encourages a partnership between youth and adults to facilitate mutual respect and give young people the opportunity to make significant and lasting contributions to the creation of solutions to many of their concerns and needs Examines future challenges in the field to help develop programs that will enrich tomorrow's youth Designs and Methods for Youth-Led Research is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying youth development in a variety of Social Work, Psychology, Education, and Social Research courses. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners in the fields of youth development and youth services.

This straightforward and original text sets out best practice for designing, conducting and analysing research on work with young people. A creative and practical guide to evaluation, it provides the tools needed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and applied practice. Written by an experienced, erudite team of authors this book provides clear, pragmatic advice that can be taken into the classroom and the field. The book: Provides strategies for involving young people in research and evaluation Showcases creative and participatory methods Weaves a real world project through each chapter, highlighting challenges and opportunities at each stage of an evaluation; readers are thus able to compare approaches Is accompanied by a website with downloadable worksheets, templates and videos from the authors This is the ideal text for postgraduate students and practitioners who work with young people in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

′Researching young people′s lives will be useful to both the novice researcher and anyone interested in learning about new methods of practice′ - Youth Studies Australia Researching Young People′s Lives provides an overview of some of the key methodological challenges facing youth researchers and an introduction to the broad repertoire of methods used in youth-orientated research. The book is split into two sections. In the first half of the book, the authors consider the broad methodological and contextual concerns of relevance to the design and conduct of youth research, including ethical issues, the importance of context, and the rise of participatory approaches to youth research. The second part of the book focuses on the use of specific research methods in the conduct of youth research, ranging from surveys and secondary analysis through to interviewing, ethnography, visual methods, and the use of the internet in youth research. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on research in practice, and examples are drawn from recent youth research projects from a wide range of disciplines and substantive areas, and from a range of both UK and non-UK contexts. This is an ideal introduction to the field for novice researchers, in particular students studying and researching in the broad area of youth studies. It should also appeal to practitioners engaged in evaluation of service provision to young people, and to established youth researchers who might wish to explore the potential of using a different set of methods to those with which they are already familiar.

In an inviting and conversational style, author Kiaras Gharabaghi offers a concise guide introducing foundational research methods for the study and practice of child and youth care, aiming to awaken a lifelong interest in how research can inform, improve, and evoke critical reflection on what child and youth care is, and can be, about. Presenting research as a relational tool, the text builds basic practical research skills, such as how to conduct interviews and focus groups, how to construct research questions and surveys, and how to select research designs to best serve each project. This essential volume highlights research as an important element of child and youth care practice, explores different qualitative and quantitative research designs, and examines how they are implemented, including various aspects of recruiting research subjects, the collection and analysis of data, and the limitations of research. Written from an explicitly anti-racist perspective, the text includes a chapter dedicated to Afrocentric and Indigenous research approaches and draws all its examples from the field of child and youth care. The rich in-text pedagogical features include a glossary of key terms and two appendices that detail an ethics protocol and describe a small research project from start to finish. Students of child and youth care, social work, and youth work/development programs are bound to appreciate this engaging and highly readable text. FEATURES: - Covers the politics of research, the intersections of research and advocacy work, and Afrocentric and Indigenous research lenses - Features text boxes showcasing research insights, interviews with child and youth care researchers, and ethical considerations - Accessible for those new to research in child and youth care, while offering insight into how to deeply understand research at more advanced levels of engagement