Designing Research With Youth: What it Takes to Do it Well
Too often, research about youth is conducted without their direct involvement, and that can limit both the accuracy and relevance of the research itself.
The AIR Elevating Youth Voices project, launched in 2024 with funding from the AIR Opportunity Fund, set out to better understand how schools and community organizations can support young people who frequently interact with the justice system. Early on, the team recognized that producing meaningful recommendations would require rethinking the research approach itself. As AIR Senior Researcher Jameela Conway-Turner said, “We want recommendations grounded in the reality of young people’s experiences. That means partnering with them, not merely studying them.”
Jameela Conway-Turner
Senior Researcher
We want recommendations grounded in the reality of young people’s experiences. That means partnering with them, not merely studying them.
Jameela Conway-Turner
Senior Researcher
In practice that meant going beyond interviewing young people as part of the qualitative research methods and, instead, inviting them to shape how the research was designed, conducted, and interpreted. The team’s experience has provided some valuable lessons on working with youth researchers and what it takes to design and carry out this work well.
Set Clear Expectations Early—or Engagement Will Drop Off
In AIR’s first round of recruiting youth researchers, unclear expectations around roles, time commitments, and responsibilities led to significant drop-off in participation. In the second round, the AIR team was explicit from the start—defining eligibility, compensation, weekly hours, and communication norms. The result was a smaller but more consistently engaged youth researcher group.
As AIR’s Reyhan Reid put it, “Being upfront about what to expect helps everyone stay accountable.” This clarity matters because youth researchers may be new to structured work environments, and many are juggling school, jobs, and family responsibilities. Rather than assuming familiarity, teams should clearly outline expectations and actively support youth in navigating them. Early and consistent transparency isn’t just helpful—it’s essential for sustained engagement.
Design for Presence: Seeing Each Other Builds Momentum
While the research team relied heavily on virtual collaboration, it turned out that simply dialing in was not enough. Team members learned that seeing each other—expressions and reactions, even if only through a camera—built trust, maintained alignment, and created momentum.
Without that visibility, it was possible to go weeks or months without meaningful connection, making it harder to sustain engagement. At the same time, consistent on-camera participation was not always easy for youth—who were balancing school, work, and home responsibilities—and the AIR team had to continuously refine its approach.
For researchers, this underscores an important point: Collaboration does not happen passively. Teambuilding has to be intentionally cultivated and designed. As the AIR team experienced, small decisions, like how meetings are structured, shape the strength of the partnership with youth researchers.
Treat Youth as Experts Throughout the Process
Youth bring expertise that strengthens every phase of research, not just at the end, and not in limited or symbolic ways. When roles are clearly defined and space is created for their contributions, that expertise becomes a driver of stronger research design and execution.
In this project, youth researchers helped shape recruitment strategies, refined interview questions, and contributed to how data were interpreted. They identified gaps that adult researchers overlooked, suggested more effective ways to approach topics, and adapted questions to reflect how young people communicate. As AIR research assistant Cecil Hill noted, their insights were “invaluable.”
Their presence also changed the quality of engagement with research participants. As AIR Senior Researcher Maura Shramko observed, the presence of youth researchers fostered openness and trust, resulting in more nuanced data than adult-led interviews alone could produce.
Maura Shramko
Senior Researcher
The presence of youth researchers fostered openness and trust, resulting in more nuanced data than adult-led interviews alone could produce.
Maura Shramko
Senior Researcher
This reinforces a central takeaway: Youth are not just participants in youth research. They are essential contributors, and they were paid for their contributions. When their expertise is intentionally integrated throughout the process, it strengthens both the methods and the findings.
Final Thoughts
Improving outcomes for young people often requires involving them in the research process itself. As the AIR team experienced, more than good intentions are necessary to ensure it goes smoothly. Adult researchers should be prepared to rethink how their projects are designed, resourced, and carried out. This means designing for both rigor and inclusion, as well as setting timelines and expectations that allow for coaching, collaboration, and shared ownership with youth researchers. Adult researchers also need to intentionally build a relationship infrastructure, clarify roles, integrate youth expertise throughout the process, and pay them for their time.
While these efforts take time, they also allow youth to engage meaningfully, build the skills needed to contribute, and shape the work in ways that strengthen both the process and the outcomes.
Meaningful youth participation does not happen by invitation alone. It happens when research is intentionally designed to make that partnership real and impactful.
