– We can clearly see that this project has created change for many of the young people, says project leader Reidun Norvoll, research professor at the Work Research Institute AFI, Oslo Metropolitan University.
Norvoll states that they aimed to assist communities in developing a more inclusive society for young people and to empower young people by providing knowledge and involving them in social innovation activities.
– We wanted our research to contribute to society, here and now. We also wanted to increase the young people's understanding of their community and to strengthen the communities' capacity to solve their local challenges, says researcher Reidun Norvoll.
Several youths developed useful skills and found jobs
She explains that many of the youths they worked with in Europe feel that the project provided many new opportunities for learning, skill development, social participation and engagement. They felt included.
Several have also found jobs through local partners they met through the project, and/or by having the researchers serve as references.
– They have gained experience in preparing arguments and presenting a case, project experience, and a large network. All of this is great to have on a CV, says Norvoll.
It's about society and researchers helping each other to produce new social science knowledge and insights, and collaborating to solve key societal challenges.– Researcher Reidun Norvoll.
Facts: Youth Co-Research
Curious about what Youth Participation or Youth Co-Research is? The project has developed a handbook for youth co-research: Youth Co-Research Handbook (zenodo.org).
The YouCount project used a more qualitative design combined with quantitative methods such as surveys and a "YouCount App" where young people recorded experiences with social inclusion in everyday life. Many also included students as part of the local research teams.
Aiming to Assist Communities
The goal of the EU project YouCount was to develop and try out citizen science in practice in social science research and social innovation, and to evaluate the actual outcomes, advantages and disadvantages of this type of research.
Citizen science is often defined as involving citizens or communities in the whole or part of the research process. Citizen social science applies this approach within the social sciences.
– It's about society and researchers helping each other to produce new social science knowledge and insights, and collaborating to solve key societal challenges, explains Norvoll.
The researchers also wanted to use citizen social science to gain new knowledge about opportunities for social inclusion and how the scientific approach can be used in social innovation and policy development.
Working with Youth in Nine Countries
Social inclusion means that a person can participate in society through, for example, work, experiencing social belonging to others and the place where they live, or being an active citizen.
The project is based in Europe, addressing societal challenges related to many young people being at risk of social exclusion for various reasons.
– At the same time, young people possess important knowledge and resources that can help find solutions to these challenges, says project leader Norvoll.
When we work this way, we are closer to the field, in society, and with society, as we do in action research.– Reidun Norvoll.
For example, in Spain, they worked on social participation among young, minor asylum seekers. What happens when they turn 18? In Hungary, researchers worked with hard-of-hearing youth, exploring how they could become more included in their communities.
Strengthening Inclusion
– There is a lot of research on exclusion, but we wanted to find out what promotes social inclusion and what young people themselves think about this, says Norvoll.
We can also call it research based on citizen involvement, or participatory research, continues the project leader.
– When we work this way, we are closer to the field, in society, and with society, as we do in action research , says Reidun Norvoll.
Several researchers in the project come from this tradition, where researchers and citizens develop knowledge by changing society together.
– We wanted the youths’ voices to be heard, says Norvoll.
How to Achieve Citizenship?
The project applied a broad social and political understanding of citizenship, including formal and informal citizenship.
– Several of the youths we worked with outside Norway did not have formal citizenship in the country they lived in, but we want to strengthen their citizenship. Belonging doesn't just come through a passport, although formal citizenship was emphasized as very important by the young people across countries, says Norvoll.
Therefore, it is important to look at how we can strengthen social participation and belonging for youths, continues the researcher. Many countries in Europe, like Spain, host large groups of young people growing up with temporary status.
– Their voices must also be heard. We found that young people with temporary residence permits and migrant status gained a completely different sense of self and status in society by being part of this project, says Norvoll.
The researchers worked not only with migrants but also with other groups of young people and issues related to social inclusion across Europe.
The researchers organized what they call "living labs," where youth researchers, local associations, and politicians worked together over time. The youths experienced being heard and some also created exhibitions that got media coverage.
– Through the project, they changed their self-image. Those who found their place and role in the project experienced it as empowering, says Reidun Norvoll.
Unconventional Methods
– We are working with novel methods to strengthen inclusion. We call this co-creation—developing new knowledge and practices together with young people and the local communities, says Norvoll.
Social sciences have a long tradition of participatory research. However, citizen science has been less common in social sciences, explains Norvoll.
She has long worked with action research and user involvement but was interested in exploring the possibilities of using citizen science both in social science research and as a method to strengthen collaboration between society and research on societal challenges.
Citizen science has been most common in natural sciences and environmental research and historical studies. Researchers can, for example, collaborate with citizens and communities to contribute data by counting certain bird species, measuring water and air quality, or working with local history groups.
– Such collaboration can give researchers more knowledge and understanding, and also benefit the population by working with experts in their area of interest, learning more about research or the topic being studied, says the experienced researcher.
The Great Strength of Citizen Science
Another strength of citizen science lies in creating engagement for research in the population by actively involving them.
– Involving young people in research dissemination can also help us to reach out to other groups than we usually do not meet in traditional research, says Reidun Norvoll.
Their voices must also be heard.– Reidun Norvoll.
This can contribute to making science more inclusive. In traditional citizen science, there is a strong emphasis on research giving back to the citizens, such as recognition of contributions and science education.
– We have co-created lot of great learning materials and a broader range of creative science communication methods and educational programmes. Here, social sciences, including action research and user involvement, have much to learn from citizen science, says Norvoll.
Labor-Intensive, but with Great Benefits
Critics have argued that citizen science can compromise scientific standards. The quality of information gathered by citizen scientists can be low, as it may not be collected or analyzed systematically enough, making it difficult to generalize findings.
Experiences from the YouCount project show that co-creative citizen science provides unique insights into young people's and communities' perspectives and influencing factors. These insights can promote social inclusion through close collaboration over time.
At the same time, it can be challenging for researchers to find time for other scientific tasks, such as systematization and theoretical analyses, while facilitating many collaborative processes and activities locally.
– The first year was, for example, labor-intensive because we had to spend a lot of time establishing the project locally and building trusting relationships with the young people and other local participants, says Norvoll.
Building relationships is especially important when working with young people and communities that are more distant from research. This is a challenge in this type of research that needs closer examination in the future, Norvoll elaborates.
– There is a need for different thinking and adaptation of rules to ensure that these citizens are not excluded simply because the procedures become too rigid, cumbersome or time-consuming for researchers within a limited project period, says the researcher.
It is therefore important that researchers and administrators continue to work together to build more flexible and youth-friendly projects, she elaborates.
For example, the large GDPR bureaucracy, ideally meant to protect individuals, can also contribute to creating exclusion in research as they require lengthy and formal processes that are poorly adapted, especially for young citizens.
We Must Not Be Naive
– After many years of work, I have also become increasingly concerned that participatory research, often idealistically driven, does not become too 'naive', but recognizes how complex and demanding many of these societal challenges actually are, says Norvoll.
Without this awareness, analyses can become too superficial and solutions too simplistic, Norvoll concludes.
