Saint Lucia ConnectED Youth-Led Research

Empowering Youth Through Youth-Led Research

Youth-Led Action Research

Course Syllabus

Course Overview

The main purpose of this course is to provide participants with an opportunity to learn and engage in authentic processes of participatory action research. This course seeks to expose participants to an approach to research that involves collaboration, problem-solving, and positive action. Participants will develop insights into the nature and purpose of research and the research process, with a focus on action research. They will engage in data collection and analysis, and work collaboratively to develop a research report.

Course Schedule

  • Understand Positive Youth Development.
  • Reflect on ways youth can use their strengths to contribute to their communities.
  • Define research design.
  • Discuss the purposes of research.
  • Discuss ways research can contribute to youth agency and community building.

  • Identify the primary characteristics of participatory action research.
  • Explain the basic principles of participatory action research.
  • Understand the action research cycle.

  • Identify ethical issues in research, specifically those associated with action research.
  • Discuss ways of mitigating ethical issues in action research.

  • Develop questions to be answered by the research project.
  • Develop the purpose statements for the research project.
  • Describe the sample for the action research project.

  • Decide data collection methodology according to the nature of the research project.
  • Discuss data collection approaches associated with the action research project - assessments, exit slips, observations, reflective journals, interviews etc.

  • Develop Instruments for the collection of data in the action research process.

  • Develop Instruments for the collection of data in the action research process.

  • Basic Quantitative methods for describing data.
  • Basic Qualitative methods for describing data.
  • Apply descriptive statistical procedures in the preparation of quantitative data - central tendency, dispersion, crostabulations, frequency.
  • Apply suitable strategies for qualitative data reduction and management - organising data, effective record keeping.
  • Respond to data within the action research cycle.

  • Use multiple data sources to draw conclusions about phenomena.
  • Use a variety of techniques for presenting data - tables, graphs, narratives etc.

  • Work collaboratively to report on the impact of research intervention.

Course Resources