It’s Hard. It’s Messy. It’s Fun. It’s Necessary. Navigating the Tensions when Co-Researching With Youth Participants

This paper offers a critical reflection of one intergenerational team’s journey to collaborate on a longitudinal study of youth pathways where six participants in the study worked as co-researchers alongside established researchers. By engaging in a careful consideration of our co-research process over the course of multiple years, we articulate our individual and collective experiences of trying, and sometimes failing, to engage in an anti-adultist approach to participatory research. We discuss inherent tensions that emerge when participants who serve as co-researchers and established researchers navigate power dynamics regarding trust and expertise and when traditional research practices nudge out the knowledge and voices of young co-researchers.