Congratulations to Nashman Affiliate Faculty, Dr. Maranda Ward, who recently published a a research article on youth identity formation through participatory action research. To read the full article, click here.
Dr. Ward used Promising Futures, the arts-based peer education program she developed, as her study site in conducting this research. Dr. Ward sought to understand how the identities of urban youth labeled as ‘at-risk’ was affected by their role as peer mentors for students traditionally labeled as ‘at-risk’ by academic standards.
Dr. Ward achieved this research aim by utilizing participatory action research as it allowed the youth to be involved in the labelling and understanding of their identity formation in a way that is not often sought after. As such, Dr. Ward worked diligently to have this aim reflected in her IRB approval as she ultimately obtained a ‘participants with research roles’ distinction for the youth involved. The participants worked alongside Dr. Ward, utilizing arts-based research methods such as poetic transcription and data poem development, Dr. Ward was able to collaborate with the youth and understand their perspectives.
This research process was very rewarding and beneficial for both the youth and Dr. Ward. Both parties were able to learn and develop their research techniques, which for the youth broke down traditional power imbalances that exist in research. Dr. Ward expanded her knowledge on participatory action research and also generally increased the case for the need of this method of research in many fields of study.
