Transformative Approaches to Compensation in Participatory Research with Youth Who Have Lived Experience of Homelessness

Background

Paying research participants for their time and engagement is a longstanding, but ethically debated, tradition. Across conversation and literature on participant payment in research, there is little discussion on specifics – such as how much to pay participants, for what, and how. Conventional research often pays participants hourly by gift card to provide information to researchers. Participatory action research (PAR), in contrast, considers those who participate to be partners in the project, share power, and contribute to design, data collection, analysis, and action. Extant literature lacks guidance on how to intentionally and equitably compensate those involved in sustained research collaborations which seek to be transformative for both research teams and communities.

Methods

For the past two years, our PAR team met weekly with an advisory group of youth with lived experience of homelessness at a community-based organization to understand how we center lived expertise in organizations. We included a sub-inquiry: What are considerations for paying young people with lived expertise of homelessness to equitably participate in research? We took systematic notes at weekly meetings. Using values-based content analysis, our team explored: how young people were paid, when young people were paid (and for what kind of work); and how the team established rates of pay that felt equal and fair.

Findings

We found that racialized capitalism and White Supremacy Culture (such as a sense of urgency, control/paternalism, and payment for documented labor) governed payment choices at every level, including influencing the funder, university, and our PAR team. Our PAR team sought to critically create transformative pay structures -- such as using cash or refillable debit cards to ensure agency and choice and paying stipends to invite flexibility and diverse ways of contributing. However, our team contended with institutions such as funding bodies and universities who are beholden to compliance, risk reduction, and credibility that were in tension with our team’s values and goals. Transformative pay structures for PAR are possible but require significant labor to shift entrenched institutional structures and values.

Implications

Our learnings have implications for PAR funders, PAR teams, and university systems supporting PAR projects that aim to fairly compensate individuals with lived expertise to be equal contributors to research. PAR teams should be prepared for transparent conversations to develop norms together around payment structures. Funders should design funding opportunities that support flexibility, including time required to set up sustainable pay structures at research institutions. Universities and other research institutions should build sustainable infrastructure for ongoing payment, such as cash and refillable debit cards. Together, these implications help us realize the promise of transformative compensation practices to honor contributions of lived experience leaders in community-engaged research.