Equipping Adolescents with Social Science Research Skills: Evaluating the Youth Investigators Program

Background and Purpose: Scholars in the fields of social work and human development have grown increasingly aware of the benefits of engaging teens as meaningful collaborators in research projects about adolescent life. There is no shortage of curricula for equipping teens with skills in youth participatory action research or youth participatory evaluation, often with an action-oriented element or otherwise tied to a specific topic or problem area. However, fewer programs aim to prepare teens to partner with adults on academic research projects. For scholars looking to meaningfully engage young people in research (either as co-researchers or as members of youth advisory boards), capacity-building and preparing adolescents with necessary research skills may be daunting. We addressed this need through a research-practice partnership between youth development professionals, academics, and undergraduates. This collaboration resulted in the Youth Investigators Program, a hands-on curriculum for preparing adolescents with social science research skills that academics will recognize and value.

Methods: Beginning in 2023, the full Youth Investigators Program was facilitated with four respective cohorts of teens, aged 13-15, for a total number of N = 73 youth participants. The research team utilized a pre-post design with young people who took part in the program, seeking to measure the curriculum’s impact on adolescents’ (1) knowledge of social science research methods; (2) confidence in their ability to use and apply their research skills in future settings; and (3) perceptions of their ability to impact decisions that affect their lives in their communities.

Results: Key differences were observed in each of the three areas of inquiry in the most recent cohort of adolescent participants (n=20). (1) Following their completion of the Youth Investigators Program, participants demonstrated a statistically significant increase in overall knowledge of social science research skills, with scores increasing 28% between pre- and post-program assessments. (2) Youth also reported greater confidence in their research skills after completing the program. These skills included generating testable hypotheses, interpreting graphs, and disseminating findings. (3) A moderate positive correlation (.56) was observed between participants’ self-reported confidence in conducting research and their confidence in making a difference in their community.

Conclusions and Implications: Data suggests that the Youth Investigators Program is a promising tool to prepare teens for youth-engaged academic research projects or youth advisory boards. More data is needed to understand how the program impacts participants’ interest or success in partnering with academic researchers, from both youth and adults’ perspectives. With data suggesting the utility of the program for research preparation, the authors hope to ramp up dissemination of the curriculum, reaching a broader scope of academics who may be interested in adopting the Youth Investigators Program to jumpstart research projects about adolescent life.