Niamh O'Brien

So round the spiral again: a reflective participatory research project with children and young people

Historically the voices of children in research have been silent. They are often seen as victims or beneficiaries of research rather than co‐researchers or partners. This is beginning to change with growing awareness that involving children in the design, delivery and evaluation of services can make services more accessible to them and their peers. This article reviews the processes involved in a research project commissioned by Children’s Fund, which investigated the use and non‐use of services within a local area. The involvement of children was paramount and resulted in the recruitment of nine young researchers between the ages of 7–13. Various cycles of participatory action research evolved throughout the project and this article focuses specifically on two—recruiting the researcher and training young researchers. We consider the cycles of reflection and action crucial to any participatory project and discuss how lessons were learned to inform further stages of the process. Themes such as challenges, power and participation are discussed throughout.

Not sticks and stones but tweets and texts: findings from a national cyberbullying project

This paper presents key findings from a project commissioned by a group of young people to explore issues related to cyberbullying with 12–18-year olds. In particular, the paper focuses on those findings related to impact and support needs. The project collected data through a web-based Survey Monkey questionnaire and focus groups. A total of 473 young people aged 11–19 years in England responded to the questionnaire and 17 young people aged 10–18 took part in the focus groups: 19.7% (n = 87) admitted that they had been cyberbullied, just under half the young people in this study knew someone who had been cyberbullied and a similar proportion of girls and boys admitted having cyberbullied others. Most of the young people thought cyberbullying was as harmful as traditional face to face bullying. But while a few thought it could be more serious, others thought it less serious or even non-existent. Over a quarter of those who had been cyberbullied stayed away from school and over a third stopped socialising outside school. However, just over half the total sample said they did not worry about cyberbullying. The finding that 78% of those that sought support did so by talking to their parents contrasts starkly with previous research. Further research is needed to explore what makes some young people more resilient than others to cyberbullying; the role of the school and parents in dealing with cyberbullying.

Older people as researchers - why not? An overview of a partnership project to train older people to be researchers

Malcolm Ramsays article looked at the empowerment of older people through good advice and information. Continuing this theme in our next article, Carol Munn‐Giddings et al describe a unique project that has equipped older people with the necessary research skills to go after the information themselves and is giving them the confidence to directly shape local services. Providers and commissioners ‐ beware!

The repercussions of reporting bullying: some experiences of students at an independent secondary school

Abstract This article reports on the complex web experienced by young people when making decisions to report bullying in school. The study was conducted in the secondary school of an independent day and boarding school in the east of England. A Participatory Action Research approach was used with student voice and perspective at its core. This study involved five students as co-researchers with the first author to explore the concept of ‘snitching’ about bullying. Data were collected from the wider student group through a variety of methods including questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. The findings suggest that the process of reporting bullying is more complex than adults once thought. Students have to negotiate a complex web in firstly deciding if the bullying is serious enough to report. The concept of ‘serious’ bullying is contentious, particularly between boarders and day students, but physical abuse and/or repetition tended to be characteristic of ‘serious’ bullying. Once considered ‘serious’ enough, students have to weigh up the potential repercussions from the bully or the wider friendship group if they ‘snitch’. Students were therefore in conflict between loyalty to the bully and wider friendship group in deciding if unfairness had taken place and should be reported. Finally students needed to decide who they trusted to report the bullying to. The students in this study often reported to teachers who they perceived as supportive and authoritative.