Care-Based Methodologies

Care-based methodologies reimagine relationships between researchers and youth participants in school-based research. The book highlights care-based methodologies as essential to qualitative and ethnographic research in schools, particularly when participants are youth from nondominant communities. While researchers seek to understand youths' lived experiences and become involved in the daily rhythms of their lives, it is rare that they receive training on how to navigate the complex interpersonal dynamics and relationships that develop during long-term school research.

How can researchers ensure that they care for the wellbeing of youth, not just the stories and data collected from them? How do researchers navigate the various roles they may play in youths' lives throughout and beyond a study with care? What occurs when scholars challenge the traditional power dynamics of researcher-participant relationships to walk alongside youth in their research?

This book illustrates the possibilities for conducting rigorous and responsible research that simultaneously enhances our understanding of youth's lives, cares for their wellbeing, and works towards dismantling the systems that oppress them. The editors offer an opening chapter that explains how researchers can practice care-based methodologies with youth by centering transparency, reflexivity, reciprocity, curiosity, consent, and self-care. The subsequent chapters draw from a range of qualitative and ethnographic studies to highlight how care mediates and informs the research process and provide concrete guidance for employing care-based methodologies in school-based studies with youth.