As part of the second year of Futurelab’s Digital Participation Project, a group of young people from Clevedon School were supported to develop research skills and to undertake independent research which they felt would contribute to growing knowledge in the digital literacy research field.
There is increasing interest in how young people can develop the critical practices of digital literacy that enable the creation, sharing and understanding of meaning and that support participation in social, cultural, civic, economic and political life in an increasingly digital age.
Most of the research in this area is undertaken and reported by adults. Arguably, it is young people themselves however who can best understand their experiences of digital participation. These understandings are important in considering the sorts of support young people might want and need in order to develop the knowledge and understanding needed to be critical, creative and discerning users of digital technologies.
The aim of the Young People’s Research Group was to undertake research that they felt would inform others of the sorts issues young people might need support with in order to develop their digital literacy.
Ten students from Clevedon School attended a series of participatory workshops in which they discussed the nature of research, learnt about different research methods and worked with Futurelab researchers to:
- develop their own research questions into young people’s digital practices
- undertake their own original, independent research projects
- analyse the results of their research
- publish their findings in the format of their choice
The project was undertaken between September and December 2010 by a Futurelab researcher Sarah Payton and research assistant Martha Wright working with Stacey Davis (Yr 9), Benedikta Fones (Yr 10), Liam Jack Gould (Yr 11), Rafia Haque (Yr 10), Nathan Haughton (Yr 10), Tom Mousdale Weaver (Yr 10), Pearse Murphy (Yr 10), Lucy Pope (Yr 11), James Ruffle (Yr 11) and Macaulay Smith (Yr 11).
We would like to thank Jim Smith, Assistant Headteacher at Clevedon School for his support.
Digital Participation: Young People’s Research Group - Research reports
When do young people choose to communicate online and why?
Benedikta Fones with Rafia Haque
We wanted an answer to the question “When do young people choose to communicate online and why?” We used questionnaires and focus groups to come to our conclusions, which included that older students are more likely to communicate online, and most younger students would rather communicate face to face. We also found out about some of the worries which young people have about communicating online. We wrote a report to present our findings.
What are year 7 students’ experiences of searching for information online and in text books?
Tom Mousdale Weaver, James Ruffle and Macaulay Smith
The research we carried out aimed to find out what Year 7s experiences of searching online and in books are. To do this we gave 15 Year 7 students a 10minute research task using books and the internet. We observed them during the task and interviewed some of them afterwards. We found that Year 7s found it difficult to find information in both books and online but it was slightly easier for them to find information in books. The research suggested that Year 7s did not know how to research online effectively, for example by using key words and we conclude that Year 7s could be helped by being shown how to effectively search online.
Tom, James and Mac have produced a written report to communicate the results of their research .
Do people in years 7 and 9 behave differently online to how they behave offline?
Stacey Davis and Lucy Pope
This research was about whether people in Years 7 and 9 behave differently online rather than face-to-face. We decided to give out confidential questionnaires to 10 students, 5 boys and 5 girls from each of those year groups. We found that the majority of Year 7s and Year 9s reported that their peers act differently online and that they are more horrible or aggressive online than they are face-to-face. We would like further research to be carried out in order to find ways to stop people being horrible to each other online and ways in which people can be supported to deal with these situations.
Stacey and Lucy have produced a podcast in the style of a radio presenter and a researcher discussing the project in order to communicate their findings .
How easy do young people find searching on the internet for certain information versus searching in books?
Pearse Murphy and Nathan Haughton
The aim of our research was to find out whether technology makes researching easier. We felt that it was assumed that technology was the easiest way to research and we weren’t convinced.
We gave four people textbooks and four people computers with internet access and gave them fifteen minutes and let them find out the answers first four questions on a given subject. We then interviewed them about what they found hard and easy.
Our data told us that people who used a textbook finished the questions first and found it easier to find the information.
Our research indicated that most of our participants don’t know how to research properly using the internet even though they said that they did. This indicates that perhaps more time needs to be dedicated to teaching students how to research.
Pearse and Nathan have produced a poster to communicate their findings:
