Children as Citizens: Engaging Adolescents in Research on Exposure to Violence - NIJ Research for the Real World Seminar

• NCJ Number: 234748
• Date Published: January 2011
• Author(s): Felton Earls
• Length: 9 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Issue Overview; Instructional Material; Conference Material

Annotation

This is the transcript and video of Dr. Felton Earls' presentation at the NIJ Research for the Real World Seminar; it discusses the importance of engaging children, particularly adolescents, as legitimate and competent citizens when examining ways to combat violence in local communities.

Abstract

Dr. Earls, who is a professor of social medicine at the Harvard Medical School, discusses his experiences in conducting research that involves the attitudes, experiences, insights, and needs of children facing various problems and challenges, such as violence in their neighborhoods and the facts about and prevention of HIV. He discusses the preparatory interaction with the youth participants that facilitates their honest and independent expression of their thoughts and opinions about the matters at issue in the research. That sets the stage for conducting surveys of the youth that yield honest and perceptive responses on ways that they are experiencing and coping with various threatening aspects of their worlds. This yields perceptive needs assessments and insight into the varied ways in which youth are perceiving and responding to the realities of their lives.