RAY DIGI focus groups – informed consent for parents

If you made it to this page, your child has been invited by the transnational RAY research team to take part in a focus group about experiences with digital youth work. In order to let your child participate, please read this informed consent page in full and use the form at the end to declare that you have read it and that you give your to your child’s participation in a RAY DIGI focus group on terms explained below.

Participation in RAY DIGI focus groups is voluntary and unremunerated, and you or your child have the right to stop participation at any time during the process.

Summary of the research in RAY DIGI

There is a mismatch between the increased relevance of digitalisation in young people’s life and its translation to youth work practice and many youth sector organisations have struggled to add meaningful digital dimensions to their work with young people. Against that backdrop, RAY DIGI explores digitalisation systematically, analysing where and how the gap between digitalisation and youth work can be reduced, and developing recommendations on how to support the processes of digital transformation in the field of youth. You can find a detailed description of RAY DIGI here: https://researchyouth.net/projects/digi

Purpose of the focus group interview

Through focus groups with specifically selected projects, we hope to gain a nuanced understanding of successful formats, approaches, methods, and settings in the field of digital youth work. The knowledge gained through the interviews will also be used to develop recommendations for action that will advance the digital transformation of the youth field.

Duration of the interview

Interviews will likely last between 75 and 90 minutes – they might be shorter and if needed and agreed, may be slightly longer.

 

Procedure

Groups of 2 to 5 participants plus the research team will meet virtually using the jitsi video conferencing application. The research team will conduct a focus group about the digital aspects of the project that participants were taking part in.

If all participants give their verbal consent at the beginning of the interview, the interview will be audio recorded for ease of analysis. Otherwise it will not.

The content of the interview will contribute to a transnational analysis of successful digital youth work initiatives, which will be published in www.researchyouth.net in due time. The transnational analysis may include anonymized literal quotations from the focus group interview.

Foreseeable risks or discomforts

We do not foresee any meaningful risks or discomforts from participating in our interviews.

Expected benefits

Your child’s participation in a focus group on digital youth work allows us to conduct research on a future-oriented topic that will advance youth work in Europe.