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.