Demystifying the Research Process: A Career Intervention With Latinas

Abstract

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a methodology in which youth and researchers collaborate to engage in research within a shared community. This article describes a career intervention conducted with Latina middle school students using YPAR in the school’s Latino community outreach program. Participating students were members of the Latina science club #CHICAS, which was founded by the school counselor. A Latina school parent and researcher collaborated to structure the YPAR exercise. This project allowed Latina students to undertake aspects of the research process within the framework of their communities’ interests, while educating the school counselor about the specific needs of the Latino community. The YPAR exercise also developed skills students could transfer to future career options, such as being able to listen to conversational Spanish while simultaneously translating and transcribing written responses in English. The program highlighted students’ ability to coordinate multiple perspectives as they were informing their school’s administrators while transparently communicating the needs of their ethnic communities. This article highlights YPAR as an effective, mutually beneficial tool for school counselors to engage their ethnically diverse student populations.