Navigating the Institutional Review Board and other institutional entities: An ode to aspiring YPAR scholars

Youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) engages young people as partners in rigorous research inquiry to guide and inform collective action. Scholars interested in YPAR have notable investment in social justice and activist values, which at times come in direct tensions within their doctoral training and/or professional roles within academia. One monumental hurdle in conducting YPAR is obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The goal of this manuscript, therefore, is to transparently and humbly share some of the heart work we have done in navigating the IRB. In partnership with IRB directors who are co-authors, we discuss several choice points in obtaining IRB approval. Challenges include: (1) advocating for youth to have co-investigator status on the IRB application, (2) training youth in research ethics, (3) strategically crafting a YPAR application that attends to the evolving and emerging nature of the research, (4) obtaining approval to compensate youth for their time as researchers, and (5) planning for diverse youth dissemination strategies that may challenge principles of anonymity. In discussing these choice points, we will share examples from our own work, strategies, and resources to support current and future aspiring YPAR scholars.