Research as a Reciprocal Act: How Rural Grade 5 and 6 Co-Researchers Transformed Their Adult Research Mentors

Including children and youth in research contributes to their academic and life skills development, but how do co-researching experiences transform adult mentors? Walkerdine (1997) stated that research “provides not only ways of seeing others, but ways of understanding ourselves” (p. 15). In this spirit, we report on our experiences to share how co-researching with eight Grade 5 and 6 students in a rural K-9 school in Alberta, Canada, which gave us insights into research and teaching assumptions and practices. Data were collected from observations of the students co-conducting interviews with K-6 research participants, students’ self-assessments of their co-researching experiences, transcripts of the interviews they conducted, and a focus group with them. Themes of (adult) researcher control, research impact, spaces of care, and the value and capabilities of rural students came through via the narratives of insight that each adult researcher developed based on their experiences working with the student researchers. Skelton’s (2008) notion of research as a reciprocal act was employed as a sensitizing concept that led us to articulate a new understanding of research as a space for care and joy, as an endeavor that can (re)shape relationships between researchers, teachers and those researched and taught, and as a service-oriented undertaking that can expand the meaning of research impact. Since urban, older students are the focus of child-led or co-researching, our paper may be a helpful complement.