Our RADICAL Story
Embedded Files
About Us
The RADICAL (Respect and Disrespect in Children’s and Adolescents’ Lives) project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is a large mixed-methods study that adopts a participatory rights-based approach utilising the Lundy model (2007) of participation. The focus and design of the research were developed at the outset of the project with an advisory group of children and young people, a radical approach to research in itself. Despite children and young people often being the focus of discussion, concern and censure around their lack of respect or needing to be taught respect, there is little research on conceptions and experiences of respect and disrespect that involve children themselves. The project seeks to address this gap by working directly with children and young people to understand and theorise respect and disrespect in their everyday lives and to use this to inform policy and practice.
What the Project Involved
Below is a summary of the key elements of the RADICAL project. When we use the term ‘we’ below, this refers to the entire research team (adults, children and young people).
The project involved working directly with two Children and Young People Advisory Groups (CYPAGs) – one formed from members of the Belfast City Youth Council and the other from members of the 40th and 90th Belfast Scouts group. Over the two-years of the project, members of these groups were involved in all aspects of the project including: developing a framework for respectful and ethical research; designing data collection tools and questions; data collection and analysis; and presenting of findings in diverse formats for different audiences.
Early on in the project, philosophical dialogues were conducted with the CYPAGs to come up with initial theoretical themes to inform data collection with other children and young people. The aim of this was that the original ideas and concepts of respect used in the project would be child-informed.
We developed questions on understandings and experiences of respect and disrespect to be included in the 2025 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey (annual survey of 16-year-olds in Northern Ireland) and the 2025 Kids Life and Times (KLT) survey (annual survey of P7 children, aged 10-11 years). In total, 4,191 children took part in the KLT and 1,087 YLT participants answered the ‘respect’ questions.
We carried out 11 dialogue hubs (similar to focus groups) involving 71 children and young people aged 10 to 17 across Northern Ireland. The dialogue hubs identified the ways children and young people understand respect and disrespect, and how they experience this in different places and spaces, and in different relationships.
We interviewed 42 children and young people (10-17-year-olds), including (among others) LGBTQ children, children from minority ethnic backgrounds and children with disabilities. Narrative interviews explored personal experiences of respect and disrespect.
We have developed a range of outputs from the project – for children and young people, those working with them, and for academics. They are all available to download from this website.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse