I do work with youth in rural South Africa, and two of the biggest challenges I face is retention rate and parental reluctance. Students change mobile phone numbers often, move around, and change schools and peer groups. Keeping track of them long term is difficult, so I suggest you overestimate your population size to assume you will lose many of your participants if you are doing longitudinal work. Parents also often are hesitant to let their children get involved with research, especially if it involves allowing researchers into private areas of life, such as the household. I've ended up basing my work in schools, as I had too much trouble gaining access to homes because of parental resistance.

I work closely with family groups in a group of remote Aboriginal communities in Australia.  Some of the children are traumatised by early deaths and family violence (Aboriginal women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence), and with scary government interventions - the subject of a book I have almost finished.

My main research is in rock art but we incorporate dealing with social concerns as part of an engaged archaeology.  In our work we emphasis Indigenous voice (see links below) and the power of culture to keep people strong.  I think the method that might be useful to you is control over the research results by the participants - they have the power of veto.  While this might skew the results a little, you can acknowledge this, and it opens people up to confiding in you because they know you won't publish unless they agree.  In fact, I've had almost no censorship, over 25 years, but this might also be because I'm attuned to the situation.  I hope this helps, and good luck with your work.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2203948.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-12-17/my-nt-community-faces-quarantined-christmas/990672

Hi Inga,

your question is a very interesting one and at the same time it sounds (to me) as "a billion dollar question" !! Nevertheless, consider the following empirical references.

Best

Loredana

Article Family crisis intervention in war contexts: a case study of ...

Article Family quality of life and child psychological well-being in...

Chapter Fundamentalism in the Mental Health System -Children Agency ...

Article Quality of Life and Determinants of Parents’ School Satisfac...

Basically, there are two directions risks my take: firstly, you could be so participatory in your research that your turning native and that you lose your analytical voice. Secondly, you could not participatory enough, you be without empathy and understanding of the people you are dealing with. The art of participatory research mainly consists in being able to combine two voices in a balanced way: the first is the one you are listening to, the second is your own voice, telling the story from your standpoint. You fail if one of the two voices is missing.

Hello- Sounds like you are doing some interesting work... I wanted to share a couple of resources, one is an FAQ on community-engaged research (CEnR) and IRB ethics I put together. It is designed for a different purpose, but there are some sections in the first part that describe how engaged methodologies differ from others, and it links in a good deal of literature that may help you cite the importance of the methodology for the study. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281638441_Frequently_Asked_Questions_Community-Engaged_Research_%28CEnR%29_and_VCU%27s_Institutional_Review_Board_%28IRB%29

Also, here is a piece by my colleague Dr. Maghboeba Mosavel with VCU that discusses needing to provide a tangible benefit to participants. She has a lot of great publications on ethics and engaged methodologies working in Africa as well that you may find helpful. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51974349_Exploratory_Health_Disparities_Research_The_Need_to_Provide_a_Tangible_Benefit_to_Vulnerable_Respondents?ev=prf_pub

I am not sure what your research question is, and perhaps finding an authentic answer to it is tangible benefit enough, but I'd ask your participants about ethics and compensation and let them set the standard for the exchange to ensure mutual beneficience. 

Technical Report Frequently Asked Questions: Community-Engaged Research (CEnR...

Article Exploratory Health Disparities Research: The Need to Provide...

Hello, I think the most challenging in doing any kind of qualitative research with youth is to get them involve on a 'long-term'. I did a research recently on marginalized youth in deprived urban neighborhood and that was the main problem I encountered during my fieldwork, besides getting access.

I do work with youth in rural South Africa, and two of the biggest challenges I face is retention rate and parental reluctance. Students change mobile phone numbers often, move around, and change schools and peer groups. Keeping track of them long term is difficult, so I suggest you overestimate your population size to assume you will lose many of your participants if you are doing longitudinal work. Parents also often are hesitant to let their children get involved with research, especially if it involves allowing researchers into private areas of life, such as the household. I've ended up basing my work in schools, as I had too much trouble gaining access to homes because of parental resistance.

Hello.

I just want to tell you that schools, parents and government programes, does not like someone to come and findout wgat they are doing.

I used students from the ethnic group I have study, in order to get from the children themselves answers in many sensitive areas as drug abuse, deviant behaviors and so on. Good luck