Youth Citizenship Commission: Youth engagement project

The challenge

The Youth Citizenship Commission was launched in 2004 to explore young people's engagement as citizens. The Commission in particular sought to examine what citizenship means for 11 to 19 year olds, how participation in politics can be increased, and whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. In 2008, the Commission identified a need for desk research to underpin the development of its work.

EdComs was engaged to help the Commission to understand why young people have become detached from formal politics and to begin to evaluate the tools and means to re-engage the disaffected. The specific objectives were to:

  • review evidence to explain why young people are disengaged
  • identify segments of the youth audience on the issue of engagement
  • evaluate government initiatives to engage young people
  • provide guidance on effective indicators/measures of success of initiatives to increase engagement.

Our approach

To ensure that the objectives were fully addressed, the research went through four stages that in concert guaranteed a rigorous and commensurate process of information gathering and analysis. We conducted interviews with key experts, made contacts with the wider academic community, interrogated a wide range of databases of academic work, and gathered market research conducted by government and the private sector.

Once the evidence base was gathered, we assessed reports for their reliability and validity. We made judgements on reliability based on to what extent the research would produce the same results if repeated and judgements on validity based on to what extent each study measured what it purported to measure. Following the identification of the robust literature, we consulted with a small group of topic experts on our interim findings to ensure we were taking account of the key evidence and casting emerging recommendations within the client's context. Using this insight, we then conducted a full thematic analysis, leading to solid findings and recommendations.

Outcomes

We presented two final reports to the COI and the Youth Citizenship Commission. The first was a full digest of the literature presenting an evidence-based argument exploring in detail the four objectives of the project, and in turn offering explanations of the reasons for disengagement and making recommendations for taking forward approaches likely to promote engagement. The second report was a concise summary designed to communicate the arguments presented in the main report to lay audiences and young people unfamiliar with the jargon and concepts explored. By producing these two reports, we ensured that we were both rigorous and easily understood.

The final reports have been published by the Commission.