NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: North Slave Region

Tags: social sciences, politics, youth

Objective(s): To understand why young people do not feel represented, and learn how to connect and engage young people in politics. The researcher would want to listen to young people tell them how to make politics more meaningful for them.

Project Description: The objective of this study is to understand why young people do not feel represented, and learn how to connect and engage young people in politics. Simply put, the research team would want to listen to young people tell how to make politics more meaningful for them. Testing two discussion guides across Canada (e.g., less engaged in rural communities, or less engaged in high crime neighborhoods). Each community will have a number of focus groups that include 8 to 10 young people. One focus group will discuss how young people feel about how their issues or interests are represented politically. The focus group discussion will talk about how they feel about how their values are reflected. The feedback from the groups can be compared to other places in Canada (for example Toronto, or Saskatoon) to better understand how young people feel about politics. The research team is conducting focus groups with young people ranging from 15 to 30 years old. The focus groups are guided discussions that focus on how young people feel about politics and political representation. Or, basically chats, that are facilitated by a moderator. There would be between 8 and 10 young people in each group, and the research team would listen to their responses to a number of questions outlined in the guide. The principal investigator and research team will co-author a paper for presentation at the Canadian Political Science Association. This paper will be shared with the community by email. All participants who indicate interest will also be sent a copy of this paper. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from October 10, 2012 to October 19, 2012.