Framework for the Analysis of Teenagers' Agency and Self-Disclosure and Methodological Reflections on Knowledge Production During Qualitative Research

Abstract

The development of participant driven methodologies, especially those involving research with teenagers about potentially stigmatizing and sensitive topics, can benefit from methodological reflections on participants' agency and disclosure in many ways. Not only will these reflections provide important insights about systems of power operating during data collection process, but they also will assist researchers in making stronger claims about participants' speaking positions, knowledge production, representativeness of participants' experiences, and trustworthiness of research findings. From a constructionist perspective, our purpose is twofold: 1) to develop a literature-based framework and methodological foci on how to analyze agency and disclosure in qualitative research projects, and 2) to share our methodological reflections of applying the framework to the context of two different qualitative data collection methods (experience sampling method and focus groups). We conclude that the participants' different forms of agency and self-disclosure can be useful indicators of active engagement and participant driven knowledge production.