Many secondary schools have a leave-your-phone-at-home or leave-your-phone-in-your-locker policy, where students are required to leave their phones at home or in their lockers. “Our previous research showed that this policy often works well,” says Pouwels. “But questions remained, such as what measures parents take and whether the policy is good for all young people.”
The researchers want to know how parents and schools can better align their rules. In addition, the previous study raised the question of how schools can better involve students in policy-making. According to the researcher, it is important for parents, schools, and young people to work together to determine which measures work best. Thus, a new Citizen Science project was born: ‘At home and in the locker’.
Who exactly are the ‘citizens’ in this project?
“Young people, parents, teachers, and social partners. Students are involved through organizations such as the National Action Committee for Students (LAKS), the National Youth Council (NJR), and Mind; parents are involved through organizations such as Ouders & Onderwijs (Parents & Education) and the Smartphonevrij Opgroeien (Growing Up Smartphone-Free) movement; and teachers are involved through organizations such as the VO Council. Organizations such as the Netherlands Youth Institute (NJi) and the Trimbos Institute are also participating in the research."
How do you find participants?
“We wanted to represent all perspectives. Not everyone in the Netherlands needs to participate, but we did make sure to include different types of schools and home contexts, for example. We wanted to make sure we do not exclude special education in this study, and we are also looking at the situation for young people in youth care institutions.’
How do you keep the participants involved?
"We wanted to involve all parties from the outset, rather than consulting a panel from time to time, as is often the case when researchers receive a grant. We interview people from all these groups, but they are also involved at important moments: they helped write the research proposal, provided input throughout the process and they attend the meetings once a year.”
“We especially wanted to keep the young people themselves involved, so we drew up a communication plan as part of the research proposal. That is really a prerequisite for this research to succeed. It is also important to listen carefully to the participants. For example, we organised a post-it session, where parents, teachers and young people could share their comments about the situation at school and at home. We put young people and adults in separate groups to make it more manageable and because we thought that young people would then feel more free to share their stories. But afterwards, they said that it felt as if the adults were talking about them rather than with them. So next time, we will put thes back together again."
"You really have to make sure that the people who participate also benefit from the collaboration. This research contributes to solutions for problems they themselves encounter. But if you want participants to continue to feel that way, you have to take them seriously.”
