ABSTRACT
This chapter presents results of a Swiss study concerning the willingness of younger (18–64 years) and older adults (65+ years) to engage in participatory research. Every participatory research approach within the field of aging studies relies on the general willingness of older adults to participate. Therefore, this chapter intends to present empirical findings (based on 1360 participants surveyed in late 2020) regarding the openness and motivations of younger and older adults to engage in participatory research. The results indicate that roughly 49% of all participants, but just 24% of the older group, are open to such projects. In short, the analyses show that younger adults are more open to participation in these projects than older adults. Multivariate analyses indicate that education, socio-cultural activities, and interest in science were specific predictors of willingness to join participatory research projects. The study presented here provides evidence for the potential and barriers to involving older adults as co-creators of scientific research.
