ABSTRACT
It can be challenging to motivate, recruit, and retain young people for research, whether it is activist youth, members of youth organizations or school and university students, who are often offered invitations to participate in research projects. This chapter discusses how recruitment strategies can be strengthened by understanding motivational factors influencing young people's decisions to partake in participatory research of the kind presented in this book. By drawing on the literature and emphasizing challenges that that participatory researchers have experienced in recruiting young participants in different phases of the planned research, the chapter describes pitfalls to avoid and argues for the use of various strategies that increase the probability of successful recruitment and retention. These include using understandable and appealing language, presenting the level of participation of participants, communicating benefits of participation, and going where young people are. Our discussion of strategies includes reflections on ethical conduct in processes of recruiting and retaining young people for participatory research.
