Movements in Time and Space: Using Multiple Methods in Research with Young People in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

The contribution discusses methodological issues involved in researching youth in an African context. Based on the experiences gathered during field research in Ghana, it is argued that research with young people in Africa requires careful reflexive practice. The rationale behind, and experience of, methods such as group discussions, oral life stories, lifelines, written diaries, photo-diaries and participant observation is critically discussed. It is argued that by combining these methods it is possible to capture the diversity and complexity of youth experiences in the present as well as longitudinal processes of transition. Moreover, combining different methods provides young people with the space and time they require to communicate the complexities of their lives.

Keywords:

• Young people
• multiple methods
• Ghana

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Katherine V. Gough, Mike Kesby and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Notes

1. The research is part of a PhD study funded by the Danish Council for Development Research.

2. All names are pseudonyms.

3. In western societies with moral concerns about ‘stranger-danger’ and child pornography, there might be a need to employ extra ‘cautionary practice’ (Barker and Smith, 2001) in order not to put either the researched or the researcher at risk.