Activity and Reflection

Abstract

There is a growing interest in expanding the agendas of research, policy and practice by the direct inclusion of young people so that these groups can contribute meaningfully to developments and decision-making. This article outlines a strategy for generating information with young people about their daily lives and the intersection between these sorts of experiences and broader patterns of inclusion and exclusion. Discussion applies eco-map and social network techniques from social work practice, city mapping strategies from geography and interview strategies from qualitative methods. It also includes a new strategy: the daily life story technique developed in conjunction with young people. These strategies provide a framework for managing conversations about experience, meaning and possible futures. Discussion illustrates the way in which a range of different strategies can be combined so that an interview can become a rich source of varied information about meaning, context, experience, events, places and the intersections and interactions between them can be explained.