This phase of the Safety 7 YPAR project focused on helping youth researchers interpret their data and identify key findings that reflected the lived experiences of youth in Wards 7 and 8. Over the course of four in-person working sessions, youth reviewed quotes, themes, and preliminary codes to deepen their understanding of the data, refine their analyses, and identify key storylines.
These sessions are summarized below. At this stage of the project, youth researchers took the lead in shaping the work. Because they were designing and facilitating the activities themselves, formal artifacts (e.g., facilitation guides, handouts) were not developed. Instead, each session evolved based on the youth’s growing understanding of the data. Adult facilitators played a responsive role by adapting to youth guidance and requests, such as providing additional data, extending discussion time, or offering structures to support group conversations when needed.
Overall structure of the sessions
Each session was designed to promote shared understanding, thoughtful reflection, and group decision-making. Activities built upon one another across meetings to ensure youth researchers moved from early interpretations to final research findings.
Icebreaker: “have you ever” check-in
Each session began with a grounding activity to build community and ease into the discussion space. One example was a winter themed “have you ever” check-in, in which youth were asked a series of prompts:
- Have you ever built a snowman from scratch?
- Have you ever owned a pair of New Balances?
- Have you ever traveled out of the country?
- Have you ever feared something you felt you shouldn’t fear?
Youth responded by sharing short stories. This created laughter, warmth, and a sense of belonging. This was important for the emotionally charged nature of the data being reviewed.
Session 1: Review and refine codes
Goal: Ensure the codebook accurately captured the breadth and depth of interview and focus group responses.
Activity:
- Printed copies of the codebook (including each code and its definition) were distributed to every youth researcher.
- Youth read each code and definition aloud to the group.
- Youth reflected on each definition and shared whether it felt complete or needed changes.
- Youth discussed whether anything important was missing from the coding structure, especially based on their memories of interviews and community conversations.
Outcome:
- Several codes were refined or renamed.
- New codes were added based on gaps identified in the lived experiences youth wanted to capture more fully.
- Qualitative data was re-coded to align with the refinements.
Session 2: Review and select representative quotes
Goal: Choose the most powerful quotes that best represent each code.
Activity:
- Adult facilitators were asked to pre-select 3 to 4 quotes per code from the qualitative data. These quotes were compiled into a spreadsheet and projected on a screen during the session.
- Youth read the quotes aloud. This respected different reading preferences and ensured everyone was on the same page.
- After hearing each quote, youth discussed whether it truly represented the code or if the quote was more appropriate for another code.
Key Insight
This activity took time—quotes were often long and emotionally intense. The group paused after each quote to digest, reflect, and debate its relevance.
Outcome:
- In some cases, quotes were re-coded to different codes.
- Some quotes were marked for inclusion in dissemination activities (e.g., community data walks, visual displays).
Session 3: ORID meaning-making conversations
Goal: Support youth in making meaning from the data and arriving at shared insights.
Activity:
Adult facilitators presented the ORID framework, a structured conversation process, to support youth researchers in processing the qualitative data as a whole and begin to think about key findings. Each question level helped youth dig deeper into the data:
- Objective: What do we see? What patterns or data points stand out?
- Reflective: What surprised you? What made you feel something?
- Interpretive: What do these patterns mean? What’s the story behind them?
- Decisional: What should we do with this? What are the implications?
Example Questions:
- “What surprised you about the data?”
- “What issue does the data raise about safety?”
- “What do you think this tells us about our research question?”
- “What do we want adults to do differently based on what this shows?”
Key Insight
The conversation lasted about 90 minutes, allowing time for deep reflection, note-taking, and rich discussion. Youth moved fluidly between topics—returning to earlier quotes, codes, and themes as new ideas emerged. They recorded their insights on large poster paper to help visualize and organize their thinking.
Outcome:
- Youth made emotional and analytical sense of the data.
- New insights emerged that were not visible during earlier activities.
- The group began connecting codes to research questions.
Session 4: Major findings identification by research question
Goal: Organize codes into major findings that directly respond to the research questions.
Activity:
- Each research question was written on a large poster board and placed around the room.
- Youth wrote codes, insights, or repeating ideas on sticky notes, and placed their sticky notes under the relevant research questions.
- Youth then used the ORID framework to guide a focused discussion, organizing the sticky notes into higher-level themes within each research question.
- Finally, youth applied the ORID framework one last time to synthesize their analysis and identify the most important findings for each research question, drawing directly from the themes they had developed.
Outcome:
- Each research question had 4 to 6 key findings backed by the codes.
- Youth took ownership of the findings and could explain how they emerged from the data.
Session 5: Connecting findings to quantitative data
Goal: Identify how survey findings supported or contrasted with findings from interviews and focus groups.
Activity:
- Youth reviewed summary tables, charts, or key statistics from the survey data created by the adult facilitators.
- Youth walked through each research question and asked:
- "Where do the survey results support our findings?”
- “Where do they tell a different story?”
- Discussions were held about which data points were most compelling and should be included as findings.
Outcome:
- Youth used qualitative and quantitative data sources to build a more complete narrative.
Summary: What Made It Work
- Youth-Led, Adult-Supported: Youth led all discussions and decision-making. Adults created structure when asked and offered support without taking over.
- Intentional Pacing: Sessions prioritized depth over speed. Youth were given space to slow down, reflect, and build shared understanding.
- ORID Framework: This consistent structure helped youth move from surface observations to deep insights and actionable decisions.
- Emotionally Grounded: Acknowledging the intensity of the topics through grounding activities, reading quotes aloud, and peer support helped create a safe space.
- Hands-On and Visual: Use of sticky notes, posters, printouts, and collaborative annotation made abstract ideas more tangible.
The Safety 7 includes seven youth researchers (Zionnah Garnett, Elijah Jones, London Mclean, Jermese Perkins, Ife Tobechi, Ike Tobechi, and Meagan Tutt) who make all key research decisions in partnership with staff from Child Trends and Sasha Bruce Youthwork. The Safety 7 is supported by Quiana Lewis Wallace and Deja Logan from Child Trends, Courtney Gibbs, and Bianca Faccio from Sasha Bruce Youthwork. Principal investigators for the study are Samantha Holquist and Quiana Lewis Wallace (Child Trends) with support from Kelly Murphy. Jennifer Widstrand (Child Trends) served as the Project Director. Additional contributions came from Ja’Chelle Ball, Kenya Downing, Jessica Conway, Olivia Reyes, and Alyssa Scott (Child Trends), and Deborah Shore, Donnell Potts, Ivana Gutierrez, and Jane McGhee (Sasha Bruce Youthwork).
If you have questions about the Centering Youth Experiences to Address Community Violence project, please contact Principal Investigator Quiana Lewis Wallace at qlewiswallace@childtrends.org.
This project was supported by Award No. 15PNIJ-22-GG-01420-RESS, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.