App-tool as Inclusive and Applicable in Youth Citizen Social Science: A Critical Reflection

To enhance community participation in planning and research, digital applications for mobile phones are used to engage residents and as tools for data collection and communication with citizens. This paper presents and discusses experiences from the YouCount project 2021 -2024 - a youth citizen social science (YCSS) project - where young people in nine European countries have co-created, tested, and used an App together with professional researchers and App-designers. The purpose of the App was for young people to collect data on social inclusion, namely, their experiences and how they observed opportunities in daily life in their local urban communities. We discuss 1) how to co-create, pilot, and test an App with young people as part of their training as young co-researchers; 2) how it was used on its own and as part of a mixed-method project; 3) what kind of data it produced; and 4) how youths could take part in analysing data and disseminate findings. Some preliminary learning points for using an App in youth citizen social science: 1) make the aim and purpose of the App as concrete and comprehensible as possible - keep it short and simple, 2) young people become more engaged when they are able to personalise their user profiles, yet, ethical regulations may be disruptive, 3) the App was more successful in organised settings and walk-alongs with a clear scientific role and task than when used individually, 4) even if the App gave us less data than expected it still gave rich and valuable data on young people’s experiences of social inclusion.