A Day in Life - a collective research experiment

A Day In Life is a collective methodological experiment in the Nordic Research Network: Young People,
Belonging and Exclusion.
Since 2013, the research network has brought together Nordic youth researchers
in creative workshops and has published two scientific
anthologies (Wulf-Andersen, Follesø & Olsen 2016;
2021). The experiment builds on these works, with
the ambition of reopening questions and insights
about young people’s lives, belonging and exclusion.
In 2022, 13 researchers followed 13 young persons (16-
20 years) one day somewhere in the Nordic countries.
The framework for the experiment was formulated in a
common set of dogmas with the ambition of exploring
the potentials of one day of collaborative fieldwork and
dialogue with one young person, and the potentials
of/methods for collective analysis and synthesis. What
can be learned about current youth research, if we use
this collective experiment to shed light on research
practices, which are often individual(ized)?
We present methodological reflections from the
experiment: What happens, when each researcher,
in negotiation with a specific young person in a local
context, plans the day and operationalizes the dogmas?
What happens when we zoom in on and immerse
ourselves in activities, movements, and spaces of one
day, rather than focusing research by way of welldefined research questions or by stretching fieldwork over long-term periods?
The non-traditional approach raises critical questions about research methodology, ethics and conditions, which can contribute to the development of a collaborative, just and fair youth research.