NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL
YOUTH RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
by Ng Guan Ing

Background

As the national coordinator of youth affairs in Singapore, the National Youth Council (NYC) oversees the development of an integrated knowledge base on youth trends and key youth development indicators.

The Advisory Panel on Youth Research (APYR) was set up to provide technical expertise to NYC on matters relating to the coordination of youth research on a national level. The APYR is made up of representatives from the acedamia and the various research and statistics units from relevant ministries and statutory boards.




The Youth Research Framework was crafted in consultation with the APYR. Based on the Mindmap of Youth Issues, the more comprehensive framework attempts to propose a blueprint to implement youth research in the long-term. This helps to promote a better understanding of local youth trends and issues among the youth sector and interested publics, including media agencies and other government bodies.

Information gleaned from the research will be useful for decision-makers. It also aims to help youth organisations and youth work practitioners craft more effective programmes which will enhance the experience and development of youth participants.


Youth Research Framework

The Youth Research Framework is made up of two main components: Youth Research and Youth Statistics.



To build up a comprehensive knowledge base of our youth, baseline research studies will be conducted and youth related statistics collected.

Implementation wise, baseline studies will comprise mainly broad based quantitative research, supplemented by more focused qualitative research on youth trends and issues.

With regard to youth related statistics, there was no central agency that provided information on youth statistics. As NYC does not conduct primary data collection, youth statistics will be extracted from existing statistics compiled by the relevant agencies.


Millennium Youth Study

The Millennium Youth Study aims to provide a holistic view on the Singapore youth. It is an umbrella term for a series of projects and studies that would provide us with the baseline knowledge for understanding our youth. This structure will contribute towards a sustained effort in implementing youth research and identifying youth trends. Tracking and time analysis is made possible, as surveys based on the same question set will be replicated every few years.



The Values of our youth, their Knowledge/Awareness and their Interests define the broader dimensions of our research efforts. Youth values anchor what our youth believe in; knowledge/awareness reflects their thinking and psyche; and youth interests give us a sense of what youth do.

Because of the magnitude of the Millennium Youth Study, it will be broken into two main parts, both of which will be representative research studies. The first part looks into youth values, personal outlooks and attitudes. Some of the questions that will be asked include:
  • What are the aspirations of our youth?

  • What are their worries and concerns?

  • What are their perceptions towards themselves, their family, their peers, the larger community, the nation and the world?

  • How do they view relationships, procreation and marriage?

These aspects cover the values of our youth, and their knowledge and awareness.

The second part centres around youth interests and activities. Having gained a better understanding of the internal motivations of a young person, the interest is then to look at the manifestation or what our youth engages in. Potential questions include:
  • How do our youth spend their free time?

  • Are their interests met by activities of youth organisations?

  • What are their latest interest areas?

  • A related concern to this topic is how to improve programme effectiveness of youth organisations. It is hoped that the study will generate possible indicators for effective programming.
These two studies by themselves will not be enough to provide the full picture of our youth. NYC will also look into periodic opinion polls and focus group discussions on youth perception, behaviour and trends.

In totality, the Millennium Youth Study hopes to provide a comprehensive view of the state of youth in Singapore. This will provide us with the baseline understanding of our youth and an indication of current and possibly future youth trends.


Conclusion

The findings of the Millennium Youth Study will be circulated to key youth organisations and relevant policy-making bodies in the form of published reports, articles and media releases. The Youth Statistics will be made available to youth organisations and the public through the Youth Research Network.

We hope that the Youth Research Framework will inspire more issue-specific research by local researchers. At the same time, we encourage researchers to refer to the Mindmap of Youth Issues, so as to fill up the knowledge gaps by adding on to existing research studies.