Using design thinking to CREATE a framework for research

Children and young people are tired of having research “done to them”. In a bid to devise new ways of researching with/for children and youth, we embarked on a five-year design thinking odyssey to problematise and solutioneer this issue by developing an innovative solution to this difficult problem. This solution was a proposed new framework to guide the design and implementation of research, namely, the CREATE Principles for Research Design. In the final phase of the design thinking process, the CREATE principles were implemented/applied across several research projects internationally within the broad field of physical education and youth sport, resulting in 10 research case studies. Within these, researchers reflected on the potency of the CREATE principles to augment and unlock further opportunities to place children and young people at the focal point of any research that involves them. This chapter summarises the design thinking approach employed in the “Values, Voice and Ethics Project” which led to the development and implementation/application of the CREATE principles.