Conditions that foster and hinder participatory research are examined, using examples from one such research project aimed at dropout reduction undertaken with students in a "last chance" high school. The 13 student researchers sometimes used racial, gender, and social class differences to gain power and display undemocratic behavior within the group. Dilemmas arose as small-scale actions were implemented that seemed to threaten the power and authority of teachers and administrators both within the alternative school and the traditional high schools that fed into it. The limits to extending democracy to students through research are identified, drawing on recent theoretical work on feminist pedagogy and participatory research. It is concluded that youths need to be taken seriously as knowers and potential agents of change, and that adults who want to work with adolescent researchers need to model democratic teaching and leadership. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/SLD)