Children and adolescents’ voices and the implications for ethical research

Abstract

A discussion on the ethical context and barriers to include children’s voices in research and clarify the role of Research Ethic Committees. Twenty-one researchers from eight countries participated in 2 focus groups and 10 individual in-depth interviews. The results highlight the need for reforming ethical regulations to facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of children and adolescent in research. This reform, however, requires a paradigm shift to balance the notions of protecting children and adolescents from harm with empowerment and autonomy.

Movilidades y experiencia escolar en la periferia urbana de Córdoba, Argentina

“…El desbalance de poder entre las personas adultas y los jóvenes constituye una preocupación nodal en la investigación con infancias o juventudes (Alves et al, 2022). Tras el acontecer que provocó la pandemia por covid-19, la necesidad de trascender su escucha para promover un rol como agentes activos del cambio social se torna aún más imperiosa (Cuevas-Parra, 2021).…”

Research ethics in childhood research

“…Whether we like it or not, more than 30 years on from the adoption of the UNCRC, balancing institutional approaches to research ethics with children’s human right to participation and protection remains a delicate dance. Yes, there is considerable room for improvement (Alves et al, 2022; Brown, 2022; Brown et al, 2020; Cutting and Peacock, 2021; Harger and Quintela, 2017; Romm, 2020) but I agree with Ginny that there is also scope for us as researchers to resist the polarising of protocols and praxis. Having a clear understanding of how we define and operationalize ‘ethics’ throughout the research process is a good start.…”

“…This seems particularly the case for research on 'sensitive issues' (Powell et al, 2018(Powell et al, , 2020, research involving children with additional vulnerabilities (Beazley and Ball, 2017;Harger and Quintela, 2017;Jiménez, 2021), or studies taking participatory, open-ended or co-research type approaches (Cutting and Peacock, 2021;Horgan, 2017). Yet, arguably, some of these children, and their peers in similar situations, may have most to gain personally, and in terms of policy change, from sharing their experiences in research (Alves et al, 2022;Moletsane et al, 2021;Stalford and Lundy, 2022;Warrington and Larkins, 2019). Regrettably, key ethical processes such as consent may be reduced to debates about required wording on a consent form rather than what makes it 'informed' or the necessity that this should be on-going throughout the research process.…”