Familiarity or Not: Children’s Choice of Interviewer in a Study of Substitute Care

Abstract

This article is based on a study of children's experiences of being in care in which children were given the opportunity to choose either their own social worker or an outside researcher to interview them for the purposes of the research. The starting point of the study was that children's views are necessary to inform child welfare research and practice. However, as the topic is sensitive, there is a need to give children different options to participate in research. In this article, we examine how the children (N=17) describe their choice of interviewer and also explore how the social workers (N=8) experience their role as research interviewers. The findings highlight that there is no single reason for children for choosing either a social worker or a researcher to be the interviewer. Familiarity in particular can either be a motivation or an obstacle. The dual positions of children as research interviewees and as clients as well as the dual positions of social workers both supported and hindered the interviews. Social workers reported new insights into their knowledge about children's views as a result of the research interview experience. It is argued that the choice of the interviewer may be an option for some children to have their voice heard in research. Ethical balancing and critical dialogue are also suggested as having a role.