Next steps in children and young people’s research, participation and protection from the perspective of young researchers

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore young researchers perspectives on children and young people’s research, participation and protection. Design/methodology/approach The paper is co-authored by young people and academics involved in a young researcher group. This paper provides a brief introduction from the young researchers and some academic context to their work, then the young researcher group’s contribution. Their contribution is followed by a brief discussion of the issues they raise in the light of current academic debate. Findings This paper contains our critical reflection on participation and protection. Originality/value The paper presents a unique contribution capturing children and young people’s perspectives on the journal’s theme and other contributions to it.

Learning How to Know Together: Using Barthes and Aristotle to Turn From ‘Training’ to ‘Collaborative Learning’ in Participatory Research with Children and Young People

“…Had young researchers taken part in this with us they would doubtless have indicated further ways in which they learned from each other or from academics. Their reflections are however captured in other papers (Dan et al, 2019; Satchwell, 2019) and here we have sought to challenge the greater orthodoxy: to highlight how academics learn from young researchers.…”

“…Throughout we engaged in conversations and draw-write activities with the young researchers (in individual interviews and group discussions). At the end of the study they reflected on the whole process and their own stories through conversations which were sometimes recorded; outputs from these have been published elsewhere (Dan et al, 2019; Satchwell, 2019; Satchwell and Davidge, 2018). This article, authored by the two lead academics for the study, was developed through a private space of reflective dialogue, where we could freely name our weaknesses and moments of perceived failure.…”

Rethinking Methodologies in Parapsychology Research with Children

“…Piaget's model has been appropriated and reduced in modern society, rendering children as "dominated by the irrational, ludistic tendencies or magical thinking, largely unable to distinguish fantasy from reality until seven or eight years of age when concrete logic develops" (Wigger, 2019: 29). Contemporary research in childhood studies significantly challenges this view of children and their capacity to engage in research (Anderson, 1998;Dan et al, 2019;Larkins et al, 2015;Murris, 2017;see Punch, 2002). Scholars argue for a redefinition of certain ideas such as intelligence, considered multiple rather than monolithic (Gardner, 1983), the social rather than egocentric nature of children (Harris, 2000), how children's thinking processes can be complex (see Barrett, 2012;Murris, 2017); and how logical young minds can be, even in imaginative play (see Dias & Harris, 1988, see Wigger, 2019.…”

“…Involving children in research has a long history in disciplines such as childhood studies (see Dan et al, 2019;Morrow & Richards, 1996;Punch, 2002). There are debates and disagreements around how research with children should be approached.…”

“…For example, research with children can be considered against two extremes, either children are just the same as adults or entirely different from adults (Punch, 2002). Each position entails different methods in research with children, and any research with children raises issues of power, protections and ethics (see Alderson, 1995;Dan et al, 2019). Ethics is viewed as the central difference between research with adults and children (Punch, 2002).…”