Children as researchers: the effects of participation rights on research methodology

Abstract

This paper considers issues raised for adults who do research with child researchers. The points will be illustrated through a review of an international literature rather than an original research report. Three main areas will be discussed: stages of the research process at which children can be involved as actors; levels of children's participation; and the use of methods which can increase children's informed involvement in research, thereby respecting their rights. The idea of seeing the 'researched' adult as a co-researcher or co-producer of data, and equally involved in the analysis, is already widely acknowledged. This idea is usually argued for in terms of control, and of addressing power imbalances in the research relationship. It can also be justified in terms of efficiency, as opening the way to a broader range of collection methods and fuller understanding of the data. This paper, similarly, sees children as co-producers of data during research conducted with them.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 159 citations exist upstream.