Methods and Ethics in Qualitative Research Exploring Young Children’s Voice: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Young children have rights; they are agents and active constructors of their social worlds. Despite well-established theoretical foundations, the ‘methods’ and ‘ethics’ of qualitative research to elicit young children’s voice require further exploration to ensure young children are central to our research endeavors. This systematic review examined studies that sought to capture young children’s (3–6 years) voice in Early Childhood Education and Care settings. Fifty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Interview was found to be the most common strategy; this is often coupled with other child-friendly methods. Findings suggest that young children are increasingly listened to; however, there appears to be a need to further promote children’s agency and the inclusion of assent-seeking as an ongoing process. Gaps in methods supporting the inclusion of children with additional needs and Indigenous children are also evident. In addition, advancing non-permanent methods of meaning making to support children’s participation appears ripe for methodological innovation.

The potential of structured active play for social and personal development in preschoolers during cancer treatment: A qualitative RePlay study

“…Furthermore, some nuances and details are only observable when the researchers participate with the children where it is the children's lived experiences which are in focus. As facilitating exercise professionals, the research team participated in the structured active play and knew the children, which is crucial for the observational practice and the power imbalance when researching younger children (Sun et al., 2023). Supplementing or substituting the participant observations with video footage of the play sessions might have limited the influence of preunderstanding; however, participating with the children and being present in the play activities makes it possible to capture nuances that are only visible within the play situation and not observable from a passive observer's viewpoint.…”

“…Furthermore, some nuances and details are only observable when the researchers participate with the children where it is the children's lived experiences which are in focus. As facilitating exercise professionals, the research team participated in the structured active play and knew the children, which is crucial for the observational practice and the power imbalance when researching younger children (Sun et al, 2023).…”

Qualitative research: Defining features and guiding principles

“…Ethical considerations are fundamental to maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness of any research study [57][58][59][60][61]. Similarly, ethical issues also matter in qualitative research [62][63][64]. Qualitative researchers often engage directly with individuals or communities.…”

The mess in the middle: Portraying the unrecorded purposeful labors of care that emerge throughout multimodal ethnographic methods and researcher peer support

“…When we are only exposed to tidy accounts of completed projects, in which most of these issues have been worked through—or potentially ignored (Sun et al, 2023; Tran et al, 2022)—it is easy to believe our own least generous interpretations of the value of our own and even others' work, overlooking or even learning to conceal the essential labors of care associated with addressing challenges with participants in an ethical way. For example, the peer exchange about Kyle Oliver's work discussed subsequently resulted in transparent, concrete discussion of his mid‐project methodological adjustments in the final form of his dissertation.…”