Power and Reflexivity: Positions and Positioning in Involving Research with Young People

Drawing a River: Utilizing the Power of Metaphors in Interviews With Children and Young People

“…In situations involving several children, as in the interview with Thomas, we aimed to position the child in focus as the expert about their own life and identity narrative, whereas the researchers and the other participating child (Max) were positioned as assistants and playmates. Admittedly, this is not an uncomplicated ambition, as children and researchers are already pre-positioned (Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021). The point that an ethical participatory practice, not least with children, requires ongoing reflection and work with power relations for the purpose of ethical symmetry (Punch, 2002; Christensen, 2004; Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021) also applies to the Dovi-river interview method, whether used for research purposes or in health care practice.…”

“…Admittedly, this is not an uncomplicated ambition, as children and researchers are already pre-positioned (Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021). The point that an ethical participatory practice, not least with children, requires ongoing reflection and work with power relations for the purpose of ethical symmetry (Punch, 2002; Christensen, 2004; Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021) also applies to the Dovi-river interview method, whether used for research purposes or in health care practice. However, small ‘tricks’ may also make a difference, for example, if the researcher/facilitator is not very skilled at drawing.…”

“…The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 9, and other human rights instruments stipulate that health care practice and research are ethically obliged to respect children and young people's views and experiences (Alderson, 2012(Alderson, , 2019Lansdown, 2011;Unicef, 1989). Regarding research, these ethical obligations further include a commitment to inclusive approaches to, and empowering representations of, children's and young people's perspectives (Beazley et al, 2009;Groundwater-Smith et al, 2014;Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021). In line with this, there has been an increase in awareness of the need to include children's perspectives in qualitative health research, and methodological developments have also reflected a growing commitment to inclusive approaches and empowering representations of children's and young people's perspectives (Brown et al, 2020;Bryan et al, 2019;Lyndon, 2019).…”

“…Within sociological childhood studies, notions such as collaborative, participatory, involving, child-led and child-centred recur in conference presentations and journal papers. These notions represent a position, as well as a range of approaches, that pertain to how to do research with and for children, and which highlight normative ideals about how proper participatory research with and for children should be done (Wulf-Andersen et al, 2021). The overall idea seems to be that the greater the degree of participation – in the sense of children’s control or influence over different stages of the research process (Hart, 1992) or the multidimensional facilitation of children’s voices (Lansdown, 2011; Lundy, 2007) – the better.…”