Research with children: methodological and ethical challenges

Einarsdóttir, Jóhanna

doi:10.1080/13502930701321477

Cited by 385 publications

(352 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In general, it was discovered that during the two research processes, interviews gave chances to meaningful encounters and positive feelings of empowerment (e.g., Kretz, 2014;Einarsdóttir, 2007). Appropriate questions, genuine listening and interest, support and equal relationships in which diversities and competences were respected, helped to create a meaningful interview encounter for the researchers as well as for the children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is common to study children exclusively through adults' perceptions, treat children as objects of research, and exclude them from the research process (Christensen & James, 2008). Einarsdóttir (2007) argues that earlier research on children was carried out through assessing and observing children's competencies and development. James and James (2012) suggest that if children are not included in the research focusing on their everyday life, it will result in an obfuscation of the relationship between adult and child.…”

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Ethical Reflections of Interviewing Young Children:Opportunities and Challenges for PromotingChildren’s Inclusion and Participation

Lastikka¹,

Kangas²

2017

Pac Early Child Educ Res Assoc

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This qualitative research synthesis aims to describe and identify ethical opportunities and challenges in interviewing young children in early childhood education and to explore interviewing as a means to bring forward children's experiences of participation and inclusion. These objectives have been studied through two different research cases in the Finnish early childhood education and care settings with active learning approach. The identified opportunities were supporting to show emotions, respecting diversity and special needs, enhancing the competence and agency of children, stimulating humor, playfulness and imagination, and generating meaningful encounters and feelings of empowerment. The challenges were building trust, identifying experiences from imaginary stories, listening attentively, responding to difficult life situations of children, and addressing power distribution. The paper highlights the possibilities for promoting children's inclusion and participation through ethically considered interviewing and seeing research process as a chance to give them experiences about competence, involvement and becoming listened to by adults.Keywords: early childhood education, ethics, qualitative methodology, social learning Corresponding author, 1) anna-leena.lastikka@helsinki.fiLastikka Anna-Leena & Kangas Jonna 86Research on small children's lives has involved a lack of equality between adult and child participants. It is common to study children exclusively through adults' perceptions, treat children as objects of research, and exclude them from the research process (Christensen & James, 2008). Einarsdóttir (2007) argues that earlier research on children was carried out through assessing and observing children's competencies and development. James and James (2012) suggest that if children are not included in the research focusing on their everyday life, it will result in an obfuscation of the relationship between adult and child.Moreover, this approach will make it more challenging to ascertain the diversity and multivoiced aspects of childhood, as well as individual perceptions and experiences that help children build their understanding of their environment and interactions.Recently, it has become evident that the present research methodology of early childhood education cannot dismiss the interaction and relationships between researchers and children.The focus has shifted from regarding children as objects (Christensen & James, 2008) progress in developing suitable research methods (Crivello, Camfield & Woodhead, 2009;Fattore et al., 2012;Karlsson, 2012), there is still a need for research to explore and develop substantive research ethics, methodologies, and methods towards democracy and participation (Mockler & Groundwater-Smith, 2015). Clark (2011) 87dominated by reflections on informed consent and protection of participants. Therefore, there is an obvious need in research to explore and discuss ethical issues more deeply throughout the research processes. Moreover, the interview method has...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical Reflections of Interviewing Young Children:Opportunities and Challenges for PromotingChildren’s Inclusion and Participation

Lastikka¹,

Kangas²

2017

Pac Early Child Educ Res Assoc

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“…Einarsdóttir (2007) noted that when children are involved in qualitative studies, the close and often long-term relationship between the participants and the researcher can become complicated. It is argued that "some children may not be accustomed to adults who are interested in their views and who ask for their opinion" (Einarsdóttir, 2007, p. 204).…”

Section: Critical Issues In Interviewing Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scenario-Based Interview: An Alternative Approach to Interviewing Children?

Jaidin¹

2018

Pac Early Child Educ Res Assoc

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Data in qualitative research are mainly derived through observations, document analysis, and interviews. The interview process in qualitative studies, however, can become challenging and complex when a group of children is involved as participants. This paper examines the methodological challenges faced by researchers when interviewing children and makes a case for the use of scenario-based interviews to obtain quality data from children in phenomenographic research.The discussion is based on a phenomenographic study that aimed at exploring and understanding children's experiences of learning in government primary schools in Brunei Darussalam. The processes that led to the development of two scenarios in a series of phenomenographic interviews are discussed in this paper. While there are limitations in the use of scenario-based interviews with children in phenomenographic research, it has the potential to address methodological concerns and, more importantly, to elicit quality data. Finally, the scenario-based interview offers an alternative to the in-depth interviews typically used in phenomenographic research. (2002) highlighted that pheomenographic data are typically collected through a series of deep and open-ended interviews, which are analysed through an iterative process of reading and rereading transcripts to produce an outcome space. However, based on the researcher's experience, attempting to elicit deep and rich data from children, especially in a context where education is highly-examination-oriented, traditional, and didactic, can be very challenging. This paper puts forth an alternative approach to interviewing children, using a scenario-based interview approach that is based on a phenomenographic study conducted with a group of eight to eleven years old children in Brunei Darussalam (henceforth called Brunei). In doing so, a brief background of Brunei and its education system is now presented to set the context for further discussions on the study. KeywordsThe study took place in Brunei, a small country located on the northwest coast of Borneo In these countries, including Brunei, children are tested regularly with examinations throughout their schooling years (Jaidin, 2009;Yeo & Clarke, 2006). In Brunei, the children's performances in examinations are significant indicators of school success (Jaidin, 2009;Scott & Fisher, 2002). This adds more pressure on teachers to complete a comprehensive syllabus and produce good results in examinations. Accordingly, teachers in Brunei choose to use traditional teaching methods that result in children being mainly passive in class where they rarely ask questions during lessons (Asmah, 2001;Attwood & Bray, 1989;Charleston, 1998;Scott & Fisher, 2002;Zaitun, 1997). The StudyThe main aim of the study was to provide a better understanding of the ways in which children experience learning in government schools in Brunei. The study adopted a In recent years, more phenomenographic studies have focused on highlighting children's views, opinions, and experience...

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“…There is a wealth of literature that discusses optimal, developmentally relevant research methodologies for use with younger children; however, these seem to be largely ignored in the research on cyberbullying located for this review. Such methods include: play; use of concrete materials to facilitate comprehension; visual methods; and face-to-face interviews [62,[70][71][72].…”

Section: Using Dialogue To Research With Young Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyberbullying and Primary-School Aged Children: The Psychological Literature and the Challenge for Sociology

Taddeo

Spears

2015

Societies

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Abstract:Cyberbullying is an international issue for schools, young people and their families. Whilst many research domains have explored this phenomenon, and bullying more generally, the majority of reported studies appear in the psychological and educational literatures, where bullying, and more recently, cyberbullying has been examined primarily at the individual level: amongst adolescents and young people, with a focus on the definition, its prevalence, behaviours, and impact. There also is growing evidence that younger children are increasingly accessing technology and engaging with social media, yet there is limited research dedicated to this younger age group. The purpose of this paper is to report on a systematic literature review from the psychological and educational research domains related to this younger age group, to inform future research across the disciplines. Younger children require different methods of engagement. This review highlights the methodological challenges associated with this age group present in the psychological literature, and argues for a greater use of sociological, child-centred approaches to data collection. This review examined studies published in English, between 2009 and 2014, and conducted with children aged 5-12 years, about their experiences with cyberbullying. Searches were conducted on seven key databases using keywords associated with cyberbullying and age of children. A Google Scholar search also examined published and unpublished reports. A total of 966 articles and reports were retrieved. A random peer review process was employed to establish inter-rater reliability and veracity of the review. Findings revealed 38 studies reported specifically on children aged 5-12 years. The dominant focus of these articles was on prevalence of cyberbullying, established through survey methodology. Few studies noted OPEN ACCESSSocieties 2015, 5 493 impacts, understanding and behaviours or engaged children's independent voice. This review highlights current gaps in our knowledge about younger children's experiences with this form of bullying, and the importance of employing cross-disciplinary and developmentally appropriate methodologies to inform future research.

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Research with children: methodological and ethical challenges

Cited by 385 publications

References 31 publications

Ethical Reflections of Interviewing Young Children:Opportunities and Challenges for PromotingChildren’s Inclusion and Participation

Ethical Reflections of Interviewing Young Children:Opportunities and Challenges for PromotingChildren’s Inclusion and Participation

Scenario-Based Interview: An Alternative Approach to Interviewing Children?

Cyberbullying and Primary-School Aged Children: The Psychological Literature and the Challenge for Sociology

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