Ethical Research with Children

Abstract

By Ann Farrell ( ed . ) Maidenhead : Open University Press , 2005 ISBN 0335216501 , 188 pp, £17.99 (pb) Ethical Research with Children comprises 14 chapters from acknowledged experts in the field from the UK, Australia and Canada. Several contributors provide historical overviews of the development of ethical codes in their respective national contexts. Of interest in comparative terms, these show both how new is the widespread acceptance of basic good practice and, relatedly, the ongoing evolution of this good practice. However, Gary Allen points out in chapter 2, ‘there has been little scholarly reflection on the interaction between this burgeoning governance framework and the actual practice and attitudes of researchers’. The value of this edited volume lies precisely in the richness and range of its grounded reflections. Covering theoretical and methodological issues, it will be of use to those planning, conducting and evaluating research with children. Underpinning the entire collection is a rights-based perspective which respects children as competent participants. With quality upheld as the key to ethical research with any group, the author discusses how participation of children contributes positively to the reliability and validity of data. The project to promote and protect their participation — as an ethical imperative in itself — is presented as entailing new challenges in a culture of risk and risk management. There may be a very real risk of an unduly cautious ethics committee frustrating important and valuable work. However, rather than simply lamenting an increase in laborious form-filling, the authors urge positive engagement. Persuasive arguments are advanced for ongoing dialogue between ethics committees, researchers and administrators on the issues ‘really being faced in research practice’ to inform the development of institutional frameworks. This objective is contrasted with the sometimes uneasy relationships pertaining at present, discouraging, for example, what might otherwise appear good practice — the modification of research design in the light of early findings or feedback from the children involved. Each chapter includes useful references and examples of research deemed ethical in terms of methods and, importantly, the use of findings. Chapter 3 by Priscilla Alderson provides a lucid summary of key issues arising at all stages of a project. Readers are directed to existing good practice guides in terms of informed consent and check box resources. However, posing the fundamental question, ‘Is the research worth doing?’ Alderson goes further in discussing the chalk and cheese equation of risk to children in the project versus a ‘hoped-for-but-not-yet-known benefit’ for children in the future. As she points out, ‘They might incidentally learn, or enjoy the project, but this cannot be promised and is not the purpose of the research’. The authors repeatedly demonstrate that there are no easy answers, even to such basic questions as to when it is reasonable to rely solely on children's consent. Accordingly, they reinforce the importance of reflecting on each step taken, individually and with colleagues, both before and after gaining approval from the relevant committees. While some chapters confine their focus strictly to research with children, several others discuss the complex ethical issues involved when engaging young people alongside parents and in a wider local context. In other ways, taking a wider perspective, ultimately to the benefit of the children involved, is encouraged. In chapter 11, ‘researching communities: towards beneficence’, the authors highlight how, within multi-agency service hubs, questions about the ethics of observation without consent do not arise for researchers in isolation, being equally applicable to the work of inspectors. Throughout, the contributors illustrate how children's perspectives on their involvement in research and its risks can differ from those of adults. In the light of this and given the explicit stress on cutting edge activity, greater engagement with the ethics of children in the role of peer or co-researchers would have been welcome. However, its illustration of the range and scope of relevant issues contrasts favourably with the often-limited consideration afforded to this matter within the minor sections of methods texts (but see Greig and Taylor, 1999;Lewis and Lindsay, 2000;Kellett, 2005 for useful material). Of particular value are the questions posed throughout the text: some explicitly at the end of each chapter and others provoked by the work as a whole. These days practitioners have raised expectations regarding meaningful participation, and so the use made of research findings is increasingly exposed as a key ethical issue. This book calls for two responses: firstly, thorough reflection on the ethics of each and every project, involving young people wherever possible. Secondly, a critical evaluation of the impact of their participation should encourage researchers as well as funders to focus on ethical responses to research with children.