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Advocating for a more relational and dynamic model of participation for child researchers
[journal article]
Abstract Primary school children participating as researchers has become a moral obligation to meet the goal of children's participation rights. Yet, critical voices rarely question the ethical and practical implications of turning young children into mini-clones of adult researchers. While enabling and cons... view more
Primary school children participating as researchers has become a moral obligation to meet the goal of children's participation rights. Yet, critical voices rarely question the ethical and practical implications of turning young children into mini-clones of adult researchers. While enabling and constraining aspects of participatory methods and inherent power issues per se are widely discussed, adult researchers still seem to struggle to critically engage with celebratory accounts of children as researchers. In particular, the practical obligations, ethical challenges and tensions that impact on primary school children's research experiences, are underexplored. Findings from two projects on play, which engaged children as active researchers, suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the messy realities of becoming and being a child researcher. In particular, researchers should be more attuned to children's capabilities and the ethical hurdles for child and adult researchers. This article argues therefore for a more dynamic, meaningful and realistic model of participation, that speaks to the messy realities of becoming and being a child-researcher. In other words, the article questions the dominant orthodoxy of children as researchers as the "gold standard" of participatory research with children.... view less
Keywords
child; research; participation; ethics
Classification
Sociology of the Youth, Sociology of Childhood
Sociology of Science, Sociology of Technology, Research on Science and Technology
Philosophy, Ethics, Religion
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 240-250
Journal
Social Inclusion, 5 (2017) 3
Issue topic
Promoting children's participation in research, policy and practice
ISSN
2183-2803
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed