Introduction to The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance

This series of guidance papers – The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance – offers tailored commentary and links to useful resources to assist those undertaking research relating to children and childhood. The six papers have been developed in conjunction with the University of Liverpool Research Ethics Committee, by academic members of the European Children’s Rights Unit (ECRU), an interdisciplinary research unit based within the School of Law and Social Justice with a specific expertise in research involving children. Children and Childhood is a major research theme, led by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and spanning the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. Nurturing expertise in child-related research is also a key priority at University level, as part of its Starting Well, Living Well and Ageing Well theme. There are over 150 researchers across the University actively engaged in child-related research, each with distinct disciplinary and methodological approaches, but who share common ethical and methodological consideration points. These guidance papers address some of these ethical issues and identify strategies to assist researchers in preparing and implementing ethically robust methodologies, particularly when conducting qualitative research with children. They are intended as a basic resource for all researchers at any level who are grappling with different ethical questions, with a view to encouraging thoughtful and rigorous ethics planning and supporting research of the utmost integrity. In that sense, these briefings are not concerned simply with ensuring minimum standards of research ethics; they are about encouraging researchers to interrogate established approaches, innovate in ways that are appropriate for any given project, and achieve the highest possible standards within what are often challenging and unpredictable research contexts. While our focus is on children, the guidance papers should provide useful tips and materials to inform all empirical research with adults generally and potentially vulnerable participants specifically. This paper is Guidance Paper 1 in the series

Confidentiality, Privacy and the Protection of Children’s Data

This guidance paper discusses issues of confidentiality, privacy and data protection in relation to the collection of information from or about children for research. It is Guidance Paper 6 in the series The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance

Obtaining Consent in Research involving Children – Understanding the Legal and Ethical Framework

This guidance paper describes the importance of obtaining consent from and on behalf of child participants involved in research. It is Guidance Paper 2 in the series The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance. Ethical research considers the international and domestic law, as well as ethical and professional, obligations towards ensuring that participants provide valid consent. Issues around consent are paramount in research ethics applications. The law and ethics of consent are not just about ensuring that the child is fully aware of the implications of his or her involvement in the research and is kept safe (which might necessitate obtaining consent also from adults with parental responsibility); it is equally about ensuring that overly paternalistic approaches to consent are avoided, as such approaches may unintentionally undermine children’s autonomy and prevent children from making decisions and expressing themselves on their own terms. As the ESRC notes in its ethical guidance: “Researchers should consider the ethics implications of silencing and excluding children from research.” Beazley et al. (2009: 370) refer to this as children’s right to be ‘properly researched’ which ‘translates into: children being participants in research, using methods that make it easy for them to express their opinions, views and experiences and being protected from harm.

Putting in Place Appropriate Safeguards for Research Involving Children

This guidance paper outlines some of the safeguarding considerations for research involving children. It is Guidance Paper 3 in the series The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance. Ethical principles aim to ensure that all aspects of research in so far as possible respect and protect participants from potential harm. Whilst it can be argued that everyone is vulnerable and at risk of potential harm at some point (after all, vulnerability is part of the human condition ), children are seen to be more vulnerable than adults. This can be attributed to their physicality (they are naturally smaller and weaker), their more limited social development (they have not yet mastered the social tools necessary to protect themselves from harm), and established power dynamics (adults have power over children which can undermine, disadvantage and even exploit children). As such, children require special protection in law, policy, procedures and, indeed, when it comes to designing and conducting research. Additional safeguards may need to be put in place to safeguard children who are involved in research of a particularly sensitive nature, or with children who are regarded as especially vulnerable due to their circumstances, characteristics and experiences. This includes those who have suffered abuse, those who have been detained, those who have experienced family separation or economic difficulties, and those affected by ill-health, special educational needs or disability

Recruiting Children for Research: How, Where and Why?

This paper addresses the ethical issues in the context of recruiting children for research. It is Guidance Paper 5 in the series The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance

Digital Methods of Working with Children Ethics, Rights and Responsibilities

This guidance paper outlines some of the ethical considerations relating to the use of digital methods for researching with children. It is Guidance Paper 4 in the series The Ethics of Research Involving Children: Common Questions, Potential Strategies and Useful Guidance. Given the fast-paced development of technology and digital media, in this paper we encourage researchers to consider ethical issues as they apply to their chosen digital method and study design. The Internet is now an integral part of children’s everyday lives, and its importance, as both the subject of and tool for research, will only increase. In the UK alone, an Ofcom report reveals that more than half of children are online by the age of three, and from 12 years old onwards 99% of children have used the internet. Children use the Internet for a variety of purposes: education, communication, information-sharing, entertainment, gaming, creative outlets, shopping, and more. Hence, many children find it easier to ‘be themselves’ online, and have been shown to love the use of digital technology. They also tend to be quicker in adapting to and learning to use new technology than other age groups. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that researchers develop their capacities to deploy digital resources, to enable them to engage with children in the online spaces they so readily occupy. The use of digital media has implications beyond providing practical, effective tools for researchers’ interactions with children though; it can shift the power dynamics of the researcher/child relationship by “positively exploiting children’s natural capabilities to engage with and respond to digital media in a way that may far exceed normal adult researchers’ capabilities”. Despite this, protocols for the use of digital research methods are still developing, and researchers still struggle to develop ethically robust and creative approaches to digital-based research. Ethics committees have well-founded concerns that the use of online media presents additional risks to the safety of the child and the integrity of the research. This guidance paper seeks to respond to some of these concerns and identifies some potential strategies to overcome them

Reconciling autonomy and beneficence in treatment decision-making for animal patients

This article explores how the concept of consent to medical treatment applies in the veterinary context, and aims to evaluate normative justifications for owner consent to treatment of animal patients. We trace the evolution of the test for valid consent in human health decision-making, against a backdrop of increased recognition of the importance of patient rights and a gradual judicial espousal of a doctrine of informed consent grounded in a particular understanding of autonomy. We argue that, notwithstanding the adoption of a similar discourse of informed consent in professional veterinary codes, notions of autonomy and informed consent are not easily transferrable to the veterinary medicine context, given inter alia the tripartite relationship between veterinary professional, owner and animal patient. We suggest that a more appropriate, albeit inexact, analogy may be drawn with paediatric practice which is premised on a similarly tripartite relationship and where decisions must be reached in the best interests of the child. However, acknowledging the legal status of animals as property and how consent to veterinary treatment is predicated on the animal owner’s willingness and ability to pay, we propose that the appropriate response is for veterinary professionals generally to accept the client’s choice, provided this is informed. Yet such client autonomy must be limited where animal welfare concerns exist, so that beneficence continues to play an important role in the veterinary context. We suggest that this ‘middle road’ should be reflected in professional veterinary guidance