Leiden Science Communication Seminar by Nina von der Assen (Utopa Foundation) July 2012

1. UTOPA - ACADEMIE
Children as researchers
Wednesday 25th of July 2012
16:30 – 16:50
Nina von der Assen
Utopa Foundation
www.utopa-academie.nl

2. Child Rights Home
www.kinderrechtenhuis.nl

3. Introduction
• Children as objects
- research ‘about’ children
• Children as subjects
- Research ‘among’ children
- Research ‘with’ children
• Children as participants
- Research ‘by’ children (children as active
collaborators in the research process)

4. Children as participants
Why is research by children important?
Rights of the Child
• protection
• provision
• participation (children as subjects of research)

5. Convention on the Rights of the Child
• CRC Article 12
…to the child who is capable of forming his or her own
views the right to express those views freely in all
matters affecting the child, the views of the child being
given due weight in accordance with the age and
maturity of the child.
• CRC Article 13
The child shall have the right to freedom of expression
[including] freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds….. through any other
media of the child's choice.

6. How to develop children as researchers?
Child Research Centre @ Open University
http://childrens-research-centre.open.ac.uk/

7. Examples of original research
• 2005: ‘Hey, I’m nine not six!’ A small-scale
investigation of looking younger than your age at
school. By Anna Carlini and Emma Barry (aged 10)
• 2007: Do children eat a balanced diet? By Rhiannon
Oldershaw (aged 10)
• 2008: Are girls and boys treated differently in
school? By Helen Dandridge (aged 10)

8. Benefits of research by children
• Research process -> advanced learning tool and
whetstone for critical thinking.
• Sharpens their writing, communication and
organizational skills
• advanced learning through motivation and
ownership
• create knowledge
• peer research encourages closer intimacy and
fuller discussion

9. Barriers to research by children:
• age/ competence
• knowledge
• skills

10. Children’s Research Group

11. Children’s Research Group
- Developed bij International Child
Development Initiatives (ICDI) and Stichting
Alexander
- Funded by Utopa Foundation
- 3 years: 2010, 2011, 2012
- Age: 11-12 years (last year Primary School)
- 10 Wednesday afternoons
- Children from various schools/ backgrounds

12. Goals of the project
• Create new knowledge from a children’s
perspective
• Contribute to cognitive, social and
communication skills
• Contribute to knowledge about children’s
rights

13. Research ladder
9. Presenting
8. Answer research question
7. Analyse data
6. Gather data
5. Develop research method
4. Choose research method
3. Research question
2. Gather information
1. Choose theme

14. Presentation

15. Topics….
• Bullying in school
• Right to play
• Right to be heard
• Freedom of religion
• etc

16. Idea box

17. Comments….
• It’s a lot of fun! I always look forward to it!
• I like it better here than at home
• There should also be normal coke, because
diet coke contains artifical sweeteners and
these are not good for the brain…..

18. Inspiration roll

19. Important lessons
• Link with (civil) society
• Adequate supervision needed
• Children from disadvantages backgrounds
• Dissemination of results

20. Ethical considerations
“Ethics relates to the application of a system of
moral principles to prevent harming or
wronging others, to promote the good, to be
respectful and to be fair.”
(Sieber in Morrow & Richards, 1996)

21. Ethics
• cost- benefits ratio (costs can be
emotional, financial, physical)
• respect and justice
• rights
• best outcomes
• Macro level: ethics committee
• Micro level: researchers make individual, fine
judgements

22. Ethical issues
• informed consent
• protection from abuse
• Confidentiality and anonymity
No researcher/ research body can anticipate all
ethical problems that may be encountered!

23. Some ethical and scientific questions
(Alderson, 2001):
• Can professional researchers and child co-researchers
work together on reasonable equal, informed and
unpressured terms?
• How much should professional researchers intervene to
support children or to control the research?
• How can adults avoid exploiting or manipulating
children?
• How much must or should their gate keepers
(parents, teachers) be involved?
• Who should have final control over the data and
reports?

24. Adults vs. children
(Morrow & Richards, 1996)
Ethical considerations apply to adult research
subjects can and must apply to children too.
In addition:
• children’s competencies are different
• children are potentially vulnerable
• adults have the power to interpret data in any
way that they please

25. • Who is ‘right’?
• Who has ‘status’?

26. Questions?

27. References
Alderson, P. (2001). ‘Research by children’. Int. J. Social Research Methodology. Vol. 4 (2) 139-153.
Boyden, J. & Ennew, J. (1997). Children in Focus- a Manual for Participatory Research with Children. Rädda
Barnen.
Christensen. P. & James, A. (Eds) (2008). Research with children. Perspectives and Practices. Routledge, Oxon.
Clark, A. and Moss, P. (2001) Listening to young children: the Mosaic approach, London: National Children's
Bureau
Jones, A. (2004). ‘Involving children and Young people as researchers’. In Fraser, et al (Eds) Doing research with
young people. Sage publications, London.
Kellet, M. (2005). How to develop children as researchers. Sage publications, London.
Kellet, M., Forrest, R. (aged 10), Dent, N. (aged 10) & Ward. S. (aged 10) (2004). ‘Just teach us the skills
please, we’ll do the rest’: Empowering Ten-Year-Olds as Active Researchers’. Children and Society, Vol
18, 329-343.
Kidd, S.A. & Kral, M.J. (2005). ‘Practicing Participatory Action Research.’ Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol
52 (2) 187-195.

28. References
Kirby P. (2004) ‘A Guide to Actively Involving Young People in Research: For researchers, research
commissioners, and managers’. INVOLVE. Online:
http://www.invo.org.uk/pdfs/Involving_Young_People_in_Research_151104_FINAL.pdf
Morrow, V. & Richards, M. (1996). ‘The ethics of social research with children: an overview.’ Children &
Society, 10 (2) 90- 105.
Punch, S. (2002) ‘Research with Children: The Same or Different from Research with Adults?’ Childhood, 9 (3):
321-341.
Save the children (2000). Young people as researchers. A learning resource pack. Save the children, London.
Save the children (2004). So you want to involve children in research? A toolkit supporting children’s meaningful
and ethical participation in research relating to violence against children. Save the children Sweden.
Thomas, N. & O’Kane, C. (1998). ‘The ethics of participatory research with children.’ Children and Society, Vol
12, 336-348.
Uprichard, E. (2010). ‘Questioning Research with Children: Discrepancy between Theory and Practice?’ Children
and Society, Vol 24 (1) 3-13.