RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN: Balancing Protection and Participation

Over the past three to four decades there has been a dramatic increase in research involving children on a range of issues. There have also been important developments around the ethical issues that arise from undertaking research involving children, particularly on sensitive topics. It is now well established that children are rights-bearing participants in the research process, placing an obligation on researchers to ensure that all principles of ethical research are applied to children in their own right. Yet, within a rights-based approach informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there remain tensions between children's right to participation and their right to protection. This chapter canvasses those tensions, as they apply to research. It aims to contribute to thinking around how these tensions can be reconciled in ways that avoid proceduralism or risk-aversion likely to exclude children from research while taking seriously the right to protection as central to ethical research with children. I argue that the principle of informed dissent and recognition of the distinction between methods and methodology are key strategies in reconciling tensions between protection and participation, and in ensuring research with children is ethical.