In the last few years, geographers have begun to develop a research interest in children's and young people's attitudes to and relationship with place and locality. While a range of different types...

This paper is an attempt - and a plea - to get real about the ethics of practising social science 'with children rather than on or for children'. It is written from and in response to a troubling q...

This paper focuses on the 'otherness' of childhood. I argue that this otherness has to be acknowledged and respected within the various, welcome attempts in social science study, and society more w...

In discussing methodological and ethical codes for working with children there is a danger that young people can become homogenised as a social category. In this paper we examine the way in which c...

Fieldwork is a project in which, according to Rose (1997, p. 316), researcher, researched and research make each other, yet far more attention has been given to the making of the research and researcher than to the researched. Focusing on three aspects of the research process (the researcher's presence in the field, the research topic and the choice of methods), this paper uses examples from the author's own fieldwork to debate whether it is possible to shape fieldwork such that the (...) knowledges created and consumed in the field by the researched serve to destabilise dominant discourses of race, gender and age. (shrink)

This paper presents an integrated discussion of methods and ethics by drawing on participatory research with children in Ethiopia and Kenya. It examines the complex social, ethical, practical and methodological dilemmas of research with HIV-affected children, and explores how we confronted some of these dilemmas before, during and after fieldwork. The paper interrogates the role and limitations of ‘global’ ethical standards in childhood research, and the ways in which the researchers’ gender, ethnicity/race, material power, knowledge and insider-outsider position all intersect (...) to affect: (a) the level of children's involvement in the research process; (b) the generation of knowledge about the field; and (c) the negotiation of ethics in collaborative ways. We argue that doing ethical research with HIV-affected children should not be based solely on dominant and de-contextualised understandings of ethics, knowledge and social relations, but should be negotiated reflexively and through dialogue with participants, including the children, their guardians and ‘local’ community members—all with the aim of doing good and avoiding harm in the research process. (shrink)

In this paper we provide a reflexive account of fieldwork in out of school clubs in a range of localities across England and Wales. By reflecting upon our personal experiences of researching with c...

This article discusses the practical implications and ethical dilemmas of ‘other’ adults being present in a research setting where the participant is a child. The article focuses on three key issues in relation to this theme. First, the range of ways that ‘other’ adults (for example, parents or guardians, teachers or youth workers) may become involved in the process of research is discussed. Second, the article considers how the presence of ‘other’ adults may raise ethical challenges, impact on the research (...) process, and ultimately affect the data collected. Finally, suggestions are offered for the range of strategies open to researchers in negotiating the involvement of ‘other’ adults within a research context. (shrink)

This paper reflects on the complex methodological and ethical issues encountered in an exploratory research study on young carers in Zimbabwe. Several interviews were distressing for the young peop...

This paper discusses the ways in which a methodological approach evolved through research work with young women living in the Rhondda Valley of South Wales. The project was an investig...