Conducting Safe and Ethical Research involving children

One has to take due care while conducting research on sensitive issues with children.

Tips while conducting research with children and young people:

1. View them as persons in their own right and as worthy and capable of recognition, respect and voice in research.

2. Acknowledge the right of children and young people to have a say and to be heard, as afforded to them under the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

3. The research question posed should be important to the health and well-being of children and young people. However, a research procedure which is not intended directly to benefit the child subject is not necessarily either unethical or illegal.

4. Ensure that children’s involvement in any kind of research takes place in partnership with caring, skilled adults who need to provide appropriate support and guidance. In the course of your research develop a child protection policy to be followed by every adult engaged in the study. Click here to know more

5. Ensure that the circumstances in which research is conducted provide for the physical, emotional and psychological safety of the child.

6. Design your study method to be appropriate and sensitive for children.

7. All proposals involving research on children should be submitted to a research committee for approval.