Ethics in research with young children

Ethics is something which should underpin every research project; it is not a separate paragraph to be added on at the last minute or a disclaimer statement. It is also not just about minimising risks, but about maximising benefits too. As it is such a large subject, it requires quite a lengthy blog post! But I hope that this will inspire those who are considering undertaking research with young children, and give you some help and insight into the complexities of ethical issues.

Approaching research with young children holds many ethical dilemmas, some of which I hope to address in this post. This is by no means exhaustive. I am speaking from the viewpoint of my specific research project, which is learning about the experiences of young children aged 2-4 years when moving house. 

Accessing participants

In order to make my research ethical, it has to provide benefits for parenting and practice in the future. The only way I can do that is by having at least two case studies to provide cross case analysis as well as within case analysis. So I need to carefully consider how I access participants. This particular subject makes it even more tricky because participants need to be moving house at the time of the research taking place. Therefore, I have gathered a list of settings (nurseries, preschools and childminders) who are willing to identify appropriate families of children who access their services. This at present gives me access to over 500 families, so the likelihood of finding families who are moving should be positive. However, there is no guarantee that identified families will be willing to participate in my study. This is why it is so important to have access to such a large selection. If, however, I have several families come forward and do not think I will have the time to commit to field research with all of them, I will need to think of an ethical way around this. If I were to turn away families, it would be rude - so I need to think of other ways in which I can incorporate families' experiences which will not take much time, such as a one-off visit to the family after the move to discuss their experience. 

Gaining consent

Consent with adults is tricky enough to negotiate, but consent with young children is an ethical issues in itself. In order to provide informed consent, all participants need to know as much as possible about the implications of participating, We start with the initial invitation to participate, which will be given to parents/carers via the childcare setting. When they express an interest, further information needs to be given. This includes the childcare setting owners and practitioners and family members of the child as well as the child themselves. Because each type of participant will have a different type of role, I have made different information sheets for them. So there is information for settings, information for parents/carers and information for the child. Each of these correspond to a consent form, and also a separate consent form for each visit throughout the research for audio recording conversations (because there might be some days when they just don't want to be recorded). Some may not wish to read extensive information sheets, so this information is also going to be available in audio format on a website (www.movinghouseresearch.co.uk).

When it comes to consent/ongoing assent with young children, this comes down to the relationship built between the researcher and the child. I will need to be very careful to observe and sensitively understand if the child's body language is showing me they are uncomfortable. My role is to ensure that the child's voice is heard through my research, and I need to be aware of power relations because the child will likely look up to me as an adult. I need to ensure that the child understands their ability to guide the process, by explaining in child friendly language and reminding them regularly that they have control over what happens.

Data collection tools

I will be using the following tools for data collection: primarily audio recording, observing and writing notes, using children's drawings/mark making/artwork and also giving children the opportunity to take photographs of their favourite things/places in their old and new houses. The artwork and photographs are fairly easy to access; however, to take them away may not be an option if the child wants to keep them. I need to be aware of this and take steps to enable photographing their artwork and having copies of their photographs. Writing notes may not be easy to do when in the moment; there is also the possibility that I will forget exactly what was said or done and write it in a way which is biased towards what I want it to say. I need to be aware of this, and this is why I chose to use audio recordings as my primary method of data collection. This will ensure better accuracy of verbatim quotes. However, as I previously noted, some days people may not want to be recorded. In this case I will need to take notes, and need to be prepared for this every time I attend the field. If at any time throughout the process I find that a particular method of data collection is proving ineffective, I will need to stop using it and reflect on how I can improve my methods. This will help me to elicit the best data possible, to provide authentic stories of children's experiences, making the process more ethical. 

Analysis of data

If I take away the data and sit in a room by myself analysing it, there is a strong possibility that my analysis will include plenty of bias. I need to ensure that children and their families have input in the analysis, so there are some steps I will take in order to do this. When children create artwork or take a photograph, I will ask them to tell me about what they have done. I will correlate their thoughts with the artefacts, and go over these with them again to get a second view - which may be the same as the first, strengthening it - or may be different, thus creating further questions. Parents will also have the opportunity to be involved in this process of analysis, as their thoughts can also contribute to my understanding of the child and what they might be trying to say through their actions. When I have transcribed conversations with any of the participants, I will talk through these transcriptions with those people and see if they have anything to add - they may be in a different mood and have a different understanding on another day. Enabling them all to be a part of the analysis process will strengthen the data and help to create robust case studies with plenty of details to work with. 

Use of data

So where does it go from here? When the field research is complete and the data is analysed - if it comes to no use and is not shared, this would make the entire process unethical. The whole point of intervening in people's lives is to create change for the future and it needs to be worthwhile for those participants - they need to know that they have contributed to something that will help others in the future. One of the things that is important to consider here is my methodology; using the most effective methods will help to elicit the most helpful data - so methodology, although perhaps considered part of research design only, is also a huge part of ethics too. My methodology needs to continuously be fine-tuned as I am engaging in field research, in order to ensure its efficacy. 

I also need to consider how I am going to share the findings in appropriate ways. There are a number of possibilities; obviously I will need to write my project manuscript to hand in as my final assignment for the Master of Research. I can use this in a condensed format to submit an academic journal article - although I need to consider which journal I would like to submit to. This subject comes under many remits - early years, parenting, children's geographies - it is important to send the article in the right direction to have the best impact. I may even consider writing several articles from slightly different standpoints to cater for each perspective. But in order to get this information to the people who need it, it has to be disseminated in different ways. For a start, all participants will need to receive feedback, so a summary of the findings and suggested strategies for future practice will be given to all participants, as well as the families receiving a copy of their own child's case study. 

I will be presenting my findings at the International Festival of Childhood in June 2017 in Bath, and also creating an article for childcare practice to submit to Early Years Educator - to reach practitioners directly. 

Data protection

Of course with anything involving human participants, it is really important to ensure the safety and confidentiality of the data. Anything that is on paper, I will keep in a locked filing cabinet. Anything that is electronic, I will keep on my password protected computer. Names and identifying features will all be removed on electronic records so even if there was a breach of privacy, participants could not be identified. If I make this explicitly clear to participants, it should help to put their minds at ease and be open about their experiences, knowing that their data is going to be safe and protected.

Additional data

Whenever I have talked about my research, there have always been stories that people wish to share with me. Even conversing casually with a stranger at an exhibition, he shared an enlightening story with me about a childhood move and how it has affected his entire life. Having seen how engaging this subject seems to be for a lot of people, I have decided to include a further study of retrospective stories. These will not necessarily be included in my Masters manuscript, but will certainly be taken forward for my PhD thesis. To this end, I have created a further information sheet which contains the information, a box to write their story in, and boxes to tick for consent. These stories will be anonymous - I will be the only person who knows who sent them to me. I think it is an important aspect of the subject, because when people look back, they can see the impact a situation has had on their lives and place it in a social ecological context, rather than just the facts and figures that quantitative research has explored. For my PhD, this will triangulate my evidence - the review of literature, the retrospective stories and the children's direct experiences. Correlating and contrasting these three things should help me to identify some really interesting points that are worth considering for the future. 

Master of Research: Reflective Blog 2

It's been about six weeks since I started this course. and I already feel like I've been on a huge journey of in depth learning. Creating my own schedule of lectures to attend was a challenge, but it has helped me to really reflect on where my strengths and weaknesses are and what I need to focus on. I've attended what feels like so many lectures, each with a specific aim, and have reflected on my learning from each, applying it to my project.

Today was an interesting turning point. During a lecture on ethics, we were asked to look at different scenarios of research and consider the ethical issues that might be involved. I found this really difficult as I had been considering the ethical implications of my own project and couldn't see past that. The lecturer said I needed to step out of 'my' project and look at it 'from above' - to consider research in general rather than so specifically concentrating on what I personally need to do for this project only. She also said that the aim of our research this time around is not to change the world, but to gain a master's degree. I have to disagree with that - primarily because I'm doing the degree in order to be able to do the research. This subject is so important to me that I really haven't focused on the fact that it's gaining me a qualification in the process!

I've started compiling a list of settings who are willing to help me access participants and so far have four settings - with a combined client base of over 500 families. The more settings I have on board, the higher the likelihood that I will find the perfect families to create case studies. There are so many things to consider, and as I've always thought, all of the considerations involve ethics of some sort which underpin the whole project. I have to ensure that the information I give to parents covers any eventuality so that the children, their families and even myself are protected. I can't gain ethical approval without putting all of this information in writing first, so that is what I am focusing on at the moment. When I have completed all the forms I need to create to submit for my ethical application, I will write a blog post purely about ethics.

Alongside this, I've got the information I gained from reading the literature kept in the back of my mind. The research will be more valid if I triangulate my evidence - what I have read cross referenced with things the children do/say and things the adults around them do/say. The initial work I'm doing now will form the basis of the research and is foundational - it has to be done to be safely built upon.

Moving house: Attachment, the social ecological context and the process of transition and grief

Life and childhood can be viewed from a number of perspectives, but personally I like to see each child as part of a whole system within which they interact, learn, develop, adapt and exist. This is known as the Social Ecological Model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), where the individual is centred and surrounded by those closest to them (family and friends), those who they interact with sometimes (settings, schools, gp etc), and those whose decisions affect their lives (government, society). The diagram below shows how this works:

A huge part of a child's wellbeing is for this model to remain stable; and this is where attachment becomes vitally important. Bowlby (1907-1990) came up with the theory that having secure attachments to others is part of human survival, and that children need at least one secure attachment in order to feel safe and to enable the child to explore their environment, knowing there is someone to turn to when they are in need. When a child's housing is stable, it enables these relationships to remain stable, giving the child a chance to develop good, strong attachments to their caregivers and to developmentally thrive. Personally, I also think that children develop attachments to environments and possessions, as experience tells me that children struggle when their environment changes (and even more so for some children with autistic spectrum condition).

Therefore, the issue of moving house is actually quite a big thing. Not only is it important that a child feels safe with their attachment figure, but that they also feel safe when in a familiar context. Moving house can disrupt this attachment and cause the child to react in a number of ways. Coley and Kull (2016) designed a study to see how children's cognitive abilities were affected by moving house; their study actually found that although cognitive abilities were slightly affected, the main issues were emotional and behavioural. They suggested that having to establish new routines, new support systems within the immediate community and changes in family dynamics as a result of moving could have a negative impact on children's emotions, specifically because of the disruption to the child's attachments.

As humans, we go through a process of transition that we as adults can see and understand quite clearly if we look carefully at the following graph:

However, children who are too young to express their emotions fully, with limited vocabulary and an inability to understand the situation they are going through will take a lot longer to get through this process than those of us who have experience and understand what is happening. Now have a look at this image showing the cycle of grief, and see the similarities:

So, in effect, when a child moves house, not only are they going to struggle to maintain their strong attachments, but will also be going through a process of grieving for the previous environment. This is not to say the process is long and arduous for every child, as for some who are articulate and creative thinkers will whizz through this so quickly you barely notice they've been affected at all! But it is worth thinking about how to approach a transition such as this, in order to support the child through this process.

Linking this to my previous post about housing statistics, how renting is on the rise and those renting tend to move house more frequently than homeowners, this becomes a very important issue. During my study I will be carefully observing the attachments children have with their caregivers and I hope to gain a better understanding of what we (parents and practitioners) can actually do to avoid children dragging through the transition process, or remaining at the low point for too long. If they are likely to move house more frequently, they need to learn their own coping mechanisms which is the development of resilience - a subject for another day!

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Republished in 2006).

Coley, R. L., & Kull, M. (2016). Cumulative, Timing-Specific, and Interactive Models of Residential Mobility and Children’s Cognitive and Psychosocial Skills. Child Development, 87(4), 1204–1220. http://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12535

Housing statistics in the UK

Today I have been looking at the English Housing Survey 2014-15 dataset, showing the percentages of families who rent privately, socially and also first time buyers. The analysis shows a comparison to the previous two waves of data collected in 2010-11 and 2004-5.

The interesting thing I have found and its implications for my research is this; renting (either socially or privately) is on the increase, in comparison to those buying homes, which are decreasing. The most important statistic about this is that the number of years families remain in their properties is far fewer in social rental properties than in owned properties, and even fewer years in privately rented properties. Here's a quote from the Social Rented Sector Report:

'In 2014-15, 39% of all social renters had lived at their current property for less than five years, very similar to the proportion in 1994-95 (40%). Social renters had lived at their current address for an average of 11.4 years, in comparison with 4.0 years for private renters and 17.5 years for owner occupiers.' (DCLG, 2015)

So if renting is on the increase, and renting means moving house more frequently, what does this mean for the UK's children? To me, it means this research is all the more important.

Reviewing the literature

So this is starting at the very beginning. I need to unpick the keywords to search for literature. This small mindmap is just an example of how I have begun this process! Yesterday I attended a session at the university library where we were shown the most effective ways of searching for and finding the literature we need to review. I'm quite lucky that my search terms are so specific, because it narrows down the literature to that which is relevant to my study. To write an effective literature review, you need to find ALL of the articles/books etc that relate to your subject, including previously submitted PhD theses! After a search of the theses library I am happy to say that my topic has not been studied before for a PhD so I already feel like I'm gazing into a gap in the literature - although previous journal articles show studies into this topic, they do not directly consult with young children, so this is my specific niche.

There are so many more things I need to look at other than these particular terms, because at the end of my review I will be making a case for my study. This means I need to also find ethnographic case studies involving children and how much richer the data can be using this methodology. Every aspect of my study needs to be backed up by previous literature, so my search will take time and lots of effort. I hope to share my findings throughout this process so if you are interested in this topic, please do follow it.

My story and the child's story

Today has been full of lightbulb moments – well, not really moments of clarity but questions arising in my mind about the reality of what I am studying. Mainly, the idea that the majority of research about childhood is either quantitative and carried out via parent surveys, or qualitative and based in the child’s childcare setting. I’ve been searching for specific literature around the theme of young children’s transitions, and all that’s coming up is the transition from preschool to school, and from reception to key stage one. This makes me ask the question – where is the research about other transitions? About things that happen at home? Where are the qualitative, in depth case studies about how children feel and behave at home with their parents? So, I wonder if research appears to be easier to carry out within settings, because the practitioners are aware of the ethics surrounding research (or at least they should!) and that it is easier to access children within settings than through their families? To me, this disempowers the parental role in the child’s life, and while practitioners in settings do play an important role with young children, it is the families who will be the main support for the child when they move house. This should steer my own research towards seeing children in their homes, but if I’m aiming to create case studies then I could see them in a variety of places to gather a bigger picture of who they are and what their life is like.

Maybe I haven’t looked far enough yet, or used the correct key words. Maybe I’m making an assumption. To be honest I would like to think that I’m wrong, and the answers are out there to be found, because as a parent this offends me! Approaching this study with a background of being both a parent and a practitioner, I can see how important it is to involve all of these people; after all, the child’s world is based on their social ecology and there’s no getting away from that. And my role as a researcher is also based on my social ecology and my experiences, which there is also no getting away from. I have to keep this in mind when I do finally get out there in the field, because my findings will be the child’s world and my own intertwined to create my version of their story. I just hope I can do it justice and enable their voice to be heard.

Developing an ontological awareness

A few weeks ago I felt mildly confident that I knew what I was doing in terms of research and how I intend to carry my project out. However, in the time since, I have felt my mind expanding into new and unknown territory. It is equally exciting and terrifying! The main thing being that all of my research so far has been based on what other people have said. I have ensured that every time I make a claim, I back it up with something I have read – and only things I have read. This level of study gives me permission to go beyond this; to question the very nature of research itself and gain a critical and sceptic mind with regard to reviewing literature and drawing conclusions.

Who has the authority to say exactly what a research project should look like? Who knows what is correct and what is wrong? Is there a solid distinction between the two? Each research project is unique to the researcher; I am beginning to see that actually my project will be the story of my relationships with the children involved, and my own interpretation of their interactions with me and with the resources I provide. There is no wrong answer; I will look at my data and determine a particular way of thinking about it, while someone else could look at the same data and draw different conclusions; it depends on the perspective from which it is being observed.

So for this reason, I have to very carefully select the previous data that I draw on to set up my project. Weak studies will not give me good enough reason to proceed; I need a sound basis for following this lead, and my literature review will need to give that argument, that reasoning as to why my project is so important. Why do young children need supporting when they move house? Who determines that they are struggling through transitions? How is a struggle defined? Do struggles such as this promote resilience, and should I not even get involved but allow nature to take its course and help to strengthen the children? All of these questions are necessary to ask if I want to get down to the ontological awareness of the situation.