Gatekeeper what is your role? Children‘s participation in research

Abstract

Children‘s participation in research is often controlled by key professionals and institutions involved with children. They have the role of enabling research and handling access applications. This may involve not recommending or censuring projects that do not meet required ethical standards. Gatekeepers also assess what ethical issues may be at stake and they have to consider protection needs and the rights of children who participate in research. This includes deciding when and whether it is appropriate or not for children to participate. Research involving children certainly raises several ethical questions, which need to be addressed by the researcher. The researcher needs to consider questions concerning how best to meet interests of children and participating institutions, including key professionals involved who are required to follow certain standards and have the role of ensuring the quality of research. This paper explores experiences of researchers that have gained formal access to institutions, which enabled them to involve children as active participants in research. It builds on a qualitative research involving focus group interviews with 8 professional researchers affiliated with the University of Iceland. The participants shared a background of having conducted research with children. The findings indicate that researchers had mixed experiences of dealing with gatekeeping institutions and professionals in those institutions. Barriers identified to access to children participants were unclear evaluations made by gatekeepers regarding their meaning of ´vulnerable´ research topics. Gatekeepers were found to hinder children´s participation on occasions, underpinned by their view of children as primarily vulnerable group rather than as individuals with diverse capabilities and needs which research may need to highlight. Participants commented that personal contacts with professionals often helped them to gain access to children participants. After access had been granted gatekeepers however kept on wanting to be informed about content of interviews, thus posing a risk for the researcher to breach issues of confidentiality and privacy, which however may also be a grey area when involving children in research. The issue of when it may be ethically sound to break confidentiality needs to be addressed and made more clear in guidelines in research involving children. Researchers that had conducted research in the field of education appeared to face less obstacles than those involved in research in the field of health and social care. There are indications that researchers in the field of educational research will however increasingly be required to get permission for each and every child. This may serve to ensure better ethical standards but may also limit possibilities for researchers to conduct research with children. The findings further indicate that researchers often have to wait long periods for professionals and institutions to respond to their request for permission and assistance to recruit children as participants. Such long waiting periods are costly and time consuming and may discourage researchers from doing research involving children. Views concerning homogeneity of children and as primarily vulnerable may weaken the validity of research. A view endorsing children as diverse and capable individuals is needed within institutions and from professionals representing them in order to ensure that research outcomes represent diverse views rather than a limited views of children´s lives. We conclude that it may be important to raise awareness amongst professionals and institutions working with children of their key role in facilitating children´s research. Institutions and services need be made aware of current trends in research where children are increasingly approached as capable individuals rather than as vulnerable. Such awareness raising may go a long way in increasing research on children´s life experiences and conditions which brings forward children´s own viewpoints. There is a need to clarify guidelines in research involving children and the role of gatekeeping institutions in the recruitment process. This includes making forms and applications for ethical approval more transparent and based on similar standards across institution involved with children. Researchers should not have to depend on personal relationships with individual professionals in order to gain access to children participants.