Learning materials > Discussions

*Question*
How can informed consent be meaningfully negotiated in research with children?

*Task*
The literature on research with children repeatedly emphasizes the importance of gaining informed consent. In practice, however, researchers often encounter problems in this process.

For this exercise, we have divided the class into groups. These are listed below. Each group should agree upon one person to be the facilitator for this activity. The facilitators are responsible for encouraging group members to contribute to the discussion, and for summarizing what was discussed.

Read the sections of the three case studies listed below. Post a message to your group's discussion area detail in your initial response to the case studies. Please make your posts by ... Over the next week, check your group discussion area 3-4 more times, each time posting a follow-up to someone else's message. We have allocated two weeks for this activity to give you plenty of time for a good discussion.

Things which you might want to consider in your discussion:

• The different techniques used in the case studies to negotiate consent
• Problems presented by institutional settings
• Consent may be given based on trust rather than on information. Is this acceptable? What problems does it raise?

Each group facilitator should post a message summarizing their group's discussion to the main discussion area by ... We'll close the discussion with a summary on Wednesday March 2nd.

*Resources*

• Helen Kay's case study (Listening to children and young people affected by parental HIV, Section 3. Find it in Course Materials > Individual interviews.
• Mike Gallagher's case study (Researching the geography of power in a primary school), Section 3. Find it in Course Materials > Observation and participant observation.
• Zoebia Ali's case study (Negotiating identities: The perspectives and experiences of Pakistani and Bangladeshi disabled young people), Section 2.3. Find it in Course Materials > Communicating with different children.

Welcome to the discussion area for 'differences between children'. This is our discussion topic for the session 27th October to 10th November.

=====Question=====
How can researchers deal with the differences between children?

=====Tasks=====
Think of one research or consultation situation in which there were significant differences between the participating children. These might be differences of age, gender, race, ethnicity, (dis)ability, social class; or they might be differences in more personal factors such as confidence, language skills, etc. The situation may be drawn from your own experience, or from the experience of someone you know, or from one of the case studies on the site.

Please send a message to this discussion area by Wednesday 3 November describing:

1. The research context in which difference was encountered.
2. The kind of difference which was encountered.
3. The problems which this difference created, or threatened to create.
4. Any solutions which were used, and/or your suggestions for possible solutions to similar problems in future.

Check this discussion area two or three more times over the following week and reply to at least one other message which you find interesting — for example, suggesting how you might have dealt with the difference described. We'll close this discussion with a summary and feedback on Wednesday 10 November.

=====Resources=====
Look in course materials: communicating with different children, where you will find the following:
*Top Tips on dealing with difference
*Recommended Resources on communicating with different children
*Case studies: numbers 8 and 9. Also see case study no. 3, Building a Culture of Participation, especially sections 2c and 6. This is in course materials: doing research with children.

These extracts will open in a new browser window.

Topic - Sharing tips for research and consultation with children and young people:

• Extract 1 - Sensitive topics
• Extract 2 - Creating time to talk
• Extract 3 - Respect

Topic - Tricky issues in research and consultation:

• Extract 1 - Working with translators /interpreters
• Extract 2 - Consent

Topic - Dissemination:

• Extract - Representing children's voices

Topic - Informed consent:

• Extract - Summary of discussion

Topic - Differences between children:

• Extract - Summary of discussion