Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

Qualitative research in practice
Researching with children
There is increasing recognition of children’s rights to be involved in
decisions affecting them. Just how and to what extent this should
happen is a subject of continuing debate. Perspectives on children’s
rights range from liberationist views which focus on children’s similarities
to adults, and thus argue for expanded rights for children, to
a protectionist stance that takes account of children’s differences
from adults as well as what they have in common, and seeks to
preserve the differences, in the best interests of children (Wilkinson,
1993; Brannen & O’Brien, 1995).
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(United Nations Centre for Human Rights, 1989) steers a middle
course in that it ‘embraces both the vulnerable, dependent child
requiring special protection and also the child who is a potential
adult, or is adult-like, and thus the rightful recipient of a range of
civil, political, legal and social rights similar to those attaching to the
status of adult (Carney, 1991)’ (Wilkinson, 1993, p. 148).
Article 12.1 of the Convention is germane to practice in areas
such as family law, child protection and education, and is also
relevant to the research context:
States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or
her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters
affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in
accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
In this section, we draw together some of the considerable practice
wisdom that has developed in research with children, in particular
on interviewing and conducting participant observation with
children. In this discussion, we in no way view children, even those
of similar ages, as homogenous groups about whom rigid generalisations
can be made. Fixed age-related stages of children’s cognitive
development and their use and understanding of language are
being increasingly challenged (Donaldson, 1978; Carey, 1985; Keil,
1989). Donaldson, for example, emphasises the situational context of
children’s cognitive and language capacity, suggesting that children
are generally more likely to display competence when they are
‘dealing with “real-life” meaningful situations in which they have
purposes and intentions and in which they can recognise and
respond to similar purposes and intentions in others’ (1978, p. 121).
Thus, both the behaviour of others and what is expected of them
need to make sense to them.
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