{"id":18,"date":"2020-12-07T05:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/?p=18"},"modified":"2020-12-04T10:04:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T10:04:55","slug":"ethical-challenges-in-researching-childrens-experiences-of-the-covid-19-crisis-some-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/2020\/12\/07\/ethical-challenges-in-researching-childrens-experiences-of-the-covid-19-crisis-some-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical challenges in researching children\u2019s experiences of the Covid-19 crisis: some reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy Rodriguez Leon is a lecturer in Early Childhood at the Open University<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0At time of writing, we\u2019re several months into the Covid-19 crisis and the \u2018second wave\u2019 is gathering speed; on a personal level, the longevity of the situation is beginning to sink in.\u00a0 Children\u2019s worlds continue to be disrupted in ways we could not have imagined at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIn the past, young people\u2019s accounts of significant world events have offered unique insights that will never be found in history books or political rhetoric, such as the Diaries of Anne Frank. However, today children and young people have a range of media platforms that operate on a spectrum of private to public. I often wonder what Anne would have written had she known her paper diaries would be published for a global audience of millions, or had she had access to instant messaging or a blog.<\/p>\n


\nISBN-13: 978-0241952436 (Penguin)<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the last few months many researchers have developed some creative approaches to capture and record children\u2019s subjective realities of the pandemic<\/a> as they emerge. \u00a0My inbox and social media feeds have received a steady stream of information about covid-19 response projects. These include academic research into a range of educational and social issues using various methodologies. Community facing projects have aimed to collate children’s diary entries (consensually) to eventually publish an anthology as a record of this historic event. Other projects have consulted with children on how \u00a0particular Covid issues affect them. Yet, I am still grappling with how this research can be genuinely participatory and \u00a0authentically capture children\u2019s perspectives on the issues that actually matter to them<\/em><\/strong>. Moreover, how can we do this ethically?<\/p>\n

These projects face all the ethical challenges of any research with children; access, gatekeepers, fully informed consent, protection from exploitation or harm and accessible methods, for example. Some projects address these ethical and safeguarding challenges through insisting on parental involvement and mediation. Yet, arguably, participatory research requires trusting relationships to be forged and nurtured between researchers and participants, it requires dialogue, time for reflection, co-construction of ideas and thinking, collaboration \u2013 it is a process built on social interaction and connection, at a time that we are practicing social distancing. Of course, the affordances of digital technology have, to some extent, overcome the social distancing challenges.<\/p>\n

However, the most concerning ethical dilemma, in my view, is researchers\u2019 ability to respond to the issues that young participants might raise. In some respects, there has been great camaraderie and community positivity during the pandemic (think \u2018Captain Tom\u2019, rainbows and the \u2018Clap for Carers\u2019), but equally there are reports of children feeling isolated or going hungry, there have been escalations of domestic violence and unprecedented job losses, all taking their toll on children\u2019s wellbeing. Furthermore, the nature of a global pandemic means that too many of our young citizens are living through bereavement.<\/p>\n

There is undoubtedly a rich opportunity to capture children and young peoples\u2019 perspectives of the pandemic, yet I\u2019m curious about how researchers are honouring their ethical responsibilities. Firstly, how can we ensure that research offers a supportive space for participants to explore, discuss, express, connect and make sense of the ongoing and evolving situation. Secondly, in what ways will all children\u2019s voices be authentically represented in research or in any resultant anthologies, particularly if parent or teacher mediated? Is there a danger that some voices are being heard, whilst others are being marginalised?<\/p>\n

\"\"Dr Lucy Rodriguez Leon<\/a> is a Lecturer in Early Childhood at the Open University and co-convenor of the UKLA Early Years Special Interest Group<\/em><\/p>\n

@lucyRL47<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucy Rodriguez Leon is a lecturer in Early Childhood at the Open University \u00a0At time of writing, we\u2019re several months into the Covid-19 crisis and the \u2018second wave\u2019 is gathering speed; on a personal level, the longevity of the situation is beginning to sink in.\u00a0 Children\u2019s worlds continue to be disrupted in ways we could … Continue reading Ethical challenges in researching children\u2019s experiences of the Covid-19 crisis: some reflections<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/erc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}