Ethical guidelines for doing research with children in sensitive subject areas

Ingrid Stapf and Jessica Heesen

Chapter 15 in Handbook of Sensitive Research in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 210-220 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In light of children's rights, research with and for children is a necessary but also challenging endeavour. Children's perspectives, points of view and proposed solutions should be heard and considered—not only because it is their right, but also because it makes research outcomes more meaningful and allows for measures to be more target-orientated. However, especially when it comes to sensitive subjects like cybergrooming or hate speech, research needs thorough preparation and ethical reflection. We argue that following a children's rights-based approach, research involving children should be conceptualised with children, and research ethics should be more child-centred. The chapter discusses questions of research ethics, participation, and age-appropriate informed consent. It also introduces 12 criteria for ethical reflection on sensitive research with children and ends with an outlook on future demands regarding ethical and child-friendly research and development.

Keywords: Research ethics; Children and children´s rights; Informed consent; Child-centred methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035315222
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