Addressing Ethical Dilemmas in Research with Young Children and Families: Situated ethics in collaborative research

TY - JOUR

T1 - Addressing Ethical Dilemmas in Research with Young Children and Families

T2 - Situated ethics in collaborative research

AU - Kousholt, Dorte

AU - Juhl, Pernille

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - In this article, we discuss the situated ethics of researching the everyday lives of children and families. Research conducted in close collaboration with research participants in everyday contexts presents the researcher with multiple ethical dilemmas involving doubts, uncertainties, and often also discomfort, conflicting emotions, and contradictory possibilities for action. However, the literature on ethics often focuses primarily on standardized procedures, such as for obtaining informed consent, preventing harm, and ensuring anonymity. Although such procedures provide an important foundation for reflections on ethics, they only address some of the ethical concerns in research. Furthermore, they often fall short in terms of guiding the researcher to make decisions when encountering ethical challenges in concrete situations at various stages of the research process: from entering to leaving research sites. We suggest formulating specific ethical commitments that are grounded in a given research project’s methodological approach and concrete conditions. Furthermore, we analyze the interconnections between ethical commitments, theoretical stances, and research ambitions, and how these interconnections may guide reflection and decisions on how to handle ethical dilemmas throughout the research process. We draw on examples from our research on the everyday lives of children and parents, using social practice theory and collaborative research as jumping-off points.

AB - In this article, we discuss the situated ethics of researching the everyday lives of children and families. Research conducted in close collaboration with research participants in everyday contexts presents the researcher with multiple ethical dilemmas involving doubts, uncertainties, and often also discomfort, conflicting emotions, and contradictory possibilities for action. However, the literature on ethics often focuses primarily on standardized procedures, such as for obtaining informed consent, preventing harm, and ensuring anonymity. Although such procedures provide an important foundation for reflections on ethics, they only address some of the ethical concerns in research. Furthermore, they often fall short in terms of guiding the researcher to make decisions when encountering ethical challenges in concrete situations at various stages of the research process: from entering to leaving research sites. We suggest formulating specific ethical commitments that are grounded in a given research project’s methodological approach and concrete conditions. Furthermore, we analyze the interconnections between ethical commitments, theoretical stances, and research ambitions, and how these interconnections may guide reflection and decisions on how to handle ethical dilemmas throughout the research process. We draw on examples from our research on the everyday lives of children and parents, using social practice theory and collaborative research as jumping-off points.

KW - Co-researcher

KW - Collaborative research

KW - Ethical commitments

KW - Ethical dilemmas

KW - Situated ethics

KW - Young children and families

KW - Etik

KW - Forskningsmetode

KW - Early childhood

U2 - 10.1007/s42087-021-00236-9

DO - 10.1007/s42087-021-00236-9

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2522-5790

VL - 6

SP - 560

EP - 579

JO - Human Arenas

JF - Human Arenas

IS - 3

ER -