Markmiðið með greininni er að varpa ljósi á reynslu rannsakenda af því að fá
formleg leyfi og aðgengi að börnum til að rannsaka hagi þeirra og ræða við þau
um málefni sem þau varða. Tilgangurinn er að efla umræðu um málið og vekja
athygli á því hver réttur barnanna er í því sambandi. Rannsakendum ber að afla
formlegra leyfa stofnana, forsjáraðila og barna við undirbúning rannsókna þar sem
börn eru þátttakendur. Í slíkum rannsóknum þurfa rannsakendur oftar en ekki að-
stoð við aðgengi að börnum frá stofnunum, fagfólki og forsjáraðilum, svokölluðum
hliðvörðum (e. gatekeepers). Greinin er byggð á rýnihópaviðtölum og var rætt við
starfandi fræðimenn við Háskóla Íslands. Allir höfðu þeir lagt stund á rannsóknir
með börnum þar sem þau voru beinir þátttakendur og höfðu talsverða reynslu af
samskiptum við hliðverði.
Niðurstöður benda til þess að einfalda þurfi og skýra ferli formlegra leyfa slíkra
umsókna hjá nefndum og yfirmönnum stofnana og að ferlið sé flókið, dýrt og
tímafrekt. Það sé of persónubundið hvaða upplýsinga sé þörf, það geti verið
bundið fræðigrein rannsakanda, og einnig njóti ákveðin svið meira trausts en
önnur. Fram kom að stofnanir og fagmenn væru oft treg til þess að opna hlið fyrir
rannsakendur þó svo að formleg leyfi lægju fyrir. Margt getur leitt til slíkrar tregðu
og nefndar voru ástæður eins og efasemdir um hæfni rannsakenda til þess að
ræða við börn og að hlífa eigi þeim við viðkvæmum spurningum. Rannsakendur
höfðu á hinn bóginn ekki fundið teljandi fyrirstöðu hjá forsjáraðilum og börnum.
Fræðimenn á sviði menntarannsókna höfðu ekki mætt sömu hindrunum hliðvarða
og rannsakendur í heilbrigðis- og félagsvísindum. Nýlegar niðurstöður ýmissa
athugana sýna óyggjandi hæfni barna til þátttöku í rannsóknum og kallar það á
aukna meðvitund um áhrif og hlutverk hliðvarða. Það gæti leitt til fleiri rannsókna
um líf og aðstæður barna frá þeirra sjónarhorni.
Children‘s participation in research is often controlled by key professionals
and institutions involved with children. They have the role of enabling research
and handling access applications. This may involve not recommending or
censuring projects that do not meet required ethical standards. Gatekeepers
also assess what ethical issues may be at stake and they have to consider
protection needs and the rights of children who participate in research. This includes deciding when and whether it is appropriate or not for children to
participate.
Research involving children certainly raises several ethical questions, which
need to be addressed by the researcher. The researcher needs to consider
questions concerning how best to meet interests of children and participating
institutions, including key professionals involved who are required to follow
certain standards and have the role of ensuring the quality of research. This
paper explores experiences of researchers that have gained formal access to
institutions, which enabled them to involve children as active participants in
research. It builds on a qualitative research involving focus group interviews
with 8 professional researchers affiliated with the University of Iceland. The
participants shared a background of having conducted research with children.
The findings indicate that researchers had mixed experiences of dealing with
gatekeeping institutions and professionals in those institutions. Barriers
identified to access to children participants were unclear evaluations made
by gatekeepers regarding their meaning of ´vulnerable´ research topics.
Gatekeepers were found to hinder children´s participation on occasions,
underpinned by their view of children as primarily vulnerable group rather than
as individuals with diverse capabilities and needs which research may need to
highlight. Participants commented that personal contacts with professionals
often helped them to gain access to children participants. After access had
been granted gatekeepers however kept on wanting to be informed about
content of interviews, thus posing a risk for the researcher to breach issues of
confidentiality and privacy, which however may also be a grey area when
involving children in research.
The issue of when it may be ethically sound to break confidentiality needs to be
addressed and made more clear in guidelines in research involving children.
Researchers that had conducted research in the field of education appeared to
face less obstacles than those involved in research in the field of health and
social care. There are indications that researchers in the field of educational
research will however increasingly be required to get permission for each and
every child. This may serve to ensure better ethical standards but may also
limit possibilities for researchers to conduct research with children. The
findings further indicate that researchers often have to wait long periods for
professionals and institutions to respond to their request for permission and
assistance to recruit children as participants. Such long waiting periods are
costly and time consuming and may discourage researchers from doing
research involving children.
Views concerning homogeneity of children and as primarily vulnerable may
weaken the validity of research. A view endorsing children as diverse and
capable individuals is needed within institutions and from professionals
representing them in order to ensure that research outcomes represent diverse
views rather than a limited views of children´s lives. We conclude that it may be
important to raise awareness amongst professionals and institutions working
with children of their key role in facilitating children´s research. Institutions and
services need be made aware of current trends in research where children are
increasingly approached as capable individuals rather than as vulnerable. Such
awareness raising may go a long way in increasing research on children´s life
experiences and conditions which brings forward children´s own viewpoints.
There is a need to clarify guidelines in research involving children and the role
of gatekeeping institutions in the recruitment process. This includes making
forms and applications for ethical approval more transparent and based on
similar standards across institution involved with children. Researchers should
not have to depend on personal relationships with individual professionals in
order to gain access to children participants.