CLIPS Word Template s2

CHCPOL403B: Undertake research activities

Implement appropriate research strategies

Content

Determine and allocate resources needed to conduct research 3 Identify resources needed and estimate a budget 6 Budget 7 Establish a time-line for your project 8

Ensure collection, recording and storage of all relevant information is timely and will ensure validity, confidentiality and security 9 Collecting and recording — literature reviews 9 How efficiently can the information be collected and stored? 13 Confidentiality 14 Storing information securely 16

Identify a representative range of people and groups with an interest in the issues and consult them in appropriate ways to ensure validity of outcomes 17 Consult with people and groups with an interest in the issues 17 Establishing a reference group 19

Undertake consultation according to agreed practices and protocol of own and other agencies 20 Researching with children 20 Adjusting research methods for a variety of participants 24 Informed consent 25

Consider cultural sensitivities and ethical issues in all consultation 26 Attitudinal and language issues 26 Participatory research 28 References 29

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Determine and allocate resources needed to conduct research

You will have far more success with your research project if you plan carefully. An important part of this planning is finding out what is already known about the topic, who has already done research in this area and similar areas, and what are their findings. Talking to others is also important at this stage. What are the views of the likely participants and stakeholders about your research? As a learner, you also need to talk to your teacher about your plans.

Howe and Lewis (1993) have outlined the following basic steps in undertaking a research project:

Let's apply Howe and Lewis's steps in designing a research project to a situation in children’s services: researching how to involve children in the planning of nutritious menus in a day-care service.

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What is the general idea? To collaborate in planning the food with the children who will be eating the food and to increase the children’s knowledge about nutrition and support their involvement in decisions affecting their lives.

What background reading is required? • Websites and books about nutritional needs of the age-group targeted

• Information on methods for researching with this group, and how to incorporate their ideas into service planning

What might be the refined topic and our research questions? From my readings I may decide to focus on research methods that are appropriate with preschool-aged children. Questions I might ask are: How can basic nutrition be best explored with preschool-aged children? What are valid ways of gathering ideas from preschool-aged children? How can children be involved in the planning process?

What other specific reading and research might we undertake? Find some suitable models for collaborating with young children and incorporate their ideas into planning. Also look for resources about nutrition and balanced meals aimed at preschool-aged children.

What is the defined research proposal? From the previous steps the focus of my research is now gathering children's ideas about nutritious menu-planning and using these ideas in a meaningful way.

Where will we identify our sources of information? Sources of information might include the children themselves, their parents, the centre cook and the children's carers. Other sources would be people in other centres, the Internet and the library.

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What might be an appropriate research strategy? Using well-designed posters of healthy food, balanced diets, as well as books and games designed for preschoolers, I could explore the children's current knowledge and ideas on healthy eating. I would keep a reflective journal throughout to record changes and ideas from the children and my own reflections about my role in this process.

In collaboration with the children, I could then design ways of recording and organising their ideas into a menu plan. This could include concrete and artistic representations such as drawings, coloured dough constructions and painting. I could tape record their conversation (with their permission) as they worked on these plans to gather further data about their ideas and perceptions.

Do the research The research strategies selected would be implemented. The children could then be involved in selecting and transcribing their ideas into a standard menu format with the centre cook. They would later eat the meals that they helped to plan.

You can see that by following these basic steps I have narrowed the scope of my research. I became aware while working through these steps that I wanted to find a way to empower these children by going through the process of informing them about healthy eating then drawing out their ideas in a real and practical way. I wanted to avoid tokenism by applying their ideas to a real situation in the service, ie menu planning.

Activity 1

Remember that research should stem from an authentic desire to know something. It’s worth looking at Wadsworth’s (1997) comment again:

‘Research is a process which begins with a genuine question that needs answering, a systematic process for gathering answers, then imaginatively generating explanations about why these answers were found.’

Sometimes research topics can be very broad and you may need to define the boundaries within the topic you are going to cover. For example you may be interested in researching the link between eating specific foods and mood changes in preschool children. This area is very topical and much research has been done on it. You would have to make sure you defined which foods you wanted to include and didn’t get distracted by research on foods outside your focus. You will need to maintain your focus on ‘preschool children’ even though there is lots of interesting information on this issue in middle childhood. The trouble with picking an interesting topic is that it is easy to spread yourself too

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thin; research in a different but related area and on a different age group would not be relevant to the topic.

How you defined ‘mood changes’ would also affect your results: how ‘over’ is overactive? How do you identify a subdued mood change? Within both these categories there are many types of behaviours that occur naturally within the day, so you will need to observe at different times for changes in frequency of behaviours, using tight and observable definitions of what you are looking for.

To cover this topic in depth could require a research project much bigger than the one you will undertake for the assessment for this topic, but it gives you an idea of how carefully you have to pick your topic and word your question.

From the topics you have chosen, determine some specific questions you could ask. Brainstorming is an effective way to do this and can be a lot fun. A good way to record your flashes of inspiration when you brainstorm is on a mind map. Other people prefer lists of ideas, or diagrams to record the range of thoughts they have.

Have a go at brainstorming some questions now, and discuss them with your teacher or facilitator.

Identify resources needed and estimate a budget

Costs The cost of different sources of information may include:

• the amount of time it would take to collect the information and put into a useful form for your research project. This would have a cost to your project in that you only have a limited time within which to conduct it.

• the amount of money it would take to obtain that information and put it into a useful form for your project. If for example you wanted to conduct a large number of interviews, you might need to pay the interviewees for their time.

• the inaccuracy of the information. The greater the inaccuracy of your information, the greater the cost to your project in terms of overall accuracy and reliability of results.

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Cost / benefit The benefits of different sources of information may include:

• that it is simple, quick and efficient to collect, allowing you to obtain information at little or no cost to your research project in terms of time and or money

• that it is reliable and accurate information, ensuring that the results of your research project will in turn be reliable and useful in answering the research hypothesis.

As you can see, the costs and benefits are closely related. They relate to how efficiently the information can be collected and stored and how reliable the information is. You need to be aware of both these issues when you estimate the costs and benefits of different sources of information.

Resources You now need to consider all the necessary resources for implementing your research.

Resources can be divided into two categories;

1. Human resources. These will include not only yourself and an estimate of the hours the project may take, but also any other people you may need in order to complete the project. For example, the participants and any other person you may like to communicate with as a ‘consultant’.

2. Physical resources. These include everything you will need in order to carry out the project. Try to think of absolutely everything. For example, just to prepare a questionnaire, you will need a computer, printer (and ink!), paper and a stapler. You may even be able to think of other things I’ve left out here! Since organisation is vital to staying on track when you have a defined period of time in which to complete your research, being organised is the key.

When writing up the resources you need, it’s a good idea to divide them into two groups;

1. Available resources - things you already have or have access to. For example, possibly you already have access to a computer and printer.

2. Required resources – the things you will need to buy (or borrow!). For example, paper and staples.

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Budget Another aspect of research to consider is the budget. When you take on a research project, you probably won’t give a lot of thought to what it might cost you, but it is a good idea to try to work this out in advance. Obvious costs may include paper and pens, but try to think of the ‘not so obvious’ costs. For example, if you’re required to drop off questionnaires, or go somewhere to interview people, the petrol for your car (or public transport costs) will need to be included in your budget.

Activity 2

Establish a time-line for your project The gathering of research data, particularly when focused on action outcomes, needs to be planned and monitored so it doesn’t fall into a black hole when other pressing activities arise. Information collection needs to be constantly moving and this is easiest to do when you have a project plan with a timeline.

This project plan should be developed as soon as the research question is clear, and endorsed by everyone involved. An easy way to draw up a time-line for your research project or assessment may be to break down the questions or sections of the project.

If you have a deadline for the completion of the project, it may be worthwhile working ‘backwards’. For example, by working out how long you think it may take to collate the information and write up your final report, you will have a better idea of how long you will have for implementing your research method. For example, if you are using questionnaires, you will know when you need to begin handing out the questionnaires, and how long is available for respondents to answer and return them (as a rule of thumb, always tell respondents you want the questionnaires back a week earlier than you actually do – this allows some time for the late ones!).

By having a time-line it is much easier to keep on track, and anyone involved in the research can be kept on track and can see where actions are going from this beginning. It is easy to see why information is being collected and the outcomes can be clearly communicated to others. The plan can be further added to as the project moves on to the next stage.

Activity 3

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Ensure collection, recording and storage of all relevant information is timely and will ensure validity, confidentiality and security

Collecting and recording — literature reviews

As you launch into any kind of research it is generally a good idea to look around first to see who else has researched or written in this area and what they have found. You will then see what the ‘RE’ in research means – your ‘search’ has probably been done before - but never by you and with your particular target group. Looking at other similar research reports can help you to refine your research question, and often gives you good ideas for improving on your research project.

For example, if you were to research the impact of staffing changes in children’s services in response to a new funding arrangement, you would need to locate and review publications and articles on the best staffing levels, their costs and impact on quality service provision relating to children’s services. This information would then be collated to help you to refine your own research topic, to back up or dispute your findings and to increase your knowledge of the issue.

If you wanted to find out how to involve young people in the development of their case management plans, or the elderly or disabled in program development, you need to review the literature available on how best to engage these different groups so that their input is meaningful.

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Likely sources for a literature review in the community services field are books, journal articles, newspapers and the Internet.

Before we go any further, we need to look at what a literature review actually is. If you do a search on the internet you will find many websites with descriptions, but they all say basically the same thing. A literature review could be defined as an evaluation of literature relevant to your specific research question or statement, with the purpose of conveying the knowledge that has already been acquired on that topic. It is not a summary of every piece of literature you have found, written one after the other, and should not be a list of everything read.

In a literature review, the literature itself is the subject of discussion. After finding relevant literature and making notes, the information needs to be evaluated and collated in order to identify relevant information and knowledge, to identify any ‘gaps’ in existing research, and in particular, to demonstrate how your topic is linked to the literature.

When writing the literature review, it is important not to get it confused with an annotated bibliography. In an annotated bibliography, each piece of literature, or text, is dealt with separately and one at a time (usually one text per paragraph), whereas in a literature review, many texts will be discussed and compared, with a common theme being apparent in each paragraph.

Activity 4

So how do you go about writing your literature review? The literature review should include an introduction, body and conclusion. The following is a guide to what should be included in each section.

The introduction should include:

• the nature of the topic under discussion

• what the topic includes and what it doesn’t include (if relevant)

• why you chose the literature you are reviewing

The body could include relevant paragraphs on:

• historical background, including classic texts

• current viewpoints, including differing theoretical assumptions, differing political outlooks, and other conflicts

• current research studies

• current discoveries about the topic

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• principal questions that are being asked

• general conclusions that are being drawn

• methodologies and methods in use

The conclusion should include:

• A summary of major agreements and disagreements in the literature

• A summary of general conclusions that are being drawn.

Adapted from: Canberra University. (2006) Writing a literature review. Available at http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/literature [last accessed 06/03/09]

Librarians are a wonderful human resource when you are beginning a Literature Review, after all, they have training in this type of thing! Make contact with your local or TAFE librarian or your teacher if you are feeling unsure about beginning your search.

Searching for information on the Internet is increasingly important in social research, as you will often find more current information on the net than in books. However, you do need to check that the source of the information is reliable. For example, look for educational institutions or credible organisations (URL often ends in or includes ‘.edu’ or ‘.org’). For example, if you are researching children’s health or allergies, credible sites could include state or national government health sites and major hospital websites (for example, Royal Prince Alfred or Westmead in NSW), as well as websites of associations or societies that have been specifically set up to assist people in the community who may have these information needs (for example NSW Coeliac Society). Always make sure the site you are searching has an ‘about us’ explanatory home page, where any biases or specific interests are declared. Internet sources can include websites, e- journals and email communications.

Don’t forget to correctly reference all texts you use in your literature review. You may need to check with your teacher to ensure you use the preferred referencing system. When you have this information, unless you are completely familiar with the particular referencing style, do an internet search on that particular style. Generally the university websites have excellent printable documents on referencing.

For a guide to citing Internet sources in your literature review, you may also like to do an internet search, with the key words ‘citing internet sources’.

Wadsworth (1997) emphasises the importance of keeping constant notes, with page numbers, as you read through the literature. Before you even start to look for literature it is a good idea to make up some sort of sheet or chart that can be used as a reminder for the information you are likely to need when you are

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writing up your report and putting together your reference list. Something like the following may be helpful.

Reference information from a (circle appropriate source)

Book Magazine Newspaper Website Other (specify)

Title (publication or website title) OR title of Publisher (book only): article (periodical, encyclopaedia website): Place published (book only):

Author; (last name, first name and middle initial) Date published:

Edition (if applicable):

Volume Number (periodical or encyclopaedia); Page Number(s):

Extra information required for websites

This website is sponsored/provided by a (circle appropriate source):

Company Organisation Government

Newspaper/magazine Other (specify)

Website URL: http://

Last date of access:

This may seem like a lot of time-consuming work to do, but may ultimately save you hours - particularly if you are conducting your literature review research over a period of time. It’s very easy to forget which books you’ve already looked at, or which websites you’ve visited, no matter how good you think your memory is!

Activity 5

Have a look at these websites now to see if they have any information useful for your literature review:

EdNA Online: http://www.edna.edu.au/

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University of Sydney – Community Study Knowledge Base: http://www2.fhs.usyd.edu.au/bach//pub/community/thisite.htm

University of Michigan Institute of Social Research: http://www.isr.umich.edu/

Koori Research Centre – Monash University: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/cais/research/index.html

Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/

The Cochrane Library is put together by clinicians, consumers and researchers from around the world, and is a resource that can be used to support health care decisions and inform people receiving care. It may be of use to your area of research, as it is intended primarily for clinicians and researchers. The Library also contains much information that is directly relevant to consumers. Australia is a member nation, and you can log on for free on www.nicsl.com.au/cochrane/library.asp.

Promising practices, a site from the United States, highlights mainly US programs and practices that credible research indicates are effective in improving outcomes for children, youth and families. It is found at www.promisingpractices.net.

The Learning Centre at the NSW North Coast Institute of TAFE will take you to a range of useful web links if you are interested in early childhood information and is found at: www.ncistudent.net/CourseResources/ChildrensServices/webLinks.htm#2000

The Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies has a ‘research links’ site that is useful in regard to current research on children, youth and families at: www.acwa.asn.au.

Once you find useful, reliable websites for your literature search, look at their links to other sites for more information on similar topics.

How efficiently can the information be collected and stored? You need to be aware of how much information you need when determining whether one information source is more efficient to collect than another. Obviously the more information you are going to collect the greater the cost to your project. Therefore you should always try to collect only the amount of information you need to answer your research hypothesis. For example, what is the point of surveying all 1000 people when you can survey a sample of 100 people?

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The more time you need to spend with people to collect the information will also lead to a greater cost. While interviews are great sources of information, they do take a lot more time than surveys. This is not to say you should not use interviews, but you need to be aware that when you use this technique it will have a cost to your research project.

Another aspect is the storage and retrieval of the information. If you think about this from the beginning, you can reduce the cost both in terms of time and money to your project.

Develop data storage and retrieval methods Research usually involves the completion of questionnaires or other reports. Questions can fall into the ‘check-the-box’ or ‘tell-us-a-story’ categories. The former are easily coded and stored electronically. The latter needs interpretation and so there will be an added step between completing surveys and filing documents, as paper or electronic records. Some of these surveys will have to be stored in paper form.

Pre-coding questions will speed up the storage process. So will the designing of forms to allow data to be entered to computer databases via scanning. Irrespective of the technology used, completed forms should be checked. This can be a total check or a check through the use of a sampling technique. Rules should be established on how to deal with incomplete surveys. Assumptions can be made about missing answers based on subsequent answers. In some cases it will be possible to complete the questionnaire by contacting either the interviewer or respondent. In some cases it may be found that the respondent was not eligible to be interviewed and that the survey form should be discarded.

Qualitative research findings have to be checked and stored differently as they consist of comments and in some cases audiotapes of discussions together with the notes created by the facilitator.

Secondary research findings (using research done by others for various purposes), such as Australian Bureau of Statistics data and the findings of earlier surveys, need to be filed away until an analyst is able to use this material. In some cases secondary research is eventually linked to primary research. Some of the secondary research may be discarded because it is found to be too dated or irrelevant.

It is important to remember that some information may be of a confidential nature and there is a need to ensure that the questionnaires and other information that can be related back to a respondent is secure.

The end point in this process is when the data has been checked for accuracy and stored in a format that researchers can use.

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Confidentiality How would you feel if your doctor left your case notes on the desk open for the next client to read, or if negative feedback on a practical assignment was posted on the TAFE Intranet without your permission?

Confidentiality is an essential aspect of any research project to ensure open and honest responses from your participants. They need to feel that any answers, opinions or thoughts they offer will be treated with confidence by you and that their privacy will be maintained.

If research participants do not feel that their confidentiality will be respected, they will either give you the answers they think you want or answer cynically. This is particularly obvious in situations like worker satisfaction surveys conducted by management – workers will often not believe that confidentiality on their input will be respected and will answer as though it is going on their work files. This negatively affects the validity of the data.

Confidentiality can never be wholly assured but as a researcher you can do your best to make sure it is protected.

There are a number of strategies you can use to keep confidential the information gathered in research:

• Never discuss findings prior to final results presentation except with those closely involved with the production of those results.

• Do not discuss any findings with others in a way that will identify the input of individuals.

• Do not report any information that can be traced to an individual in your oral or written reports unless you have the permission of that person to use their name.

• Keep all research data in a safe place, such as a locked file or in a password-protected computer.

• Never gossip about your findings.

• Always ensure that all participants are clear about the aims of your research, how the data will be collected and how it will be disseminated and reported.

You need to always make it clear with participants that where illegal actions on the part of the participants is revealed, eg child abuse, your confidentiality assurances will not hold. You need to make it clear that your legal obligations in these situations will override your commitment to confidentiality. This should be clear both in spoken and written agreements with participants.

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An ethical dilemma: situations that may require a breach of confidentiality The relationship which develops in a research interview may lead to disclosures of situations or behaviours that place the researcher in an ethical dilemma. It needs to be clearly communicated from the beginning of the research that confidentiality may not be kept if a child or young person appears to be in serious harm.

Unless this exception is made clear, the very promise of 'confidentiality' may encourage the child or young person to disclose the abuse, thus leading to a sense of betrayal on their part when a report must be made. Any action as a result of a child’s disclosure should be talked over with the child.

In the course of the research, the researcher may also become aware of a condition such as a medical condition or a learning disability that requires intervention. Researchers may consider that they have ‘duty of care’ reasons for passing this information on, depending on individual situations. Children and young people should be informed when and how such information is to be passed on to carers.

Where the child or young person has been accessed through an agency or Government Department, reports on abuse or neglect which may affect that agency's working relationship with the family/child or young person should be discussed with the agency prior to the report being made if possible.

It should be stated at the beginning of the consent process that confidentiality may be breached when:

• A child or young person appears to be in a situation of serious harm.

• There are disclosures, either direct or indirect, of physical, sexual, psychological abuse or neglect.

• The researcher becomes aware of a condition which could be addressed by the adult carer, e.g. a medical or learning condition.

Storing information securely The boot of the car is not ensuring confidentiality, and neither is an unprotected PC. If data is to be stored on a PC, participant identity should be coded and the code kept separately. If the data is kept in a filing cabinet, it should be locked with limited access. Data is confidential and should be respected as such by the researcher.

Once the research is finished and the data is no longer required, identifying data should be shredded or destroyed in an appropriate manner.

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Activity 6

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Identify a representative range of people and groups with an interest in the issues and consult them in appropriate ways to ensure validity of outcomes

You need to consider and identify all the possible stakeholders of your research. We talked about stakeholders in Topic 1. These are the people who have a special interest in the research. Some of the stakeholders may be helpful to your research. Many of them will be interested in your findings.

In a larger research project, a Reference Group is often formed that is made up of some of the stakeholders. A Reference Group can then review the progress of the research and provide ideas and suggestions. You will not be asked to form a Reference Group for your Research Project, but you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with a few interested people. This is bound to make your research richer and more useful.

Activity 7

Consult with people and groups with an interest in the issues Our research will be more valid and participatory if you establish and maintain good relationships from the beginning with all involved. You need to be open and clear with all concerned about what you plan to do and about your findings and recommendations.

Have you ever been to a medical professional and come out feeling you knew less than when you went in?

Have you been in work or social situations where you have attempted to have conversations with people without the faintest idea of who they were?

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Have you ever felt frustrated in trying to solve a problem, knowing there are others out there with the knowledge but not knowing how to contact them?

If you have ever been in any of these situations you will have an intuitive knowledge of why it is important to make yourself known to all participants, identify and involve a reference group, and clearly organise and present your knowledge using plain English.

Introducing yourself It is important to write an introduction to your research participants. They are an important part of the research process and they need to understand the purpose of the research and the nature of their involvement.

An introduction should include:

• your name and position

• the purpose of the research

• the research methods you will use

• how the data will be presented

• the intended audience for the research report.

It should be written in plain and accessible English and, if necessary, translations should be made into the first language of the participants. An introduction to a professional research report might look something like this:

Sample of introduction to a professional research report

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A further notice about the presentation of the results would be sent to all participating services at the end of the project.

An introduction letter from a TAFE student could look something like this:

Sample of an introduction letter from a TAFE student Activity 8

Establishing a reference group Many large research projects establish a ‘reference group’ of stakeholders who can advise the researchers on the design and implementation of the research. The stakeholders in this instance can offer a different perspective on the research from the participants and the researchers.

For example, if the project involves both a family and child-focus, it is very useful to include the expertise of workers from a family support program or family counselling program near your service in a reference group. Although it would seem on the surface that the orientation of two services dealing with families would be very similar, different focuses in training and experience often highlight that workers from these two areas will see issues from a slightly different perspective. Be open to discussion and further learning from you reference group and to incorporating different perspectives on your research.

A reference group should not be too big – you can’t incorporate everyone’s point of view. Four or five people can help shape a project effectively. More than that can slow it down significantly, especially if they have very different viewpoints!

You will not have time to establish a reference group for the small research project you are carrying out for the assessment but you will benefit from opportunities to discuss your research design and findings with others as you

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progress through the project. Find colleagues and/or teachers to discuss your project with you.

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Undertake consultation according to agreed practices and protocol of own and other agencies

Researching with children Children and young people have traditionally been viewed as subjects of research. Researchers have tried to find out more about children and young people by observing them, by asking their parents and carers about them, and sometimes by questioning them and interpreting their answers. However, these methods put children’s and young people's responses through the filter of adult interpretation. It assumes that adults always know best, see best and can describe best.

You could say that research has been carried out on rather than with children and young people.

In recent years some researchers have begun to gather children’s and young people's views more directly, although the methods used may differ with age. This view has arisen in response to the growing recognition of children’s and young people's rights. As a community we also have an increasing awareness that children and young people can speak for themselves on a wide range of issues, and that by listening respectfully to children and young people we can learn a great deal.

Children and young people need to be fully informed of the purpose of the research to be true participants in the research, and they need to be given feedback on the findings and any decisions made based on the findings. Ideally, when decisions impact directly on them, they can be involved in the decision- making process as well.

The results of listening to children can add to existing studies but can also challenge adult preconceptions. For example, Copping (1996) in her study of 75 children in domestic violence shelters found that use of parents’ reports on their child’s behaviour does not appear to produce consistent and valid information, and when compared to the child’s self-reports, that children and mothers report very differently on the same experience.

Roger Hart's Ladder of Participation (1992) is a great guide to check on whether any project involving children and young people is including them as authentic participants. Use a search engine and type in ‘Roger Hart’s Ladder of Participation’ for more information about this useful model, particularly in relation to involving children and young people in research.

Harts Ladder of participation

On the Ladder of Participation the top five rungs describe degrees of participation true participation.

1 Manipulation. Children do or say what adults suggest they do, but have no real understanding of the issues, OR children are asked what they think, adults use some of their ideas but do not tell them what influence they had on the final decision.

2 Decoration. Children take part in an event, eg by singing, dancing or wearing tee shirts with logos on, but they do not really understand the issues.

3 Tokenism. Children are asked to say what they think about an issue but have little or no choice about the way they express those views or the scope of the ideas they can express.

4 Assigned but informed. Adults decide on the project and children volunteer for it, the children understand the project and know who decided they should be involved and why. Adults respect their views.

5 Consulted and informed. The project is designed and run by adults but children are consulted. They have a full understanding of the process and their views are taken seriously.

6 Adult-initiated shared decisions with children. Adults have the initial idea but children are involved in every step of the planning and implementation. Not only are their views considered, but they are also involved in taking the decisions.

7 Children-initiated and directed. Children have the initial idea and decide how the project is to be carried out. Adults are available but do not take charge.

8 Child-initiated, shared decisions with adults. Children have the ideas, set up the project and invite adults to join with them in making decisions

Involvement of children and young people in research:

• recognises and respects children’s and young people's value as human beings

• moves the child's voice to a central position and allows them to present their own perspective without interpretation through adults or social institutions

• challenges adult preconceptions and research strategies

• adds significantly to existing studies and knowledge of children and childhood.

Adjusting research methods for young children An area of recent investigation is researching with quite young children. One of the main concerns researchers have had about asking children directly about their views has been the perception that children have faulty memories and limited language skills, or that they may be influenced by the perceived authority of the adult asking the questions, telling them what they think the adult wants to hear.

However many of these factors can be overcome by using language suitable to the child's level, and/or by talking with the child in a familiar, relaxed context. With very young children this may involve talking with them as they play, draw or construct, or by devising games that encourage them to express their ideas and opinions.

Here are some innovative research ideas that have been carried out with young children:

• A worker at a children’s vacation care centre wanted to find out what excursions the children would like included in the program for the next holiday period. In conjunction with a parent questionnaire researching the issues relating to cost, the worker presented photographs and brochures of various options, suggested by both workers and the children – bowling, movies, ice-skating etc. Each option was clearly displayed on a table with a small box with a slit in it. The children were then given three tokens each, with which to ‘vote’.

• A researcher wanted to find out what children aged 4 to 8 years thought about the world and how it could be improved. He sat down with each child and asked them to make a Magic Wand, and then he asked them “What would you change about the world with your Magic Wand?” Some of them wanted to draw their answers and some wanted to tell the researcher – he accepted both forms as his data.

• Some preschoolers were asked to rate different activities they’d experienced at day care. They were given big colourful marbles and a row of empty pots. As they talked about the activities and whether or not they had enjoyed them, they threw marbles into the pots – lots of marbles for the activities they enjoyed and fewer marbles for those they didn’t. The researchers then had quantitative data at the end of the day – they counted the numbers of marble in each pot to rate each activity.

• Some researchers wanted to find out how 10 year olds spent their time each day. They asked them to fill in and decorate Pie Charts (they were already familiar with these from Maths) in any way they chose to express how 24 hours was spent in their lives. They were also encouraged to chat as they drew which the researchers taped and then transcribed. The researchers then had data in the form of the decorated Pie Charts and the transcribed talk.

• To find out what children really thought about school, some researchers interviewed primary school aged children in small focus groups. Each adult researcher sat on the floor with the children and asked them to imagine that the researcher was an alien from outer space who needed to hear their views of school so that she could design a similar institution on her planet. This really got the kids talking!

• A researcher working with street children in South Africa asked the children to draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and draw people doing 'good' things on one side, and 'bad' things on the other. She used this to draw out a broader discussion on moral values.

You can see in the above examples that doing something together helps to establish a rapport with children and to allow them to feel relaxed and expressive. All children are different, and each group you design a research project with will need a different approach and a different research design. Of course, the same could be said for many adult participants, who would find chatting, telling stories, or getting involved in activities a much more relaxed way to express themselves than filling in a questionnaire or answering set questions by an interviewer.

If you are involving children in research you need to remember the following:

• Children have limited social power, and are unable to legally exercise independent decision making concerning research participation.

• Children are also vulnerable because of their limited ability to understand adult constructs and defend their rights as research participants. (Thompson in Berk, 1999)

With these factors in mind you need to ensure that you have explained the purpose of your research clearly to children, in terms that they are likely to understand. You must seek their permission to be involved in the research as well as gain the written permission of their parents and guardians. You also need to remind them regularly that they have the right to withdraw from the research at any stage, or to renegotiate their involvement (and they may need an adult advocate to help them negotiate). Because of the young child's desire to please adults, researchers with very young children must be highly aware of not coercing children or putting them in difficult positions. Their privacy must also be respected in the same way that you would offer participant confidentiality to an adult.

Adjusting research methods for a variety of participants Do the innovative approaches to gathering views and perspectives from children described above give you ideas for adapting research to include participants such as people with communication disorders, elderly people with dementia or people who have difficulty communicating in English?

It is important that all participants, no matter what their language level, social background, confidence in expressing their views, age or experience, have the opportunity to feel both comfortable with your research and included in your findings. This may mean you have to make some adjustments to both your research methodology and your overall approach to the participants. Your first task will be to find out as much about the participants as possible by meeting them, talking with them and asking others about them. Your research design will be influenced by what you learn about the participants.

The next step would be to pilot your research on a few participants to see how useful it is with representative people, and then make adjustments to your research design accordingly.

Have you begun to think about the possible participants in your own research project? How would you adjust the research design to make them feel comfortable and included, and to ensure you get the information you want?

Activity 9

Informed consent Children and young people, and often adults, do not necessarily understand that despite your best efforts their input into the research may be identified, particularly in research with small communities. Sometimes participants, especially children and young people, will openly identify their input without considering the implications if others do not agree or if it goes against what the organisation would prefer to hear.

As a researcher, you need to discuss with all participants why confidentially is useful in research and what the implications might be if they are identified. This also applies to photographic or video data that might be used with consent to illustrate the final report – participants need to understand that this evidence will continue to stand over time and they need to consider whether they will still be OK about this in about five year’s time.

Where you are working with young children or people with communication difficulties, you need to be creative about how issues are explained. Use drawings, photos or games to illustrate what you mean and adjust your language to the needs of the participant. In making these issues clear you are ensuring that their consent to use data is informed consent.

There are often numerous gatekeepers around children. Many will have different attitudes to children and their competence to those attitudes held by the researcher. Both socially and legislatively, adults see children as vulnerable to abuses, and the needs of this view to protect children must be addressed by the researcher as she or he seeks informed consent. Consent must often be carefully negotiated with organisations, carers and workers in different systems, so that the rights of the child to confidentiality are addressed along with the carers' legal obligation to protect the child.

Children and young people need to understand not only the short-term issues of participating in research, i.e. giving up time, perhaps saying something that could be identified, but also long-term issues. What if the piece of research catches the eye of the media? How might they feel being a ‘case study’ in the media report?

Sometimes children are not informed of their rights to participate in research or not until after negotiations have been concluded with carers and other gatekeepers. It is therefore difficult for them to say ‘no’ when the interviewer is in the classroom or child or youth service, with the full permission of their carers. This is not meaningful consent. Where possible, researchers should have a session with possible participants where issues of participation and confidentiality are specifically discussed.

Consider cultural sensitivities and ethical issues in all consultation

Attitudinal and language issues In almost every target group that you research, there will be participants who come from a cultural or sub-cultural background that differs from your own, or for whom English is a second language, or who may just be in a different age group.

You need to consider these cultural, sub-cultural, minority and language issues to make all your participants feel equally welcomed and consulted. It will also ensure that their responses are valid responses rather than responses overwhelmed by other issues.

Cultural traditions and attitudes influence whether questions are seen as appropriate or not. They may influence to whom you direct your questions within a community or family, and will undoubtedly influence your need to clarify and share meanings of terms you are using.

In working with different socio-economic groups or age groups, researchers need to reflect and be honest with themselves about their preconceptions and ideas about any particular group in society. Do you think that children under five are incapable of contributing seriously to a research project? Do you think all people over 75 are forgetful and illogical? What are your preconceptions about adolescents and their ability to work with adults? How much will these preconceptions influence your research outcomes? People are always aware at some level about research preconceptions and will react to them.

Your results will be invalid if you use research methods or language not easily understood by your participants. If you are working with a particular group, eg youth or Sierra Leonians or Sierra Leonian youth, you need a reference group from the target group to ensure that your methodology and language is appropriate to the group.

When working with people from different cultures or from minority groups, such as children and young people or people living in poverty, a reference group (including people from that culture or group) is essential to ensure you are aware

of appropriate approaches, customs, language and routines that will make your research accessible and acceptable to all participants.

You need to:

• identify how and where the groups involved will be interested in communicating – in their homes, in a familiar community service, a local café or fast food outlet or after work or school or before a busy day?

• make every effort to understand the issues from the perspective of the participants – put yourself in their shoes

• be flexible in how you communicate and carry out the research.

For example, one group of researchers in the UK were asking specific questions about accidents among young people in a housing estate, and were not getting much information from the answers. On further consultation with the young people they changed the focus of their study to incorporate stories told to them by young people about their injuries and scars. They were now getting much more useful and descriptive data.

Use concrete methods rather than abstract questions (‘What do you think of refugee incarceration?’ is pretty abstract, but relating it to a specific situation at a Detention Centre will make it more concrete). Many groups are also more comfortable with informal methods such as a talk over coffee or a craft activity rather than a formal interview in an office-like environment.

Words important in the research must have a common definition between you, the interviewer, and the people being interviewed. For example, ‘welfare support’ can be defined many ways, often depending on the immediate needs of the family, or their cultural understanding of this service from their country of origin. Young children often generalise terms or use them quite narrowly. People from other cultures may not grasp your assumed social constructions (eg ‘social security’) in the same way as those brought up in the Anglo-Australian culture. All these language and understanding issues need to be thought about before the first question is asked.

You may need to rethink your expectations about how people will respond to your questions if they come from different groups or cultures to your own. Researchers’ expectations are discussed by Kane and O’Reilly-de Brun (2001):

One is the researcher’s expectation that people have an answer to, or an opinion on, every question. The second is ‘nut shelling’, the western notion that people should give a brief, to-the-point summary of their experience or knowledge in response to a question, whereas in many cultures talking through and considering all angles is the most judicious way of presenting one’s ideas. In many cultural traditions, people feel that ‘one cannot know everything, and that the little one

knows cannot be uttered in a moment’ (Slim and Mitchell, 1992, p 69). A third problem, which applies to surveys as well, is that most people prefer a two-way exchange, or even more. People may want to know what you think, how many children you have, and may even want to call in a few neighbours or family members to ponder some questions in a more companionable way. (Kane and O’Reilly-de Brun, 2001, pp 208–209).

Participatory research In participatory research it is important that all participants, no matter what their language level, social background, confidence in expressing their views, age or experience, have the opportunity to feel both comfortable with your research and included in your findings. This may mean you have to make some adjustments to both your research methodology and your overall approach to the participants. First you need to find out as much about the participants as possible by meeting them, talking with them and asking others about them. Your research design will be influenced by what you learn about the participants.

The next step is to pilot your research on a few participants to see how useful it is with representative people, and then make adjustments to your research design accordingly.

Answer the following questions now about research you are planning to undertake:

1 What do you know about your possible participants? How will you need to adjust the research design to make them feel comfortable and included and to ensure you get the information you want?

2 What are your preconceptions about your possible participants? How can you test them out?

3 What strategies and approaches will you use to include in your research the views of those who are differently abled, from varied cultures, varied age groups or from different socio-economic backgrounds?

You may want to discuss some of these issues with your teacher.

Giving thought to your research design in the beginning will make it a far more effective project. An important part of this is the literature review, where you uncover what others have found out about the same or related topics of investigation. You also need to give careful thought to the sampling method used and the perspectives of your participants and adjust your research methods, language and approaches accordingly.

References Howe R and Lewis R (1993) A Student Guide to Research in Social Science, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne

Harvey L and McDonald M (1993) Doing Sociology, Macmillan Press, London

Kane E and O’Reilly-de Brun M (2001) Doing Your Own Research, Marion Boyars, London

Roger Hart's Ladder of Participation (1992)