There are some fundamental ethical guidelines which ought to be taken into consideration when carrying out research with children. The code sets out a set of general principles which are applicable to the entire research context that is done with children as participants. Some of these ethical guidelines include: the research question posed to the children should be important to the health and well being of the children. The study should also be conducted using appropriate methods which auger well with children. This paper therefore aims at exploring some of the ethical guidelines which ought to be taken care of by the researchers especially when dealing with children as participants.
While carrying out a research using children as the participants, the researcher should ensure that parents or the guardians are well informed about the nature of the study and given the option to withdraw their child from the study if they wish. In order to ensure that the rights of children are not violated especially when used as participants, there are certain guidelines and principles that have been put in place to safe guard the rights of the children.
Firstly, the researcher should ensure that the circumstances in which the research is conducted provide for the physical, emotional and psychological safety of the child. Secondly, it is important that the research question posed to the child be important to the health and the general well being of the child.
Importance of research principles to children
The ethical guidelines are vital to children because they protect them from possible violation of their rights. As we all understand, psychologists value the worth and dignity of all the persons equally with sensitivity to the dynamics of the perceived authority or influence over others. Therefore, ethical guidelines ensure that researchers adhere to the concept of moral rights and dignity of persons.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize the fact that ethical guidelines are important in research. This is because they guide researchers on what to do and what they should not do. The code of ethics also protects children from possible violation of their rights especially when they are used as participants in the research process.
References
Berk, L. E. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (7th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tisdall, K John Davis, M.J. Gallagher, M. (2008). Researching with Children and Young People: Research Design, Methods and Analysis. London: SAGE.
