Finding a Voice for Child Participants within Doctoral Research: Experiences from the Field

Abstract

Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them. -de Saint-Exupéry, A. (2000) CHILDREN HAVE A LONG HISTORY of being the object of study across several research disciplines (psychology, education, sociology). Typically, studies on children have tended to assess concepts, experimental approaches, theories or interventions with little consideration given to children's voices within that research (Hill, Laybourn, & Borland, 1996; Scott, 2008). Increasingly, within the various research communities, there has been a shift toward conducting research with children rather than on children to gain insight into what is meaningful and significant to children themselves (Clark, 2005; Clark 2007). As such, several scholars acknowledge four perspectives in conducting research on children: child as object, child as subject, child as social actor, and child as participant or co-participant (Alderson, 2008; Christensen & Prout, 2002; Christensen & James, 2008). Yet, despite recent research trends of including children's perspectives, many academic disciplines are steeped in a traditional approach of perceiving the child as object, a dependent and vulnerable being in need of protection. This article discusses the methodological choices and tensions I experienced as an early childhood education doctoral student as I endeavoured to negotiate a participatory role for young children's voices within a research agenda that focused on sibling teasing (Harwood, 2008a).