Childhood is neither easily nor commonly defined. There is, however, an increased acknowledgement of children’s rights and agency within research as informants to inclusive research methodologies. The conduct of timely, ethical and reliable research in matters directly affecting children is of increasing importance in contemporary research. The inclusion of children’s perspectives is a critical consideration when preparing any child related research and is beneficial when included at all stages of the research endeavour. However, many studies relating to children are often directed by a particular (adult determined) theme that does not necessarily reflect or consider children’s perspectives (Barritt & Beekman, 1982). The importance of the child’s voice and children’s perspectives is gaining increased attention within child related professions and is recognised as paramount at the grass roots level (Lundy, 2007). Less recognised, however is a broader societal acceptance of the capacities of modern children to personally deal with, and to process the information of their everyday lives (Sargeant, 2010).

The relative new nature of research with children has provided a significant challenge for researchers. This has been particularly evident when making application to university ethics committees. Many ethics committees have taken an extremely conservative position, particularly when the research directly involves children as active participants or a research design that is unfamiliar to the panel members. It could therefore be useful for both ethics committees and researchers, at least at the organisational (e.g., university) level, to engage in a proactive culture of ethics learning through the provision of set of specific guidelines and tools that facilitate excellent and ethical research with children and includes the provision of relevant advice on the different processes of a project.

The Ethical Research with Children (ERWC) guide was developed to assist beginning researchers in developing, conducting and disseminating research that seeks to report, address or effect change in matters relating to children and childhood, utilising an authentic and ethical imperative. This guide assists researchers and practitioners to focus and identify the key issues surrounding research with children. It presents an overview of the contemporary and traditional perspectives relating to child related practices. The ERWC combines relevant information within a workbook format as a guide for engaging with the issues and essential elements for conducting ethical research with children so that these elements have been not only considered, but also systematically addressed. A key element of the guide is the SQERT analysis. The Skills, Qualifications, Experience, Roles and Training (SQERT) of the research team includes considerations of legal knowledge, breadth of interest and knowledge of ethics and, most importantly, experience with the children involved with the research.

The ERWC positions each child as a competent and capable contributor to research endeavours and assists researchers in developing an understanding of the key considerations, structures and procedures that best value, respect, identify and enable children’s participation in research.

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