Safeguarding children in research: Lessons learnt from the UK and Malawi

This presentation will discuss issues of ethical dilemmas when researching with children and young people both in the UK and internationally. The aim is to provide a reflective and critical account of the ethical processes, access to participants and issues of power in research as the two presenters experienced them during their doctoral studies.

The first author conducted a qualitative study of child protection case conferences in Scotland, using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and documentary analysis to explore how practitioners in Scotland view children’s participation, and how this was experienced by children. The second author explored the experiences of young caregivers in Malawi, Africa, employing qualitative, participatory mixed methods such as interviews, focus group discussions, observations, diaries, photography, drawing and mapping.
The two authors experienced ethics and safeguarding processes in very different ways. The findings show a significant difference in issues of power, vulnerability and access to children as research participants. This presentation will illuminate debates about safeguarding children in research processes and balancing the right to participate with a need to safeguard welfare. The contrast across nations provides valuable insights and new perspectives.

Within the UK, the process was experienced as risk-averse resulting in the exclusion of those children whose voices arguably need to be heard the most. In contrast reflections from Malawi highlight that the researcher mostly held the power in this process and although that meant access to children was not as complicated, questions about research and vulnerability were raised. We hope that this discussion will assist other researchers in navigating through these very complex processes.