Between Protection and Participation: Informed Consent, Ethics and Play in Research With Children and Youth

Between Protection and Participation: Informed Consent, Ethics and Play in Research With Children and Youth
Original Article
Maria V. Barbero
Children & Society, 11 February 2025
Abstract
While a robust scholarly dialogue has emerged in recent decades surrounding child and youth-centred research methods, less attention has been paid to how other elements of research design can better account for the needs, vulnerabilities, and perspectives of children and youth. In this article, I discuss challenges tied to informed consent processes and inflexible ethical guidelines in social science research with minors. Drawing from the child and youth studies literature as well as my past research experiences, I explore what it means to develop ethical approaches that are situated, responsive, and relational and which focus not only on the protection of minors but also their inclusion and full participation in research. In doing so, I develop the concept of “playful consent checkpoints” and argue that playful approaches can offer interesting and flexible possibilities for responding to ongoing ethical challenges in research with young people.