Child-Parent Research: Ethics

• In Event: Child-Parent Research: Methods, Ethics, and Literacies

Abstract

Objectives
This paper focuses on the experiences of a mother and her two teenage daughters as they engaged in a collaborative narrative inquiry and the challenges they encountered along the way. While the first author addresses the ethical dilemmas she negotiated while balancing the roles of mother/researcher (Ellis, 2007; Etherington, 2007), the teen co-authors explore their experiences as child-researchers conducting research with their mother.
Perspectives
This narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) is developed collaboratively based on the teens’ respective areas of interest. The topic of the second author’s narrative centered on her interest in writing and how she used digital media to learn about writers, their writing process, and how these writers’ experiences influenced her own work. The third author’s narrative centered on her experience using the internet to teach herself how to solve the Rubik’s Cube, an endeavor that entailed many on- and off-line hours. Responding to initial and follow-up questions about their learning experiences, the teen-researchers told their story in their own words, providing a glimpse into their lived experiences.
Methods
The questions that guided this study were focused on the teens’ learning experiences in and out of school. The first author read through the teen co-researchers’ responses to and provided follow-up questions seeking greater clarity or more in-depth discussion of their responses. An iterative process supported the initial identification of four themes--Career Development/Self Development; Engagement/Enjoyment; School Learning as Restrictive and Boring; and Digital Learning Helps with School Learning--that emerged (Berkowitz, 1997; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). We--the mother-daughters research team--met and reviewed the fours themes along with excerpts of initial responses, considering larger, overarching themes; we deliberated the accuracy of the initial themes and what emerged were two themes that we agreed upon: (1) School Learning as Restrictive/Boring, and (2) Engagement/Enjoyment.
Findings
Throughout the process we encountered a number of challenges (e.g., deadlines not being met, conflicting schedules) that necessitated additional conversations as a research team. The follow-up questions urged the teens to be more reflective, think deeper about their experiences, elaborate on what they meant, and proved frustrating at times. As a parent-researcher, I constantly reflected on ethical considerations, such as consent and power dynamics. I was cautious and thoughtful about how I approached my co-researchers, what I said and how I said it, all the while adhering to the ethics of conducting research while simultaneously negotiating our relationship. Given the intimate nature of our relationship, I felt that I had to continuously strive for an even higher level of ethical conduct throughout the process, continuously reflecting and monitoring my actions.
Significance
Engaging in research with family members requires a heightened level of attention to and sensitivity for ethical dilemmas that might arise (Ellis, 2007; Etherington, 2007). Traditional considerations of consent, confidentiality, and privacy, become extremely complex and murky due to ongoing personal relationships and knowledge of one other. An open and transparent ethical discussion of child-parent research helps to address consent, confidentiality, privacy, as well as power dynamics.

Authors

• Lourdes M. Rivera, Queens College - CUNY

• Nora Rivera-Larkin

• Dahlia Rivera-Larkin