Researching with Children

Abstract

Research with children is a vast and complex field, as it is influenced by the conceptions of childhood prevalent in each historical period, each particular culture, and each research team conception. In addition, research with children encompasses different points of view: social, political, cultural, and psychological. This chapter provides a review of the current state and the recent developments in each of these fields. Research with children presents researchers with the challenge of finding methods that are well-suited to children and that recognize the importance of children's experience and agency. Such methods should promote a respectful approach based on ethics. We conceive children as the real protagonists, and thus believe they need to be addressed directly. In the same way, children's self-expression, understanding, and empowerment should be promoted through the use of different techniques. For the purposes stated above, this chapter explores the possibility of using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods and the emerging of new proposals such as the inclusion of technologies and arts-based methods that present significant future perspectives.