Researching Pupils

Research Characteristics

• Malcolm Hill (2005) suggests that there are three major differences between studying young people and studying adults: power and status, ability and understanding and vulnerability.
• These characteristics introduce a different set of practical, ethical and theoretical issues.
• It is important to note that students are not a homogeneous group, as there will be differences in age, gender, class and ethnicity.
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Power and Status

• Children generally have less power than adults, so it can be difficult for them to state their views and opinions openly, especially if they challenge those of adults.
• This is particularly true of schools, because they are hierarchical institutions that give teachers higher status and power over pupils. Teachers may sometimes even be able to use this power to influence which pupils are selected for research, for example in order to promote a good image of themselves or the school.
• Formal research methods such as structured interviews or questionnaires tend to reinforce power differences. This is because it is the researcher and not the young person who determines what questions are asked and how answers should be formulated.
• Sociologists need to consider ways in which they can overcome the power and status differences between adult researchers and young participants. For example, group interviews rather than formal one-to-one interviews may be a good way of doing this.
• Despite designing the study to escape power and status inequalities, the children may still be affected by the power differences between themselves and the researcher.
• Pupils’ attitudes towards the power and status differences between themselves and their teachers are also likely affect how they relate to the researcher. For example, pupils who resent the power of teachers over them may be less likely to cooperate with research. On the other hand, such pupils may feel empowered by participating in the research and express their true feelings about school.

Ability and Understanding

• Pupils’ vocabulary, powers of self-expression, thinking skills and confidence are likely to be more limited than those of adults. This can cause several problems for sociologists:
• Abstract concepts are of central importance in sociological research, so researchers must take care to word questions in ways that children understand.
• It may be difficult to gain full informed consent, because the nature of the research may be difficult to explain.
• Young people use language in different ways to adults, which makes appropriately constructed questions challenging.
• Young children may need more time than adults to understand questions.
• A young person's memory is less developed than an adults, so they may have difficulty recalling relevant material in detail.
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Vulnerability and Ethical Issues

• As a result of their limited power and ability, children are more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm than adults. Therefore, there are more ethical concerns when researching pupils.
• The sociologist should therefore first consider whether the participation of young people in the research is actually necessary and whether they stand to benefit from it.
• It is not enough simply to obtain the informed consent of parents or teachers. Most research guidelines emphasise that the young person too should be aware of what the research entails. However, it may be difficult to explain this to a child, and they may not yet be mature enough to decide whether to participate.
• Child protection issues are very important. For example, personal data should not be kept unless it is vital to the research.
• The researcher should also consider what form the participation will take and any stress that may result. For example, questioning young children for long periods of time would be considered inappropriate.
• The greater vulnerability of young people means that there are more ‘gatekeepers’ controlling access to pupils than there are for most other social groups. These include parents, heads, teachers, local authorities and schools’ boards of governors. Generally, the more gatekeepers who are involved, the more difficult it is likely to be to carry out sustained research.

Laws and Guidelines

• In addition, child protection laws such as the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, 2006, operate a vetting and barring scheme on adults working in schools, which requires researchers to have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. This may delay or prevent researchers from carrying out their research.
• As a result of ethical concerns, organisations such as Unicef, Barnardo’s and the National Children’s Bureau have developed special codes of practice for researching young people. These take the British Sociological Association’s ethical research guidelines even further in protecting the rights and autonomy of the children.
• Barnardo’s emphasises the core principle of informed consent. The statement stresses the need to resist any coercion or pressure upon children to participate in research, for example from teachers, parents or carers.
• Researchers should refer participants to relevant support services where appropriate, provide debriefing after participation, and explain the limits to confidentiality (for example where participants disclose abuse, researchers must explain that they cannot keep this secret but must report it).