Ethical Research Involving Children

From extractivist practices and the child-as-data to an ethics of reciprocity and mutuality in empirical childhood research.

Spyrou, S. (2023). From extractivist practices and the child-as-data to an ethics of reciprocity and mutuality in empirical childhood research. Childhood, Published Online Ahead of Print.

“The increased datafication of childhood is quite evident. And so is a vision of the child-as-data—as a reservoir of information, an extractable resource for commercial and other use—in today’s hyper-technologized world where no aspect of life seems to be able to defy such use. What might not be as readily evident is how research—including the kind of empirical social research we engage with in childhood studies—is also to a significant extent implicated in extractive practices of knowledge production” (extract from p1). In this editorial, Spyrou raises and explores data extractivism as a matter of concern for childhood researchers, touching on relationality, co-research and co-production of knowledge with children, decolonising approaches and Indigenous, collaborative methodologies.

This Open Access editorial is freely available to read and download via the Publisher’s Link below.