A special panel on Sept. 23, titled “Recruitment and Reciprocity in Child-Centred Research,” will explore a variety of unique research projects focusing on children and youth.
Organized by Assistant Professor Abigail Shabtay and Assistant Professor Anu Sriskandarajah of the Children, Childhood & Youth (CCY) program (Department of Humanities, York University), the panel includes six professors who will discuss some of the key practical and ethical considerations involved in the recruitment processes for child-centred studies.
It takes place at 10:30 a.m. in the Renaissance Room, 001 Vanier College.
Participating in the panel are: Srikandarajah and Abigail Shabtay; Rachel Berman (School of Early Childhood Studies, Ryerson University); Natalie Coulter (Department of Communication Studies, York University); and Gail Prasad and Lucy Angus (Faculty of Education, York University).
The CCY program has a strong focus on research with children and young people – research that engages children and youth as active participants in the knowledge construction process. A cornerstone of the program is a fourth-year honours research project in which majors conduct their own research projects with child and youth participants. This panel will give students in the York community a better understanding of the practical and ethical considerations involved in this process.
“Conducting research with children and youth is fraught with unique ethical issues,” said Sriskandarajah. “To address some of the key concerns that accompany such research, we have put together this amazing panel to allow students to understand key ethical implications in practice. We aim, through this discussion, to illustrate the importance of reciprocity within the research process whereby reciprocity should be seen as a guiding principle from the onset of the project – from design, to recruitment, to the dissemination of the research.”
Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to attend, as well as researchers interested in conducting research with children and youth.
“Numerous undergraduate and graduate students across the University begin designing their child-focused research projects this September,” said Shabtay. “With this panel, we hope to provide students with the tools and resources to engage in ethical approaches to research with children, seeing children as active participants in the research process, and giving students practical tools to help with their research project design.”