Participatory ethics in rights-based research with diadvantaged children in Ethiopia

The paradigm shift that took place in childhood studies during the 1990s and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) both view children as knowledgeable subjects rather than mere objects of research, and both acknowledge their right to be properly researched (Beazely et al. 2009). Drawing on participatory research with AIDS-affected children, this paper first focuses on multiple methods of eliciting children’s perspectives of their working and spatial lives in rural and urban Ethiopia. Second, it interrogates the role and limitations of ‘global’ ethical standards in childhood research and the ways in which it affect a) the level of children’s involvement in the research process, b) generation of knowledge about the field and c) negotiation of ethics in collaborative ways. In doing so, the paper highlights the methodological, ethical and practical dilemmas of rights-based research, arguing that research with children is a morally contested terrain that requires grounding universal (Western) ethics in local ethos of children and childhood. I conclude that dialogue with research participants about the choice and use of methods and a comprehensive ethical strategy can contribute to the development of better, more reflexive research which may ensure respect for and protection of the rights of children in the research process.