ABSTRACT

This chapter takes as its theme the idea that the methods used in childhood research reflect a set of implicit models of ‘the child’ and that, in order to carry out informed and ethically sound research with children, we should be attentive to the nature of this relationship. It is not, however, my intention here to prescribe particular methods for studying children, nor to detail their application, for in my view studying children does not, of itself, necessitate the development of new or exotic techniques. Children are in this sense nothing special. But the way we as researchers approach childhood study does need some thinking about in order to lay bare the implicit ideas about children, childhood and children's social lives which we, as researchers, bring to our studies.