ABSTRACT
This chapter describes specific challenges faced when doing international public policy research with children and adolescents, and provides solutions to these challenges. It discusses the international public policy research project by the current authors in multiple countries (Belgium, China, France, Poland, the UK, and the US). The chapter presents a time-line of challenges faced by international research teams working with children. The first challenge is to gain ethical approval from different institutions across the world. Second, an internationally comparable sample frame must be drawn up. Third, sampling equivalence must be established. Fourth, data collection must be standardized and, fifth and finally, the methodological challenges of working across cultures must be addressed. The first challenge when conducting international projects involving children and adolescents is the difference both between and within countries with respect to gaining permission from University Ethics Committees. This process is often referred to as the "ethics approval process".
