Surveying Adolescents: Ethical Issues and Regulatory Requirements
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.1.2324Keywords:
teen survey, research involving children, questioning children, vulnerable group survey, ethics of social research, legal regulation, childhood studies, sociology of childhood, informed consentAbstract
Over the past 30 years, the number of studies involving children and adolescents as participants has increased rapidly. It can mostly be explained by the increased attention to the protection of children's rights, which in turn requires various forms of monitoring and analysis of children's well-being (including statistical data) not only from the perspective of adults, but also from the perspective of the children themselves. Today, the global trend is the inclusion of the children’s voices in the social policy of the state and in national or international indices and ratings. This is often done through a survey, and such surveys are governed by various national regulations, as well as more universal codes of ethics and protocols.
The article regards the Russian features of the legal regulation of adolescents' participation in surveys. These features are largely defined as a search for a compromise between the child's right to be heard and the protection of his/her interests, on the one hand, and non-interference in the private life of the family, on the other. The authors also examine in detail four ethical issues that researchers face when conducting surveys among adolescents. The first of these is the age of independent decision-making about participating in research, and this problem is placed in the broader context of the principle of informed consent to participate in sociological research. The second issue is the matter of the adolescent's safety and the absence of direct or indirect harm. The third issue is related to the choice of the survey method. Finally, the fourth issue relates to the benefits of participating in the survey for the adolescent and the focus on positive change.
Acknowledgements. The article was prepared in accordance with the state assignment for the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
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