Moral Development in Children - Essay Example

PRACTICAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RESEARCHING MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN Introduction One important aspect of research is ethical consideration. Ethical consideration ensures the researchers carry out their work in accordance to the set rules and regulation. Ethical framework in research can be described as a set of rules and regulations which protects the rights of subjects used in the research. The code of ethics in research ensures that it achieves its objective of not causing harm to the subject be bringing about positive change to the subject. The code of ethics must be followed regardless of whether one is using animal or human subjects. This is particularly important if one is using human subjects like children. Most children are not aware of their rights and hence can be subjected to unethical researches. It is for this reason that it has become important to ensure that strict ethical issues are put in place for those who carry out research on children. Ethical consideration is very important as it helps us to make a balance between the potential risks of the research in comparison to the potential benefits that are likely to come out of the research. Ethical issues are particularly important in this respect while one is dealing with the most vulnerable members of the society. In the research work we have a duty of protecting children as our subjects of study. It has been proved that researchers can carry out an effective research through taking into consideration the practical problem they are studying and how it affects the subjects of study and like wise putting into consideration the ethical consideration that one has to apply in the course of the study. (Christ, 2001) Ethical consideration in researching about children Research has been proved to be one of the best means in which we can study moral development of the child. Scholars have put forward cognitive and developmental psychology which can guide us in studying moral development in children. These theories try to put forward proposition which shows how the development in the brains of the child affects the moral development. Cognitive theories stresses that child development goes in stages developing. (Piaget and Inhelder, 1948) In carrying out moral development research in children, one can use different methods. However the method of choice must ensure that there will be minimal interference with the rights of the children. To ensure that we follow the ethical code, we must make sure that we choose a method that will allow us to respect the rights of the individual as much as possible. There are many research designs that can be used. One can use survey or experimental research designs. But experimental research design will require us to subject the children to some experiments which may at the end cause harm to them. Experimental design has a problem in studying children especially in strange situations since most of them are not accustomed to the researchers and are likely to change their behaviours which may alter the results of the study. This may lead to inaccurate results. In his case the research survey becomes the best method of choice. There are different survey methods that can be used in the study. In the survey one can use longitudinal designs where the researchers concentrate on studying one subject over a long time. This can be accurate since one can be able to correlate later development of the subject with earlier development and can easily not any change. One can also use cross sectional design where one compares different cohorts or groups of children with different ages and note the differences in their behaviours. These are some of the most effective methods which can be used for studying the developmental changes in a child. These two methods are usually accompanied by observations. The researcher might find it difficult to apply some data collection methods like interview since the child may not answer all questions appropriately. (Denin, 1999) Regardless of the research method of choice, the researcher must make sure that they observe the ethical research framework. The aim of the ethical framework is to ensure that it protects participants from mental and physical distress in the course of collecting data. The ethical framework lays down some important considerations that must be observed. In the course of the study the researcher must re-evaluate whether they are making the right kind of impact to the child. If the research is having a negative impact on the child, the researcher must find ways of dealing with the issue. In the study the researcher must reason how to carry out the study in line with the rights of the children. The design of the research should be such that it doesn't interfere with the rights of the child. This requires the use of adults as gatekeepers in the study. Researching with children requires the researcher to be very careful in the way they carry out the research to ensure that they get all the aspects of the moral development of the child in a way that does not interfere with the normal life of the child. (Light, 1999) Anonymity One of the most important aspect ethical considerations that one must keep into consideration is the anonymity of the researchers and the subject. Before carrying out the study the researcher must make known their identity not to the child but to the guardian of the child. Ethically in a research, it has been argued that it is better to 'compromise the research rather than compromise the participants'. (Price, 1996) It is ethically wrong to reveal the identity of the participants of the study. Individuals can only be displayed if they agree to do so. In this regard, since the researcher is dealing with children, they cannot give consent to be revealed as having been used as subjects of study. Hence the researcher must seek the consent of the parents in order to reveals the students as having being used in the study. According to the Official British education guidelines, the names of the subjects and descriptions that may make it for someone to identify the subjects easily should be concealed. Parents may have an issue with the anonymity of their children and hence the researcher must inform the parents that their children will not be revealed in the course of the study. (Perner, 2003) Seeking consent It is important for the researcher to seek the consent of the parent. It is ethically wrong for a researcher to involve a child in the research without the consent of the parent. The ethical issue here is that any subject used in the study must do so willingly and having being prior informed about the study. This means that there must consent from the guardian who will decide on behalf of child. Negotiating the consent is the first step before carrying out any study with the children. The researcher must inform the guardian who can either be the parent at home or a teacher in a school. Seeking the consent for the study involves informing the guardian about some aspect of the study which the researchers think may end up being contentious. This involves informing more about the aim and scope of the study. This will serve two purposes. One it will inform the guardian of the role the children and the guardian will be expected to play in the study for them to make decision if they will participate in the study or not. It will also serve the purpose of informing the guardian the aim of the study and the possible benefits they are supposed to draw from the study. This will help them make a decisions based on the how important they think the study is. The guardian will also assist the researcher in selecting the subjects of the study since they know the children well especially if one is using the school set up to get children for study. In the case of a school set up, teacher acts as gateway in accessing the parents. With the approach of the teacher, the parents are bound to accept the involvement of their children in the study owing to the trust they have on the teachers. The duty here lies with convincing teachers to seek the permission of the parent. (Hughes, 1997) After teachers link the researcher to the parent, the researcher should ensure that it ethically convinces the parents about the research. If the researcher wants to collect data about the moral development of the child from parental perspective, the parent will need to be involved in an interview. Likewise, the researcher must inform the parents about their involvement in the study and give them freedom to accept or decline. This takes a family approach into the study and the parent can as wee help the researcher in talking to their children about the study. This can help in getting the concerns of the children about the research. This will help the child get the consent of the child. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 12, the children have the right to express their view on matters that affects them. This will be a kind of legal consent on the side of the child. (Denis and Hart, 2001) It worth noting that, the involvement of parents and teachers in the study is very important. It will help in making the later consent depending on the reaction of the children from the study. Parents and teachers know the children well and can therefore not any adverse effect the study is having on the children. It might be difficult for the researcher to note adverse effects on the behaviour of the child since they are not used to the children. (Prosser, 2000) Confidentiality Researcher must protect the privacy of the participants and their anonymity. In this regard researchers must respect the confidentiality rights of the participant s of the study. Researchers should not intrude into the personal life of the subjects. This means that the researcher must not use the given information for any other purpose apart from the initial intention. The data collected must be used only for the purpose of studying the moral development of the child. In the course of the study the researcher will use different subject like parent, children and teachers to get the necessary data for the study. In some instances, the researcher will be forced to travel to homes if the study is a follow up study or even to get parents for interview. This means that the researcher will get into more personal life of these families. The researcher must respect the confidentiality of the study by assuring the parents and teachers that the information collected will only be used for the purpose of the study. The child cannot have problems with the confidentiality of the information. Hence their guardians must be involved in ensuring that this information will be kept as private as possible. (Simons and Usher, 2000) Although the researcher r is morally obliged to keep to the confidentiality requirement of the study, sometimes they may find it difficult. Hence it is ethically correct for the researcher to try as much as they can to control the direction the research is taking. The researcher must keep parents focused to the discussions of the study. The researcher must ensure that they keep to the details of the important information that is required fro the study. An earlier study about early child development and care by Rosie Flewitt, showed keeping the parents guided to the requirements of the study is important in order to help the researcher gather only the important information. In this research, Rosie used to switch off the recording instruments when she found that parents were not focused on the contents of the research. This ensured that she collected only the important information which helped her to divert from getting detailed information about the parents. (Davey, 2004) Involvement of the participant in data validation Sometimes in data collection researchers may make errors and hence collect the wrong information. It is not obvious that the designed tools will collect the required information. Hence it is necessary for the researcher to validate the data collected. Sometimes the researcher may collect information that they consider innocent but which may end up being misleading or betrayal to the participants. Hence it is necessary to involve the participant in the course of data validation. This is necessary in order to fight bias which often leads to inaccurate data collection. It is ethically good to involve the parents and teacher who have been sued as gateway in the study to help in validating the data collected. This way the researcher will be giving assurance to the guardians that the correct information was corrected about their children and also will help the researcher to have confidence on the validity of the data collected. In this research parents and teachers must be involved in the validation by actually checking on the collected data on the moral behaviour pattern of the children. In her study, Rosie, went back to the school with the recorded data and sat down with the teacher and children to validate the data. The children were allowed to watch the video clips while the teacher validated the interviews. The participants must be provided with copies of the collected data. (Price, 1999) Informing the participants about the outcomes of the study As was mentioned earlier, the researcher must give consent. This means that participants must be informed of the potential benefits they are likely to get from the study. In this regard, the researcher must come back to the participants and presents to them the findings of the study. This serves two main purposes. First it serves to inform the participants of the results of the study. Second it gives the participants a sense of ownership of the data. The participants have a right of being informed of the outcomes of the study and the dissemination of the same research. Participant must be provided with copies of the collected data and the results together with the necessary recommendations. (Anderson and Morrow, 2004) At the same time the researcher must come up with method of passing the same findings to the children. In this case the researchers should seek to give ways in which the children have excelled in their moral development and at the same time seek ways of informing the children how they can change in the development. The same message should be given to the parents and teachers as recommendations arising from the study. (Leslie, 1998) Conclusion We can use researcher to effective study about the moral development of the children. However in doing so, the researcher must keep to the ethical requirements that are necessary to ensure that the rights of the children are not interfered with. Since children are not aware of their rights the researcher must use the guardian to get consent to involve the children as subjects of study in the research. References Anderson, P. & Morrow, V. (2004): Ethics in Social Research with Children. Ilford: Banardos British Education Research Association (BERA) (2004): Research Guidelines. Retrieved from, http://www.bera.ac.uk/guidelines.html on 5th February 2008 Christ, L. (2001). Ethics in Research; London: Sage Davey, G. (2004). Complete Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Denin, K. (1999). Interpretive Biography; London: Sage Dennis, H. & Hart, C. (2001): Consent in Research. New York: Wiley Ethics in Psychological Research: Guidelines for students. Retrieved from, http://www.theatp.org/html on 5th February 2008 Hughes, M. (1997): Egocentricity in Children. London: Fontana Leslie, A. (1998). Child Research; Cambridge: University Press Light, T. (1999). Research Ethics in Psychology; Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 4(2): 98-90 Perner, J. (2003). Child's Mind; London: Routledge Piaget, J & Inhelder, B. (1948): The Child's Conception of Space. London: Routledge Price, J. (1996). Ethical Issues in Research; London: Sage Prosser, J. (2000). Moral or Image Ethics; London: Routledge Simons, H. & Usher, R. (2000): Ethics in education research. London: Routledge United Nations (1989): Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York. Read More