Power Relations in Research

Issues pertaining to differentials in power undergird relationships in any research project but research with children brings power relations into especially strong purview. Underpinning any examination of this topic is the status of children and conceptualisations of childhood, which form a brief initial discussion in this entry. In what follows, more detailed coverage is given to the ways in which power relations permeate every stage of a research project and are inextricably embedded in the context in which research is undertaken.

Shifting Concepts of Childhood

Much research with children is undertaken in contexts where children are assigned a marginal status when compared with adults. While there are of course differences between children (especially very young children) and adults in terms of biological maturity, the historical and sociocultural ...

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