Conducting research with children and young people
Some key points
- Always get parental consent for interviewing children.
- No study can ask a child to do something illegal for their age group.
- The language on the questionnaire must be suitable for the age group.
Find out more
Conducting research with children and young people (PDF 85KB, PDF
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(Word format, 195KB)
Published March 2006
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Consultation
The MRS Market Research Standards Board (MRSB) is currently reviewing its rules on interviewing children and young people. Before taking a view on amending the Code, MRSB would like to gather information about research currently conducted with children. You can download our short questionnaire below. It may be the case that your organisation does not record all of the information requested, but estimates or other insight regarding this issue would be invaluable for our review. Please can you assist this by returning your organisation’s response by post or to codeline@mrs.org.uk by 1 February 2008.
Frequently Asked Questions
 At what
age is parental permission needed?
 It is possible
to interview 14 and 15 year olds on the street or in a public place without parental permission.
However, a Thank You Leaflet or letter stating
what has taken place, why and by whom must be handed to the child to pass onto their
parents. For any other type of research the Code states that permission needs to be sought
for all those under the age of 16 and it is recommended for 16 and 17 year
olds.
See: MRS Code of Conduct: Rules B26 to B33
How
do I get permission when a child is completing a survey online?
Online surveys
still require permission to be sought to continue with a survey. This
can be obtained by inserting an age screener before moving on to the
questionnaire section. If a respondent is underage then you can ask
them for parental contact details to call to ask for permission to
continue. An identification code number can then be given to the parent
for the child to enter on the screen in order to continue. This should
not be done via email as personal identification is impossible.
See: MRS Code of Conduct: Rule B31
I don't
want to get parental permission as it may bias the answers given by
a child. Can I do this?
You must always
get parental permission to interview a child. However, there are certain
circumstances when permission may cause potential harm to the child
due to the sensitivity of the research topic. A consent waiver may be obtained but only with explicit prior approval from the MRS Market Research Standards Board.
See: MRS Code of Conduct: Rule B27 and comment
I
have discovered during an interview that a child is in danger of abuse.
What can I do?
Market research
is not above the law. The advice given in these circumstances is to
discuss the matter with a supervisor (to ensure no misunderstandings)
and if there is evidence, to report the matter to the relevant authorities.
Are there any guidelines on the research and development for communications
technology for children?
Yes there
are. The European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) has produced
some guidelines for the design of ICT products for children. There
are a number of issues which have been raised by this body including
the fact that pre-teens’ needs are not the same as teenagers,
Anne Clarke the ETSI project co-ordinator commented that “we
cannot allow young children unsupervised access to telecommunications
products and services which are designed primarily for responsible
adults” mainly because children under 12 do not have the manual,
physical, emotional or psychological skills of adults or older teenagers.
For more information on the ‘Guidelines for the design and deployment
of ICT products and services used by children’ please go to http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/HF/STF266.asp.
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