Navigating Ethical Challenges: A Cultural Reflexivity Approach to Research with Children in China

Internationally, dominant paradigms and principles governing children's rights and ethical research practices with children have come under scrutiny due to their inherent Western-centric nature. These paradigms and principles are often informed by and aligned with white, middle-class childhood experiences. Increasing scholarship in the field has pointed out the ethical challenges and dilemmas in non-Western societies when conducting research with children under the guidance of Western ethical frameworks, criticising the fact that such frameworks fail to account for locally- and culturally-sensitive contexts or the diversity and complexity of childhoods.

In China, an emerging awareness of the importance of research with children (rather than on children) has brought these ethical challenges and dilemmas to light; however, there are no national-level ethical guidelines for research with children in that country. Empirical research that includes children in Chinese literature often lacks comprehensive elucidation of or reflection on ethical considerations. Furthermore, literature concerning research ethics with children in China remains at a theoretical level, predominantly drawing from frameworks originating in the Global North.

To decolonise ethical frameworks for the Chinese context, in 2022-2023, as an international team comprised of researchers from UK universities and Chinese universities, we conducted six international webinars and six focus groups with 30 participants, including researchers, practitioners, and professionals who have diverse experiences working with children in China. We also conducted a scoping review of 20 carefully selected Chinese and English articles about research ethics in research with children in China. In this presentation, we would like to reflect on what we have learned about the ethical challenges in research with children in China from our previous work and to indicate a series of reflexive questions with underpinning principles so that researchers and practitioners can use them to critically consider their own research in Chinese context.