From Rhetoric to Grammar in Research with Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The recognition of children and adolescents as rights subjects generated multiple changes in research with children and adolescents since the end of the 20th century. The right to listen and to participate in the issues that concern them, became guiding principles of the research works conducted under the paradigm of protection of children's rights. However, although there are many research works that are enunciated under these principles, obstacles are observed in translating them into methodological decisions that allow guaranteeing the participation of girls, boys and adolescents in social research processes. In this framework, the objective of analyzing the methodological devices aimed at guaranteeing the participation of children and adolescents is proposed from an expanded multiple case study, where three research processes with children and adolescents without parental care were selected. Among the results, three central analytical devices were identified to understand the modalities of child and adolescent participation in research: informed consent, decisions about techniques, and interpretation of the data that allowed us to shift from the focus to rhetoric about the participation of girls, boys and adolescents to grammar, that is, to the forms of registration of participation in the research process.