So you’re literally taking the piss?! Critically analysing and accounting for ethics (and risk) in interdisciplinary research on children and plastics

ABSTRACT

Whilst interdisciplinarity has been an integral part of childhood studies, it is less common for social scientists and natural scientists to collaborate in this space – and especially with scholars like environmental (nano)scientists. This paper draws on vignettes from a project about children and plastics, which combined a range of qualitative, artistic and biosampling methods. Focusing on these methodological intersections, the paper critically reflects on a range of ethical issues, including institutional ethical approval, health and risk assessments, informed consent, and data analysis. Its principal contribution is to outline significant ethical issues rarely (if ever) considered by childhood studies scholars, anticipating that doing so might support others (including those beyond childhood studies) wishing to engage in similar kinds of interdisciplinary research, especially in response to complex, pressing, socio-environmental challenges facing children. The paper’s second contribution is to offer a more systematic set of ethical considerations for burgeoning new-materialist, posthuman and post-qualitative approaches to childhood studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Interdisciplinary research ethics
• environmental science
• new materialist and posthumanist childhood studies
• qualitative methods
• health and safety

Acknowledgments

The research on which this paper is based was funded by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (grant reference 2018–211; title ‘Plastic Childhoods’), awarded to Peter Kraftl. Peter and the other authors would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for their financial support for the project. They would also like to thank the school, and particularly the students who took part so enthusiastically in the research, as well as the environmental scientists and colleagues within the ethics and health & safety committees who contributed to the development of the research and its protocols.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Rendering samples acellular means treating them in some way to remove or damage cells, such that the samples do not fall under the category of ‘relevant material’ according to the Human Tissue Act.

2 As noted in the methodology section, the biosampling enabled us to test for a range of elements (mainly metals), alongside signatures of plastics such as additives.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Leverhulme Trust: [Grant Number RF-2018-211].