Understanding Research with Children and Young People (Published in association with The Open University)

How do views about children shape research concerned with their lives? What different forms can research with children take? What ethical issues does it involve? How does it impact on policy and practice, and on the lives of children themselves?

This book helps you to understand how research is designed and carried out to explore questions about the lives of children and young people. It tackles the methodological, practical and ethical challenges involved, and features examples of actual research that illustrate:

• Different strategies for carrying out research
• Common challenges that arise in the research process
• Varying modes of engagement that researchers can adopt with participants and audiences; and
• The impact that research can have on future studies, policy and practice.

Martyn Hammersley is an emeritus professor of educational and social research at The Open University, UK. He has carried out research in the sociology of education and the sociology of the media. However, much of his work has been concerned with the methodological issues surrounding social enquiry. He has written several books including (with Paul Atkinson) Ethnography: Principles in Practice (fourth edition, Routledge, 2019), The Dilemma of Qualitative Method (Routledge, 1989), The Politics of Social Research (SAGE, 1995), Reading Ethnographic Research (second edition, Longman, 1997), Taking Sides in Social Research (Routledge, 2000), Educational Research, Policymaking and Practice, (London, Paul Chapman/SAGE, 2002), Questioning Qualitative Inquiry (SAGE, 2008), Methodology Who Needs It? (SAGE, 2011), The Myth of Research-Based Policy and Practice (SAGE, 2013), The Limits of Social Science (SAGE, 2014), and The Concept of Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Website: http://martynhammersley.wordpress.com/

Martin Robb is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at The Open University. He is co-editor of Relating Experience: stories from health and social care (Routledge, 2005); Communication, Relationships and Care (Routledge, 2004); and Understanding Health and Social Care (SAGE, 1998), and has published articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics, with a recent focus on issues of fatherhood, masculinity and childcare. Before joining the OU he worked in informal and community education projects with adults and young people.