Child-centred research with ethnic minority populations: Methodological, ethical and practical challenges

Ireland is increasingly becoming a multicultural society. The key demographic event in the country over the past decade has been immigration. This paper explores methodological, ethical and practical issues in conducting research with ethnic minority children and their families. Child-centred research needs to be sensitive to how the political and legal context frames opportunities for children's social, political and economic integration. Irish immigration policy is briefly examined, including the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill (2004). The paper draws on experiences in child-centred research with children and adolescents in Africa and Ireland to explore the researcher-child/family relationship, culture and socio-historic experiences in child-centred research, and relations of power. It examines practical issues in research such as working through interpreters. Following Ball (2005), it argues that child-centred research with ethnic minority communities in Ireland needs to explore how to strengthen the capacity of communities to achieve self-identified research goals and outcomes for their children.