Ethics in Researching Young Children's Play in Preschool

This chapter discusses what considerations a researcher must do in the research of young children's play in preschool when she is using video. In using video technology, several researchers have described how their activities are technically, analytically, and interpretively done, but there is a lack of understanding methodological reflections and knowledge of guidelines in research of the topic. Researchers can get permission from parents and pedagogues to film children, but how can a researcher get an informed permission from the children? And how can a researcher detect if a child feel uncomfortable in the situation? How does the researcher know if a child wants to withdraw from the research? The permission has to be negotiated in relation to the specific child and in the specific situation. Examples from a study of children's physical activities in sprots preschool are applied to illustrate the ethical and methodological reflections. And the researcher on behalf of her research makes guidelines for how to deal with ethics and children in research.