2.6 Children
Researchers must take special care when carrying out research among children and young people. All
reasonable measures should be taken to ensure that verifiable and explicit permission is obtained from a
parent or legal guardian (hereafter referred to as ‘parent’) to invite a child to participate in research, or to
install an app on their mobile phone, although it is recognised that the identification of children and young
people sometimes is not possible with certainty.
Researchers must observe all relevant laws and national codes specifically relating to children and young
people noting that the age definition for children varies from country to country. Where there is no specific
national definition, those aged under 14 should be treated as “children” and those aged 14-17 as “young
people.” These age ranges generally recognise the different stages of mental and psychological
development.
When first contacting a potential participant whom one might reasonably expect to be a child, researchers
must ask for the person’s age before any other personal data. If the age given is below the nationally
agreed upon definition of a child, the child must not be invited to provide further personal data until the
appropriate permission has been obtained. The researcher may ask the child to provide their parent’s
contact details so that permission can be sought. The request to the parent must include all relevant
information about the research as detailed in Section 2.3 above.
Where personal data collected from children will only be used for research purposes and no personal data
will be passed on for any other purpose, permission can be a return email from the parent or other suitable
method that is in compliance with the relevant laws and national codes.
Prior parental permission is not required to:
• Collect a child’s or parent’s email address solely to provide notice of data collection and request
permission or
• collect a child’s age for screening and exclusion purposes. If this screening leads to the decision that
a child does qualify for interview, parental permission must then be sought to continue with the
interview.
In ensuring that all reasonable precautions are taken to ensure respondents are not adversely affected as a
result of participating in a research project, asking children and young people questions on topics generally
regarded as sensitive must be avoided wherever possible and in all cases handled with extreme care.
Researchers should consult the ESOMAR Guideline on Interviewing Children and Young People for more
details.