Dear Sarah, 

perhaps these papers help you:

Article Use of restraint for the management of challenging behaviour...

Article ‘A Chance to Say’Involving children who have learning disabi...

Article Ethical and Empirical Considerations in the Identification o...

Dear Sarah

A major problem is that different learning disabilities manifest in different modes of understanding - some in reading, others in language processing and yet others in listening [ and so on...], so how do we understand that a single survey technique can be used in all.. I feel that this may be a barrier if you are thinking of more than one learning disabilities.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19120568

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25422596

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25414095

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25091003

Dear Sarah

In our college those doing research were not permitted to interview children due to the high level of ethical issues surrounding the exercise both for the researcher and the child. The risk of one having an accusation made about inappropriate behaviour along with the ability of the individual to answer the questions posed also would make it difficult. Their is also the capacity of the individual to consent to being interviewed and their ability to understand what you are hoping to achieve would make this a difficult although not an impossible area to research. Depending on the result you hope to achieve you might be able to do observational studies within the learning environment of the group you are researching. If they are able to vocalise the violence experienced then their is also the added risk of re traumatisation if one of those interviewed has had a personal experience of violence. Also as one of the previous persons answered the capacity to read, listen and understand the questions would vary considerably between the different disabilities so how you chose to formulate your questions would be dependant on the capacity to understand what it is you are asking. Your ability then to understand the answers you get will mean you would need to be able to decide if the person is giving you an honest answer or just telling you what they think you want to hear. The questions would need to be worded in such a way that the individual would be lead through lack of understanding to give you they answer they think you want to hear. I would recommend that you research prior material based around researching disabled children but you will also need to remember the same ethical issues that apply to disabled children also apply to able bodied children whose understanding may be even sharper again the questions cannot be of a leading nature as this will taint the nature of the research work and damage the findings which if you are successful could prove very valuable within the realms of social care.

In South Africa parental consent is regarded as obligatory if the participant is younger than 18 years of age. However, if the data collected will not be sensitive in nature, and an ethics review board agrees, parental consent may be waivered - but this is the exception rather than the rule. Then, assent, as David pointed out. Naturally informed consent should be presented at a level where the child can understand, which may be challenging given the mentioned learning disability.

The fact that your study will focus on violence against children means you working with a particularly vulnerable population. Thus, ethics ought to receive particular attention. The question I would ask is 'how will this research serve my population?' It happens so often that studies is of disproportionate benefit to researchers versus participants. The benefits would have to outweigh the potential costs/risks by a substantial margin.

Regarding literature, naturally the Declaration of Helsinki would be of value. The following may also be relevant:

* RACHELS J. & RACHELS S. 2007. The elements of moral philosophy. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

* The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: Background, principles and application, 2009, (Eds.) Ten Have, H.A.M.J. & Jean, M.S., UNESCO: Paris.

Best of luck with the study!

Many many thanks to all of you for your insights and suggested further readings!  This is certainly going to help as we refine the survey instrument and prepare for ethical clearance with the ethics board.

Hi Sarah, you may find the Ethical Research Involving Children (ERIC) website of use: http://childethics.com/. There are lots of resources available on there that may be of assistance. Best wishes with your study!

http://childethics.com/