At two workshops the Children’s Ref

At two workshops the Children’s Reference Group worked with the research team to develop a
deeper understanding of how children might prefer to be consulted about sensitive issues and to
clarify the research question. At the first workshop children were asked how researchers might
make a child feel comfortable, how to make a space child friendly, and how adults might show
that they are listening to and respecting the views of children. They also provided strategies on
how we might respond if children became upset throughout the research process. From these
recommendations and from learning gleaned from the literature (see Noble-Carr, 2007) the
research team developed an interview schedule and other tools to engage children in the project.
At the second workshop children were asked for feedback on the use and choice of the proposed
research tools. This was achieved primarily by trialing the various games, discussions, and oneon-
one activities with the children before seeking feedback. At this workshop it soon became
apparent that some of the organized activities took longer and were more engaging than others
and that it was important to intersperse fun activities among the more “serious” discussions to
maximize children’s attention and enjoyment.
After we had modified the interview design, children were interviewed by one of the researchers.
Some days later, they were then contacted by another member of the team and were asked about
how the interview had been conducted, the effectiveness and “child-friendliness” of the tools, and
the personal style of the interviewer. From these conversations changes were made.
When gathering feedback from the younger children, one researcher used a “Cheezel scale” to
help children talk about their experience. She placed five Cheezels (ring-shaped cheese snacks)
on her fingers and asked the children to score each section of the interview out of 5 in relation to
its child-friendliness, the extent to which it was fun, and whether the researcher listened and
understood their answers. Although the children could eat the snacks if they removed them from
her fingers, they generally ranked the sections highly before explaining their decision. They
reported that this was a fun way of giving feedback. From this advice, tools were then modified
before being used with other children.