ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the ethics of doing research about young children’s offline and online digital literacy practices. It looks to three places to understand the complexity of factors that bring to bear on research ethics in this field: to the past, present and imagined future of digital technologies in social life and in social research. It briefly revisits the genealogy of universal research ethics codes and reflects on their usefulness when planning, carrying out and disseminating research about young children’s digital practices, focusing on the familiar concepts of voluntary informed consent, confidentiality, privacy and anonymity, potential benefits and harm, and research integrity and quality. The chapter problematizes the growing influence of institutional research ethics governance on research practice and proposes a reflective, situated and dialogic ethics framework to guide future development in this field.
