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Journal of Child Health Care
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Using participant observation in pediatric health care settings: ethical challenges and solutions

Franco A. Carnevale, RN, PhD

School of Nursing and Faculty of Medicine, franco.carnevale{at}mcgill.ca

Mary Ellen Macdonald, PhD

Oncology, School of Nursing, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Anthropology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Myra Bluebond-Langner, PhD

Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, USA

Patricia McKeever, PhD

Bloorview Research Institute, Bloorview Kids Rehab

Participant observation strategies may be particularly effective for research involving children and their families in health care settings. These techniques, commonly used in ethnography and grounded theory, can elicit data and foster insights more readily than other research approaches, such as structured interviews or quantitative methods. This article outlines recommendations for the ethical conduct of participant observation in pediatric health care settings. This involves a brief overview of the significant contributions that participant observation can bring to our understanding of children and families in health care settings; an examination of the elements of participant observation that are necessary conditions for its effective conduct; an outline of contemporary ethical norms in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States for research in pediatric health care settings; and a discussion of how participant observation research should be operationalized in order to comply with these norms.

Key Words: children • families • participant observation • qualitative research • research ethics

Journal of Child Health Care, Vol. 12, No. 1, 18-32 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1367493507085616
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