Parental Consent

• Parents must give consent in any study on children.Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images
  
  Anyone under 18 is considered a minor and must have parental consent to be part of any study. While parents do not need to be informed about every aspect of the study (this could bias the results, as the parents might inform the children), parents must be told the potential ramifications and effects of the study and given plenty of time to ask questions and fully understand what the parents are giving consent on. Any attempt to circumvent this rule is a serious ethical breach.
  
  

Multiple Adults Present

• Having multiple adults present decreases the possibility of ethical breaches.Michael Blann/Lifesize/Getty Images
  
  In general, multiple adults should be present for all parts of a study to ensure that no abuse or misconduct is taking place. Multiple adults present ensures that they are watching each other and not allowing for any potential ethical breaches. These adults can be multiple researchers, or, when allowed within the confines of an experiment, the parents of the children. If, for some reason, multiple adults cannot be present it is acceptable to film the research (with consent from the parents) instead.
  
  

Voluntary Withdrawal

• KIds should be informed and empowered to withdraw from the study.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Children involved in any study must be informed of the right to voluntarily withdraw from the study at any point of the study. Ethically, the researcher should explain this clearly, and repeat it multiple times to ensure the child fully understands this and feels comfortable withdrawing if he desires to do so, without any fear or negative feedback on the part of the researchers.
  
  

Anonymized Data

• When a child is studied, her individual data must remain anonymous and not be connected or linked with her identity. Anything else is a major breach of ethics. Parents have the right to be informed about the data from the research, and this is often done between researchers and parents, but no one else should be able to link a particular child to any data in a study that uses children.