Reframing payment practices for co-research for children and young people

Children and young people are increasingly involved in social science research as co-researchers. In such roles they can take on a range of responsibilities from developing research questions and methods, to undertaking fieldwork and analysis, to knowledge exchange. As co-research with children and young people becomes more common, significant ethical concerns have arisen about how to pay them fairly for their involvement. Yet, there is no consensus about what constitutes ethical practice. The limited literature primarily originates from a health context, concentrates on the ‘Global North’ rather than the ‘Global South’, and focuses on children and young people as research participants rather than as co-researchers. Based on our experience from the International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership, which involves research teams of children, young people and adults from both the ‘Global South’ and ‘Global North’, this article critically assesses the rationales for different types of payment, following the well-rehearsed typology of reimbursement, compensation, appreciation, and incentives. Our critical assessment surfaces questions about the intergenerational positioning of children and young people, the commodification of their involvement in co-research, and the balancing of individual and collective social norms in different contexts. The article proposes a framework of reciprocity for respectfully acknowledging children and young people’s involvement. It removes the categories of compensation and appreciation and creates two new categories of recognition and resource exchange. Furthermore, it narrows the category of incentives to equity incentives. Reimbursement is expected but, as such payments are not based on principles of reciprocity, it is not included in the framework itself. Unlike existing typologies, this newly developed framework is specifically intended for co-research in the social sciences with children and young people, and is aligned with the social justice aspirations of co-research.