Accessing a hard to reach population: reflections on research with young carers in Ireland Danielle Kennan*, Allyn Fives† and John Canavan‡ *Researcher, †Postdoctoral Researcher, and ‡Lecturer and Associate Director, Child and Family Research Centre, School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland ABSTRACT In keeping with developments in children’s rights, research is increas- ingly including the views of children. Accessing a hard to reach population of children can, however, raise significant ethical and methodological challenges for researchers. Negotiating access through gatekeepers, securing parental consent and limits on confi- dentiality are central issues in the recruitment process of children. This paper is based on a qualitative study of young carers in the Irish population. It outlines the methodological approaches employed to access a representative sample of young carers and the measures taken to fulfil ethical obligations. In the recruitment phase of the study, researchers attempted to strike a balance between two some- times competing requirements, the need to protect children from harm and to respect children’s competence. This paper reflects on the success and limitations of the approaches adopted towards achieving this balance, exploring the use of gatekeepers as a method to identify and recruit a hidden population, and revisiting the measures taken to comply with the ethical requirements of parental consent and limits on confidentiality. Correspondence: Danielle Kennan, The Child and Family Research Centre, School of Political Science and Sociology, The Science and Engineering Technology Building, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland E-mail: danielle.kennan@nuigalway.ie Keywords: access, ethics, gatekeepers, hard to reach, participation, young carers Accepted for publication: April 2011 INTRODUCTION An emerging respect for the agency of children has resulted in a notable effort to include children as active participants, as opposed to passive subjects of research. This approach involves a commitment to respect the competence of children, both the compe- tence to ‘make decisions about whether to participate in research’ and also the competence ‘to provide valid sociological data’ (Morrow & Richards 1996, p. 98). Adopting a participatory approach to research respects a child’s right to express their views in all matters affecting them as provided in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC). Twenty-one years have now passed since the adoption of the UN CRC, and its almost universal ratification underscores the international acceptance of its principles. The general acceptance of children’s agency in international law is reflected in develop- ments in social science. The ‘new’ sociology of child- hood conceptualizes children as social actors and has equally been identified as a contributing factor to the increasing focus on children’s agency in research (Mason & Hood 2011). In keeping with these developments a strong argu- ment can be made that research, which is directly relevant to the lives of children, should seek to capture the views of those children. Not only does this approach respect the right of children to have their views heard in matters affecting them, but also the participation of children can shed light on the reality of their lives and thereby better inform the develop- ment of legislation, policies and services. However, to be inclusive in this way is a key challenge for research- ers (Masson 2004, p. 45). As noted by Masson, researchers cannot only include children who can be ‘readily contacted and are articulate’ (ibid). Efforts must also be made to recruit hard to reach doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2011.00778.x 1 Child and Family Social Work 2011 © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd