Ethics as Epistemology: Rethinking Research on Children and Families through Care, Reflexivity, and Relational...

Area of Science:

• Human sciences research
• Cultural psychology
• Child and family studies

Background:

• Research with children and families is influenced by assumptions, methods, and ethics.
• These factors shape how human lives are understood and represented.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the ethical and epistemological underpinnings of research practice.
• To propose four commitments for human science research: epistemic ethics, care, emergent methodology, and reflexivity.

Main Methods:

• Empirical research with street-dwelling Pamaria families in India.
• Classroom-based research with children in government schools.
• Ethnographic study of Agariya salt-pan workers' seasonal life worlds.

Main Results:

• Research is a relational, interpretive, and ethically charged encounter, not neutral data collection.
• Four commitments (epistemic ethics, care, emergent methodology, reflexivity) reframe research as situated co-presence and meaning-making.

Conclusions:

• Foregrounding relational ethics, care, and epistemic responsibility is critical for diverse global settings.
• This approach contributes to understanding knowledge production about children and families in cultural psychology.