title: Participation in perspective: reflections from research projects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper seeks to add to the debate regarding children as researchers by exploring the reality of their participation in research.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  As the role children and young people play in knowledge building is recognised, their position as social agents is evolving. This has led to a shift in the ways in which children and young people participate in research, and in particular in their roles as researchers alongside adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two participatory research projects involving children and young people.
  
  
  METHODS
  The paper critiques existing models of children's participation and is followed by an account of observations made during the research projects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Existing models offered a variety of criteria against which to measure participation. However, none of the models allowed for the multidimensional nature of participation that emerged from the data to be fully described.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A dual-axis model of participation is more useful than the other models described in the text for reflecting on participatory processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The model can be valuable in guide planning and implementing participatory research with children and also as a tool for evaluating the process.
authors.affiliation: Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. tina.moules@anglia.ac.uk
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moules
authors.forename: Niamh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D016294:Models, Nursing; D015399:Nursing Research; D006113:United Kingdom