Babies in research- would you?

[Bella13]

Hi all,

I am just posting because I am interested in doing my university dissertation on how infants see the world and am struggling with recruitment.

The research is non-invasive and simply involves filming the babies on a little camera to see what they look at but the minute I say "research" people worry.

What do you think is the best way to approach this? Would you feel comfortable allowing your baby to take part and why or why not?

There are many baby labs across the UK and recruitment is difficult for all of them (I can give you their names if you are interested) and they are all looking at topics that will improve our understanding of the way babies learn and develop. I just want to find a way to reach mums/ dads to explain the benefits of the research and put their minds at ease.

Hope you can help!

[notcitrus]

Forgot to say ds did get to be in a flu jab trial as a baby, which I would expect to be a lot harder to recruit for. I was only comfortable with it thanks to knowing a lot about flu as used to work next to the lab doing 1918 flu research, and with colleagues who were experts in vaccines and their usual effects. And they offered follow-up health checks on my pfb for a year.

He had no side effects whatsoever, which made completing my paperwork a bit boring - measure the mark where the needle went in - invisible by day 2!

For undergrad stuff it would depend on the exact activity and the benefits to me - dd getting to play with some new toys, fine, get wired up or jabbed, less so. Me getting free trip to London and nice biscuits, deciding factor (compare how TV shows always have people from NI and rural areas overrepresented, as they are up for the free travel. Though my friends regretted getting Kilroy to pay their travel from Edinburgh to London)

[DoJo]

My son was in a study when he was about 2 days old and we were still in hospital, and has been in two psychological studies since then, once for a DVD of him undergoing the test and once for nowt. I take part in training/studies wherever I can too and I like the idea that we're contributing to the furthering of our understanding of the world.