Can't talk, won't talk?: Methodological issues in researching children

In this paper we explore some current issues in, what has come to be called , the new sociology of childhood and how these relate to the process of res earching children's lives in general, and to our own research in particular . We discuss the developmental model of childhood, before going on to explo re ideas about children as, on the one hand, inhabiting a relatively autono mous realm and, on the other as part of the same social world as adults but with different sets of competencies. The implications of these differing p ositions for researching children will be assessed prior to a discussion of the design of our current research, on children and risk, and the wider im plications of our reflections on the research process.