(Un-)Protocoling post-qualitative childhood research: a novice researcher

The binary opposition between childhood developmentalism and the sociology of childhood is unproductive due to childhood research's uncritical adoption of childhood concepts of 'agency', and 'ethics', with minimal relational consideration of children and childhood socio-materialities. Popular childhood methods warrant critical discussions about their underlying assumptions of 'children's voices', how researchers consider 'data'. In light of innovative childhood methodologies, it raises the question for researchers of how to ethically engage with young children in both study design and dynamic fieldwork practices. This work attends to these layered epistemological-pragmatic debates through the example of an encounter between a 5-year-old child and a novice researcher during which death and dying are discussed. By closely examining the developments in theoretical conceptualisation, research protocol(s) design, and fieldwork experiences, this work highlights that childhood research is always becoming, thus requiring researchers to be able to both 'protocol' and 'un-protocol'. Juxtaposing the dynamic 'important ethical moments' and procedural ethics guidelines through new materialist and affective lenses, this work argues that materiality and response-ability are key in understanding children's agency, childhood ethics, and the assemblage composed of children, researcher, and childhood socio-materialities in childhood research.