Subjects call researchers 'Mom'

Many students participate in research studies to earn money or course credit. Others simply help out their parents.

Child development researchers often study their surroundings - including their own children - in their work,

Communication professor Deborah Linebarger was featured in The New York Times when she involved three of her four children in her child development studies.

Her children were either "real" subjects (counted in data collected) or pilot subjects (observed to develop better test methods), Linebarger explained in an e-mail. Her 11-year-old daughter was both a real subject in a study of language growth over time and a pilot subject in a language development study with toys.

John Trueswell, director of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, said he usually used his children as pilot subjects. "When they were younger and I was doing language acquisition studies, I would try out the sort of sentences I was using in the study," he said.

The study of their own children may stem from difficulty finding participants. But doing so out of convenience is not wise because it may create bias, Trueswell warned.

But the role of the child as a pilot subject is often inevitable, according to Psychology professor Daniel Swingley. Parents who study child development naturally observe their own children in everyday life, he said.

Linebarger said the practice is almost tradition, referencing the "father of developmental psychology," Jean Piaget, who based theories on observations of his own children.

One thing to consider is how participation in a study will affect a child later on.

"When the child grows up, he might feel a little bit strange to know that other strangers could connect his behavior to who he is now," Swingley said.

Linebarger, however, wrote that by including her children in her work, she hopes, "They can see the joy, the work ethic [and] the satisfaction that comes from loving what [she does]."

Ethics are also a concern. Researchers need to obtain their children's consent and ensure they are not merely demonstrating the desired results, according to Swingley, who is on the Institutional Review Board. But he added that ethics can only be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Although Trueswell said all research follows IRB protocols, Swingley added that careful judgment is still advised because children are not always capable of consenting.

"Parents are expected to act in the best interest of the child," he said.

Linebarger said she does not force her children to do anything. "I would never do anything with my own children that I wouldn't feel 100-percent comfortable morally to do with another person's child," she wrote.

Studying her children is "something I would do anyway as a parent," she added. "My children have given me wonderful insights into the way kids develop, learn and grow."

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