In recent years there has been a concern to produce guidelines and explore ethical practice in social research with children. Much of this is framed within a general concern to empower children. However, there has been little attention paid to exploring how children can view research and what understandings inform their decisions about participation. This article draws on empirical data to argue that children's views of research are linked to the meaning of the particular research topic in the pre-existing and interlocking personal, local and wider societal contexts of their lives generally. Researchers may seek to provide children with the means to make an informed consent about participation in, and to empower them through, research. However, children can view children in different ways, whatever our intentions.
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