Title
Between a rock and a soft place: developmental research and the child advocacy process
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Publication Date
2005-10-20
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Biomedical Research; Child; Child Psychology; Data Collection; Humans; *Patient Advocacy; Research Design
Disciplines
Psychiatry
Abstract
Developmental researchers face a perilous path as they set out to perform research with child advocacy potential. We offer our observations regarding how researchers can navigate the path between science (the "rock") and advocacy (the "soft place"), based on our recent experience as directors of the MacArthur Juvenile Adjudicative Competence Study. Scientific research can be extraordinarily effective in the child advocacy process, but science and advocacy are very different endeavors. Scientific credibility demands impartiality, whereas advocacy is never impartial. For psychological scientists to be effective in conducting research relevant to child advocacy, it is important to maintain our identity as scientists and resist any efforts on the part of others to label this work as advocacy.
DOI of Published Version
10.1207/s15374424jccp3404_4
Source
J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2005 Dec;34(4):619-27. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53
Related Resources
PubMed ID
16232059
Repository Citation
Grisso, Thomas and Steinberg, Laurence, "Between a rock and a soft place: developmental research and the child advocacy process" (2005). Psychiatry Publications and Presentations. 271.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_pp/271