Research regarding the family and children and research on language and sexuality are two areas where research ethics poses specific challenges which currently attract researchers’ attention. As Eldén (2013) argues, research on and with children makes apparent a possible contradiction between an interest to give the child a voice and ethical considerations of protecting the child, a contradiction that has consequences for the research carried out. That ethics and access to participants are generally problematic in language and sexuality research is witnessed by Mortensen (2015), who argues for creative solutions regarding informed consent together with a ‘principle of care’ in her study of adults. Recognising that research methods are themselves productive, Sparrman (2014) investigates how children and sexuality is produced as a sensitive issue in a research project.

In this talk we contribute to this body of research by addressing issues of ethics and children’s access in language and sexuality research, based on data collection that both takes place in and concerns the family. In the “Daddy, daddy, child” project, talk between children and their parents concerning families and relationships, marriage and weddings, living together, and love, was elicited and recorded using a tablet computer app. In accordance with the Ethical Review Act of Sweden, informed consent was asked of the parents, whereas it was left to the parents to inform and get consent from their children in ways that they themselves chose. Using detailed analysis informed by Conversation Analysis, we investigate how children negotiate access in the sense of how they opt in to and out of research locally throughout the conversations. We include examples of ways in which they orient to being recorded, treat features of interaction as sensitive, and show their unwillingness to participate. We also include analyses of how recording sessions are ended.