Building Trust in the First Stages of Research With Children

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the process of building trust in the first stages of research with children. Based on three research examples conducted in Finland, we analyse the ways of building trust and illustrate how trust or distrust can emerge in research with children. Our findings indicate that building trust plays a key role in enabling children's role as active participants in the studies. However, all parties of the studies, such as gatekeepers and children, define and build trust from their own starting points and based on their own needs. Thus, the process of building trust cannot always be controlled by the researcher.