Ethical beginnings: Reflexive questioning in designing child sexuality research.

Background:Counselling young children referred for sexualised behaviour can challenge therapists' ideas about childhood and sexuality. This area of practice is complex and sensitive, and calls upon collaboration with a range of significant adults in children's lives.Purpose:This paper examines a researcher's process of movement from counselling practice into qualitative research practice, and the use of reflexive questioning to explore ethical issues within the study.Design:Shaped by social constructionist ideas and discourse theory, ethical questions are outlined within the design stage of a doctoral research project on sexuality in children's lives in Aotearoa New Zealand.Limitations:This paper explores ethics in the design of a current study: there are no results or conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]