Children have the right to express themselves and to be involved in the construction of knowledge. In this article, we argue for the right of refugee children to express their thoughts and feelings in research, and for the obligation of researchers to enable their self-expression. We propose respect as the driving force for enabling children's rights and entitlements. As respect is translated and instantiated in the specifics of research activities, it brings those rights into practice. We describe a set of computer-assisted interviews (CAIs) developed at the Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture (VFST). We show how they meet the criteria of respect and enable refugee children's contributions to knowledge. CAIs allow children to express their thoughts and feelings about their own well-being through their accessibility, in how they present children with multiple ways to contribute to knowledge, and in the usefulness of the individualized profiles of responses they provide for holistic analyses. This research using CAIs is suitable for providing an evidence base for tailoring assessment and services for refugee children and has potential for use in rights-based practice. © The author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Children's rights Respect Rights to self-expression and contribution to knowledge Research with refugee children Voice Computer-assisted interviews

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