To improve the lives of children and adolescents it is necessary to find out about their circumstances, their needs, and the services they require to meet their needs. Program managers and researchers who gather this information in order to develop and evaluate appropriate responses to the needs of children and adolescents must maintain high ethical standards in order to protect and respect them. Observing ethical standards is important for all information gathering that involves people, including program monitoring and evaluation and research studies. However, extra precautions are needed to protect young people, who are especially vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and other harmful outcomes.