Researching Children's Experiences

by Freeman, Melissa; Mathison, Sandra

• ISBN13: 9781593859961
• ISBN10: 1593859961
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-02
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This accessible book presents approaches to planning, carrying out, and analyzing research projects with children and youth from a social constructivist perspective. Rich, contextualized examples illustrate how to elicit and understand the lived experiences of diverse young people. Data-collection methods discussed in depth include drawing, photography, the Internet, games, interviewing, focus groups, journaling, and observation. Also covered are strategies for fostering the active contributions of children in the research process; navigating consent and ethical issues; enlisting the support of parents, school personnel, and other gatekeepers; and interpreting data. Throughout, the authors emphasize the need to attend to the social setting in which research with children is done. End-of-chapter questions and exercises encourage readers to reflect on taken-for-granted conceptions of children and childhood and to try out the book’s ideas in their own research projects.

Author Biography

Melissa Freeman is Assistant Professor of Qualitative Research Methodologies in the College of Education at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on critical, constructivist, and relational approaches to educational research and evaluation; the role of dialogue in the construction of meaning and understanding; and the use of alternative elicitation strategies in interviewing and focus groups. She has worked with parents and young people in a variety of educational and youth services settings. Dr. Freeman's most recent research focuses on parents’ and students’ perceptions of accountability and testing in public schools.

 

Sandra Mathison is Professor of Education at the University of British Columbia. Her research is in educational evaluation, and her work has focused especially on the potential and limits of evaluation to support democratic ideals and promote justice. She has conducted national large-scale and local evaluations of K-12, postsecondary, and informal educational programs and curricula. Dr. Mathison's most recent research focuses on the effects of state-mandated testing on teaching and learning, especially the impact on the work life of teachers and the educational experiences of students. She is editor of the Encyclopedia of Evaluation, coeditor (with E. Wayne Ross) of Defending Public Schools: The Nature and Limits of Standards-Based Reform and Assessment and Battleground: Schools, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal New Directions for Evaluation.

Table of Contents

Conceptions of Children and Childhood	p. 1
Historical Perspectives of Childhood	p. 2
Theories of Socialization	p. 4
New Social Studies of Childhood	p. 7
Discussion Questions	p. 17
Negotiating Access for Research with Children	p. 19
The Regulation of Research in the Social Sciences	p. 20
Navigating IRBs	p. 23
Discussion Questions	p. 36
Recruiting Child Participants	p. 37
Strategies for Obtaining Parental Permission	p. 38
Getting Kids to Participate after You Are "In"	p. 42
Confidentiality	p. 48
Discussion Questions	p. 51
Defining Researcher Roles in Research with Children	p. 53
The Effect of Institutions on Researcher Roles	p. 54
Presentation of Self as Researcher	p. 58
Discussion Questions	p. 67
Ethical Challenges in Social Constructivist Research with Children	p. 69
Voluntary Participation	p. 70
Communicating Responsibly	p. 76
Reciprocity	p. 82
Discussion Questions	p. 84
Interviewing	p. 87
Interviewing as a Relationship	p. 90
Developing Interview Questions and Protocols	p. 93
Strategies for Eliciting Verbal Responses	p. 97
Individual Interviews	p. 101
Group Interviews or Focus Groups	p. 102
Discussion Questions	p. 107
Art and Photography	p. 109
Visual Forms of Expression and Representation	p. 109
Communicating through Participant Drawings	p. 111
Communicating through Photographs and Video	p. 122
Communicating through Maps	p. 124
Planning for Visual Activities	p. 126
Planning for Analysis of Visual Data	p. 127
Discussion Questions	p. 128
Journaling and Other Written Responses	p. 131
Communicating through Writing	p. 135
Written Accounts as Data	p. 136
Artifacts	p. 143
Technology and Writing	p. 144
Discussion Questions	p. 145
Analyzing Data	p. 147
Internal and External Narratives of Meaning	p. 148
Analysis of Context, Contexts of Analysis	p. 150
Analyzing Visual Data	p. 156
Analysis Goes On and On	p. 162
Discussion Questions	p. 163
Children as Researchers	p. 165
The Power of Children's Voices	p. 166
Why Partner with Young People?	p. 169
The Possibility of True Partnerships	p. 172
Discussion Questions	p. 175
References	p. 177
Index	p. 191
About the Authors	p. 196
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