Methodological Approaches (Geographies of Children and Young People, 2)

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by Ruth Evans (Editor), Louise Holt (Editor), Tracey Skelton (Editor) See all formats and editions This volume presents the innovative methodologies, tools and techniques, as well as the challenges and ethical complexities of doing geographies of young people. Geographers of young people have reflected upon participation, power and how to approach young people, generating a vibrant and exciting methodological terrain, which this volume showcases. Understanding young people’s lives has challenged researchers to be creative in their research approaches. Facilitating research with, and alongside, young people and acknowledging, and endeavouring to address, adult-child power imbalances has prompted innovation, experimentation and adaptation which has applicability to all social scientists and geographers. The volume provides critical insights into underlying epistemological and ethical debates, along with practical methods and techniques that investigate young people’s geographies globally, across both majority and minority worlds. Many of the chapters consider how to facilitate participation and empowerment through the research process, and geographies of young people have a long tradition of co-production and participation in research. The collection is structured into three sections with a focus on: methodological approaches and ethics; methods, tools and techniques; co-production, participation and power. In the first section, key epistemological and methodological approaches are considered, such as critical realism, and critical pedagogy, with discussion of their implications for research design and analysis. In the second section, chapters explore the potential and challenges of a variety of innovative participatory tools: mobile technologies, geospatial methods, creative visual methods, participatory video. In the third section, chapters reflect on endeavours to promote more empowering, co-productive research including rights-based research, young people as researchers, and community engagement with young people. The collection highlights the specific methodological and ethical issues raised by relatively neglected techniques, such as archival research, autoethnography, qualitative longitudinal research and mobile interviewing. It addresses how barriers to participation with groups who are often more silenced and marginalised can be addressed, such as when conducting research with migrant and asylum seeking children in the minority world and with street youth and disabled young people in the majority world. The volume explores issues of data analysis, interpretation and dissemination, such as interpreting visual ethnography and the process of participatory dissemination. Series Preface Editorial: Geographies of Children and Young People. Methodological Approaches Introduction Methodological Approaches Methods, Tools, and Techniques Concluding Thoughts References Acknowledgments Contents About the Editors Editor-in-Chief Contributors Part I: Methodological Approaches 1 Critical Realism and Research Design and Analysis in Geographies of Children and Young People 1 Introduction: Problems in Social Science 2 Seven Contradictions Between Positivism and Interpretivism 3 Toward Resolving the Contradictions 3.1 Being and Knowing 3.2 Social Science and Philosophy 3.3 The Epistemic Fallacy 3.4 The Possibility of Naturalism: Closed and Open Systems 3.5 Polyvalence and Depth Realism 3.6 Structure and Agency, Natural Necessity, and Power 3.7 Predicting the Future 3.8 Absence, Change, and Emergence 3.9 Macro- and Micro-levels in Research 3.10 Four Planar Social Being 3.11 MELD 4 Conclusion References 2 Memory and Autoethnographic Methodologies in Childrens Geographies: Recalling Past and Present Childhoods 1 Prologue (Adapted from Horton and Kraftl 2006a) 2 Introduction 3 Geography, Memory, and the ``Otherness´´ of Childhood 4 Recalling Past Childhoods: Autoethnography and Researching Children´s Geographies 4.1 Autoethnography: Considerations and Justifications for Writing the Self 4.2 Questioning Autoethnography: Critiques and Limitations 5 Conclusions: Autoethnography, Otherness, and Witnessing (Past) Childhoods References 3 Critical Pedagogy and the Risks Associated with Performing Lifeworlds 1 Introduction 2 Identifying ``Main Dangers´´ 3 The Team 4 Theoretical and Practical Concerns: The ``Problem´´ of Youth 5 Spaces of Exploration and Co-construction/Production 6 Development in Action 7 Praxis 8 Reflections and Assessments 9 Film Premiere: Reality Bites and Losing Essence 10 Choice and Consent 11 Conclusion References 4 Critical Reflections on Participatory Dissemination: Coproducing Research Messages with Young People 1 Introduction 2 Participatory Action Research, Participatory Video, and Dissemination 3 Participatory Dissemination and Coproduction of Research Messages in East and West Africa 4 Benefits of Participatory Dissemination 4.1 Ethical Importance of Feeding Back Findings and Engaging Participants in Policy Dialogue 4.2 Enabling the Voices of Young People to Be Heard by Local, National, and International Stakeholders and Achieving ``Impact´´ 4.3 Enhancing Research Rigor and Validity 4.4 Fostering Empowerment and the Development of Peer Support 5 The ``Messiness´´ of Participatory Dissemination Praxis 5.1 Positionality and Language Issues 5.2 Power Relations in Dissemination Workshops 5.3 Power Relations in Filming and Editing Video Outputs 5.4 Anonymity in Video Outputs and Other Ethical Considerations 5.5 Managing Participants´ Expectations 5.6 Challenges of Engaging in Dialogue with Policymakers and Practitioners 6 Conclusion References 5 Beyond Passive Participation: From Research on to Research by Children 1 Introduction 2 From Research on to Research by Children: Unpacking the Journey to Moving Beyond Passive Participation 3 The Value and Aims of Participatory Research: A Right to Voice 4 Passive or Active Participation? Research by Children 5 Agendas and Aims for Involving and Being Involved as a ``Child Researcher´´: Bringing Multiple Motives Together 6 Moving In and Out of the Researcher Role: Fluid Moments of Being a Researcher and Playing Around 7 Conclusion References 6 Ethical Complexities of Mobile Interviews with Young People 1 Introduction 2 Using Mobile Methods: A Perspective into Ethical Questions 3 Reflections on the Research Project: The Case of Young People´s Everyday Life Places in Helsinki, Finland 4 Mobile Interviews in Action: Ethical Dilemmas of Movements in Spaces 5 Ethical Encounters? Encountering Friends and Acquaintances 6 Conclusion References 7 Challenging Barriers to Participation: Doing Research with Migrant Children and Young People 1 Introduction 2 Views of the Child and Their Influence on Research with Migrant Children 3 Involving Eastern European Migrant Children in Research 4 Issues of Access 5 Issues of Consent 6 The Importance of Social Contexts as Frames for Children´s Participation 7 Choosing Between Methods in Research with Migrant Children 8 Ethnic and Language Matching and Issues in Working with Interpreters 9 Ethics of Data Analysis and Dissemination and Children´s Involvement in These 10 Conclusion References 8 Street Children as Researchers: Critical Reflections on a Participatory Methodological Process in the ``Growing Up on the St... 1 Introduction 2 Researching with Street Children as Researchers 2.1 The Problematic Nature of Research with Street Children 2.2 Growing Up on the Streets: The Research Project 2.3 Methodology: Involving Young People as Researchers 2.4 Practical and Ethical Considerations 3 Conclusion References 9 Research with Children Seeking Asylum in Ireland: Reflecting on Silences and Hushed Voices 1 Introduction 2 Researching with Children Seeking Asylum in Ireland 3 Listening to Silences in Research 4 Background to the Research 5 Revealing and Interpreting Silences in Research with Children Seeking Asylum 6 ``Children-Centered´´ Research Methods and Silences 7 Conclusion References 10 Interviewing Children at Home: Exploring the Use of Individual and Focus Group Interviews 1 Family Homes as a Research Setting 2 Family Homes as a Research Setting 3 Interview Tools and Task-Based Activities 4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Individual and Group Interviews 5 Power Relations When Interviewing at Home 6 Ethical, Emotional, and Practical Considerations 7 Conclusion References 11 Rights-Based Research with Children: Principles and Practice 1 Early Research on Children 2 Rethinking Children´s Place in Society: And in Research 3 The Influence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ``Right to Participate´´ 4 Participatory Research and Children´s Human Rights 5 Children´s Rights and Research 6 What Is Rights-Based Research? 7 Beyond Methods to Rights-Based Methodology 8 Reflecting on Power 9 Conclusion References Part II: Methods, Tools, and Techniques 12 Participatory Video with Children and Young People 1 Introduction 2 Participatory Video and Geographies of Children and Young People: Framing the Genesis 3 Participatory Video with Children and Young People and Epistemology 4 Positionality, Relationships, and Ethics 5 Conclusions: Participatory Video as a Nonadultist Practice? References 13 Participatory Research with Children and Young People: Using Visual, Creative, Diagram, and Written Techniques 1 Introduction 2 Participatory Research in Children´s Geographies 3 Visual Techniques 3.1 Photographic Techniques: Photovoice and Self-Directed Photos 3.2 Video and Film Techniques: Participatory Video 4 Diagram Techniques 4.1 Mapping 4.2 Matrixes, Ranking, and Scoring 5 Creative Techniques 5.1 Imaginative Drawing 5.2 Rap Music 5.3 Drama, Role-Play, and Community Theater 5.4 Craft and 3D Design 6 Written Techniques 6.1 Personal Diaries 6.2 Memory Books 7 Ethical Issues When Using Participatory Techniques 7.1 Consent 7.2 Competency 7.3 Appropriateness 7.4 Ownership and Representation 7.5 Analysis and Dissemination 8 Conclusion References 14 Combining Multiple Qualitative Methods in Research on Young Disabled People in the Global South 1 Introduction 2 Youth Studies 3 Disability Studies 4 Using Multiple Qualitative Methods 4.1 Participant Observation 4.2 Life Story Interviews 4.3 Focus Group Discussions 4.4 Solicited Diaries 4.5 Participant-Directed Photography 4.6 Participatory Video 5 Conclusion References 15 Creative Visual Methods in Research with Children and Young People 1 Introduction 2 How Is Approaching Research with Children and Young People Relationally, Reflexively, and Creatively a Challenge? Insights f... 2.1 Creative Visual Arts-Based Approaches to Research 2.2 Challenges of Using Visual Methods 2.3 Building Knowledge Differently with Children and Young People 3 What Could Be Expressed Differently in a Flexible Research Design that Incorporates Creative Visual Methods into an Ethnogra... 3.1 Involving Children and Young People as Researchers 3.2 Children and Young People´s Mobile Stories: A Canadian Case Study 3.3 Designing Creative Research Tools: A Multisited Visual Ethnography 3.4 A Collective Reflexive Approach in Interviewing 3.5 Training Young Participants in Becoming Researchers 4 What Possibilities Emerge in Using Enabling, Reflexive Methods? 4.1 New Mobilities: Stepping into the Imaginary World 4.2 Mapping Collective Data 4.3 Visual Booklets as an Aspect of Research Dissemination 5 Conclusion References 16 International Innovative Methods for Engaging Young Children in Research 1 Introduction 1.1 Establishing a Rationale for Including Children´s Voices in Research 1.2 Distinctions: How Does Research with Young Children Differ? 1.3 Consequences: What Happens When Children´s Voices Are Not Heard? 1.4 Challenges: Why Children May Be Excluded from Research Processes 2 Six Steps to Engaging Children in Participatory Research 2.1 Step 1: Consideration of Capacity and Capability 2.2 Step 2: Developing Ethical Protocols and Processes 2.3 Step 3: Developing Trust and Relationships 2.4 Steps 4 and 5: Selecting Appropriate Methods and Identifying Appropriate Forms of Communication 2.5 Step 6: Consideration of Context 3 Methods for Engaging Children in Participatory Research 3.1 Interviews and Discussion 3.2 In situ Methods and Child-Led Tours 3.3 Visual Methods Including Mapping 3.4 Performance and Narrative 3.5 Play and Games 4 Conclusions for Engaging Young Children in Research References 17 Focus Groups, Community Engagement, and Researching with Young People 1 Introduction: Engaging Young People in Community Research 2 Critical Reflections on ``Doing´´ Focus Groups with Young People 3 Journeys Between Focus Groups and ``Go-Alongs´´ 4 Young People´s Participation in Focus Groups: When, Where, and How 4.1 Planning and Recruitment 4.2 Facilitating Focus Groups 5 Conclusion References 18 Children´s Drawings in Ethnographic Explorations: Analysis and Interpretations 1 Introduction 2 Children´s Drawings and Meaning-Making 3 Emotions Expressed in Drawings 4 Background to the Study 5 A World Full of Flowers 6 Memories of the Past and Desires for the Future: Flowers, Orphaned Children, and Bereavement 7 Narrating and Interpreting Conflicts and Grief Through Multiple Drawings 8 Conclusion References 19 Archival Fieldwork and Children´s Geographies 1 Introduction 2 What Is an Archive? 3 What Are the Central Ways Children´s Geographers Have Engaged with Archival Fieldwork? 3.1 Be Prepared: Recovering the Story of the ``Red Scout´´ 4 What Are Some of the Ethical and Methodological Challenges of Archival Research? 5 How Have Wider Practices of Collection and Display Represented Past Childhoods? 6 What Possibilities Do Digital Technologies and Social Media Afford Children´s Geographers Seeking to Engage with the Past? 7 Conclusion References 20 Qualitative Longitudinal Research with Children and Young People 1 Introduction 2 What Is Qualitative Longitudinal Research? 3 Children and Young People in QLR 4 Examples from Research 5 Methods, Techniques, and Tools 5.1 Baselines and Change 5.1.1 Biographical Interviews 5.1.2 Timelines 5.1.3 Diaries 5.1.4 Drawing 5.1.5 Relational Maps 5.1.6 Storytelling, Vignettes, and Newspaper Clippings 5.2 Reuse, Repetition, and Reflection 6 QLR: Practical and Ethical Challenges 7 Conclusion References Index