Laughter and Dragons: Participatory Interviewing Considerations When Researching With Children

• In Event: Children's Agentic Positioning in Research: A Critical Examination of Participatory Research Methodologies With Young Children

Abstract

This research presented in this paper is grounded upon the understanding that, while there is not one best research gathering approach that works for all children in all contexts, there are interview practices that are more apt to allow researchers to enter into the world of children and to engage in research with them. Young children have the language skills to actively participate in the data generation of qualitative research, but, as this paper suggests, researchers need to listen differently, negotiate power respectfully, and structure and interview and the data-generation environment strategically. Early childhood researchers need to consider the theory(ies) behind their research decisions, as well as the ethical considerations of researching with children. In this paper, I describe how these considerations are the forces behind different participatory interviewing practices that support research with children.
I consider issues surrounding four different participatory interviewing practices I utilize in my classroom-based research with young children, including navigating the interview environment, using different data generation techniques, ensuring participant engagement, and dealing with the issue of power. Drawing upon the findings from two separate participatory research investigations exploring connections between early literacy and participatory work, I detail how to strategically create a safe interactive interview environment, I suggest thinking about how to situate the interview in a place that is familiar to the child, how to give children control in the process, ways to build on children’s responses, and other ways to make the research safe and participatory for children. To negotiate power respectfully, I offer considerations around student assent and pseudonym selection.
In particular, this paper presents a descriptive account of shoulder-to-shoulder and walk around interviewing methods as two specific methods of data generation with specific affordances for participatory researchers. The term “shoulder-to-shoulder” comes from a pedagogical idea found in the field of reading instruction, where reading partners sit next to each other, shoulder-to-shoulder, and share a book. The shoulder-to-shoulder interview I developed in researching children is similar, with the researcher and child sitting side by side, looking together at something such as a book. When there is something to look at together, that becomes the natural focus and the pressure of being interviewed some children feel may be relieved resulting in rich, authentic data.
Additionally, this paper also describes walk around interviews (also called go-along or roving interviews) as a means to give researchers a way to interview children in a more authentic manner, as the researcher moves with the child as the child follows their normal routine. The literature base surrounding this type of mobile researching method with children is scant. The descriptive account presented within serves to add to the literature base and serve as a guide for early childhood participatory researchers, as the natural environment and routine also provides rich and timely data collection opportunities. The suggestions and implications for participatory interviewing practices with young children discussed within center on the enactment of the supportive practices necessary to engage young children in a meaningful, authentic manner.
(Word Count: 497)

Author

• Krista Griffin, Metropolitan State University of Denver