Closing the Research Loop: Supporting Children's Engagement During Data Analysis and Active Dissemination Practices

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

Abstract

Within the field of education, the publication and dissemination phases of research findings are typically concerned with sharing results within a larger community of researchers and practitioners. A central, but often overlooked, aspect of participatory research with children is their sustained engagement in analysis, presentation, and publication phases of the work. As a counter to traditional dissemination practices, this paper examines active forms of project dissemination that can involve young children in substantial and meaningful ways. In particular, this paper discusses possibilities for young children’s active involvement in the local display and public dissemination of participatory research.
As this research sought to develop a descriptive account of the participation of young children’s engagement in participatory research during data collection, data analysis, and dissemination, I employed a revelatory, embedded, single-case design (Yin, 2013) to explore children’s experiences. This case study examines a participatory Photovoice project – a participatory, action-orientated approach -with second graders on a field trip to a natural history museum where the children created, collected, and worked to analyze all data utilized in this project. The use of the Photo Voice approach is well documented in social science research (Booth & Booth, 2003; Killion & Wang, 2000; McIntyre, 2003; Wang, 2006). I selected the approach because it has the potential to enable the children to visualize, depict, and reflect on the experiences and spaces that were important to them during the field trip. The students in this project were invited to take photographs of their choice during the course of the field trip and, once back in the classroom, select four to six their photographs for inclusion in the project. Using a variation of the PHOTO technique (Amos, Read, Cobb, & Pabani, 2012), the children responded to the PHOTO questions for each photograph they had selected for inclusion. Once all of the children had completed the PHOTO selection and questioning process, I compiled the images and reviewed them with the class for a whole group reflection. During the reflection experience, I encouraged the children to look for similarities between the images as a means to begin the identification of overarching themes. The resulting four themes selected by the children formed the basis for the local forms of dissemination collaboratively created by the children, classroom teacher, and myself.
The children’s experiences during the project are described and detailed in an effort to understand the ways in which the Photovoice methodology can be utilized to support the participation of young children in the processes of data analysis and dissemination. As much of the participatory research literature with young children details participation only through the data generation phase of research, true participation in research necessitates involvement throughout the research cycle in order to impact the understandings of oneself and others. The children’s local dissemination work helped to close the research loop by creating an opportunity for the children’s findings to potentially inform others about the museum’s role in caring for and educating others about the needs of the animals in its care.
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Author

• Angela L. Eckhoff, Old Dominion University