Main description:

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.

Contents:

1. Conceptions of Children and Childhood

Historical Perspectives of Childhood

Theories of Socialization

New Studies of Childhood

2. Negotiating Access for Research with Children

The Regulation of Research in the Social Sciences

Navigating Institutional Review Boards

3. Recruiting Child Participants

Strategies for Obtaining Parental Permission

Getting Kids to Participate after You Are "In"

Confidentiality

4. Defining Researcher Roles in Research with Children

The Effect of Institutions on Researcher Roles

Presentation of Self as Researcher

5. Ethical Challenges in Social Constructionist Research with Children

Voluntary Participation

Communicating Responsibly

Reciprocity

6. Interviewing

Interviewing as a Relationship

Developing Interview Questions and Protocols

Strategies for Eliciting Verbal Responses

Individual Interviews

Group Interviews and Focus Groups

7. Art and Photography

Visual Forms of Expression and Representation

Communicating through Participant Drawings

Communicating through Photographs

Communicating through Maps

Planning for Visual Activities

Planning for Analysis of Visual Data

8. Journaling and Other Written Responses

Communicating through Writing

Written Accounts as Data

Artifacts

Technology and Writing

9. Analyzing Data

Internal and External Narratives of Meaning

Analysis of Context, Contexts of Analysis

Analyzing Visual Data

Analysis Goes On and On

10. Children as Researchers

The Power of Children's Voices

Why Partner with Young People?

The Possibility of True Partnerships