Multiple methods in qualitative research with children: more insight or just more?

PHILIP DARBYSHIRE  - University of  South Australia, & Flinders University

COLIN  MACDOUGALL  - Flinders University

WENDY  SCHILLER  - University of  South Australia

Background to the study

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, OBESITY AND CHILDREN

This part reports about the problems caused by obesity.

Obesity is a risk factor for all morbidity and mortality (Sallis et al., 1997; Sallis

and Owen, 1999).

Being Physically   active   is   important   for   children’s   overall   physical emotional and social health, and wellbeing – a positive benefit that extends into   adult   life  (Saakslahti    et  al.,  2004; Suadicani     and    Gyntelberg,     2004; Wedderkopp et al., 2004).

In   addition   to   biomedical   and   epidemiological data,   recent   studies   from children’s social and cultural geography reveal the wide spread and complex ways   that   children’s   worlds   of   play   and physical   activity   and   their   use   of public    spaces    have   been    constricted    an d   controlled     (Blades    et  al.,  1998; Furedi,   2002;   Matthews   et   al.,   1999).

While the importance of  physical activity for children is widely recognized,      research   literature   on   childhood   obesity   and   physical   activity   reveals   a dearth of    research where children themselves have been asked to give their perspectives   and   understandings   of       physical   activity.   There   are   few   studies where children have expressed the meanings that physical activity holds for them,   or   where   they   have   been   able   to   contextualize   such   understandings within   their   everyday   physical   and   social   worlds.   The   study   attempted   to            redress this gap in research understanding.

“The missing child”

The   predominant        approach      to  researching       children’s experiences      is  grounded     in  ‘research    on’   rather   than    ‘research    with’   or ‘research for’ children (Darbyshire, 2000; Oakley, 1994), ignoring the views of children as active agents and ‘key informants’ in matters pertaining to their health and wellbeing.

Plan of the article

 This article presents a discussion of  the methodological approach taken in a            recent    qualitative     study    with    multiple    aims    and    funding     sources    that investigated   children’s   experiences   and   perceptions   of       physical   activity   and       places and spaces in their lives in relation to the broader topic of  obesity childhood.

Qualitative approaches to understanding children’s world

Children’s Rights agenda has shaped child research by fostering a realization that children and young people have a right to be consulted, heard and to appropriately influence the services and facilities that    are   provided     for  them   (Lansdown,        1994;    Woodhouse,        2004).    

The ‘participation   and   involvement’   agenda   challenges searchers   to   consider  ways   of   actively   and   meaningfully   involving   children   in   all   aspects   of      the research process (Barter and Renold, 2000; Curtis et al., 2004; Devine, 2002; Lightfoot and Sloper, 2002; Mulvihill et al., 2000; Shemmings, 2000; Sloper and    Lightfoot,    2003).

Eliciting children’s understanding and experiences of place, space and physical activity

The   aim   of  the   current   study   was   to   encourage   and   enable   children   aged            between 4 and 12 years to articulate their perspectives on physical activity, its related barriers and enablers, and the places and spaces in their environment that were important in their everyday activities. Specifically we sought to:

  determine       words     and    images     that   children     associate    with    physical  activity, exercise, sport, fitness and play;

 understand children’s choices about physical activity and play;

identify children’s activity preferences and choice-making processes; and

consider      whether     children    are   able  to  be   as  active   as  they   wish    and identify any barriers and enablers that may exist for them.

Using multiple methods

FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS WITH CHILDREN

 MAPPING

PHOTOVOICE

Discussion
The value of using multi-methods

The     study’s    consultative     and    participatory     approach      gleaned     valuable           information from children. Our use of  multiple methods increased children’s         opportunity       to  choose     and    have   at   least  partial    control    about    how    to            contribute      and   what    to  say,  and    helped    engage    and   interest    them    while            demonstrating   that   we   recognized   them   as   active   agents   in   the   creation   of           their worlds.

 It is unlikely that a single method would have revealed some of            the most important study findings such as the stark differences between their            conceptions of  play and sport, their understandings of  the place of  television in   their   lives   and   their  enthusiastic   desire   for   involvement   in   decisions   that affect their lives here and now (MacDougall et al., 2004).

Pitfalls and lessons learned

Research with children demands flexibility and creativity on the part of  both the researchers and their ‘data collection’ approaches.

Such flexibility is not methodologically sloppy, but an important element of  a research relationship with children. We had to modify and adapt elements of  the study          as   it  progressed      in  the   light   of  the   children’s     responses.     This    required            experienced       researchers      who    understood       research,    schools     and   children. Such   a   fieldwork  involvement   with   participant   children   should   be   the   clear responsibility of  an experienced chief  investigator(s) and is not an element of a study that can be delegated to a relatively inexperienced research assistant with only ‘hands off ’ supervision.

Pitfalls and lessons learned

they did find that the focus groups were more interactive and productive when  held   in   less   formal   school   spaces.   It   was   also   beneficial,   as   Morgan   et   al (2002)   found,   to   have   both   a   moderator/facilitator   and   a   non-participant note-taker/recorder   present   as   taping   these   groups   for   transcription   would have   proved   impossible. These   notes   and   observations   of  the   dynamics   and interactions   within   the   group   were   important   contributions   to   subsequent         data analysis.

During data analysis and interpretation we also found that a particularly useful   strategy   was   to   have   one   of   the   chief  investigators   take   the   role   of devil’s advocate and qualitative-research skeptic who would openly challenge emerging lines of  thought and potential findings with tough questions such as: ‘So what?’, ‘Where’s the evidence for that?’, ‘What do you mean by ‘interesting?’, ‘What else could this mean?’ and ‘How exactly do these ideas relate?’. We  found   this   to   be   a   valuable   guard   against   any   interpretive   ‘premature closure’ (Beck, 2003).

Several    lessons    were   learned    from    this  study   that   would   influence our methodological decisions in future studies.

Conclusion

As    researchers. only glossing    over   the  challenges   involved   in   moving   from   the   ‘adultist’   orientation   that   produces research   ‘on’   children,   to   a   more   participatory   and   child-sensitive   research ‘with’ children would be a disservice.

Nor is it helpful to report a sanitized account of  research that comprises       only   successful     stages    on   the   open    highway      from    question     to recommendations.

 Such    a   conceptual       and    methodological         shift  is  not achieved   simply   by   adopting   or   adapting   a   particular   methodology   or   data collection      technique       to  ‘fit’  children     but   by   critically    questioning       and reflecting     on   all  aspects    of  the    research     process    from    the   generation      of            questions   to   the   dissemination   of      findings   and   by   trying   to   learn   as   much           from     our   shortcomings        as   from    our   successes.   

 As   Hendrick      (2000:     55)            argues,   ‘Only   when   the   mentality   of      adultism   has   been   overcome   will   it   be,  possible to hear a more authentic and, probably, unsettling set of  voices’.

 Conclusion

  They  have shared their experiences of using a  variety of qualitative  approaches in order to explore children’s perceptions of  physical activity, play and their related social and physical environments. We contend that using a variety of  research strategies to interest and engage children in the study was both philosophically appropriate and pragmatically valuable.

 These strategies respected   children’s   agency   as   social   actors   and   active   participants in the creation   of   their   own   worlds   of    meaning. The   various   approaches complemented rather than duplicated and enabled the expression of  different aspects of  the children’s experiences. The multiple approaches were also successful in depicting the children’s worlds in ways that influential adults also found to be credible and valuable.

In the end…

The   best   way   to  defend   the development of children’s studies   for  children   is  to  enroll  them   fully  in  the research process. (Oakley, 1994: 26)

THANKS...