Who Do You Want to Be? Participatory Creative Method in a Study into Children’s Media and Aspirations

Conference: Children & Youth Perspectives: Theory, Research and Practice in European Contexts

Dates: 14-15 September 2023

Abstract:

In this paper I will be sharing insight into an exploratory child-centred participatory approach adopted during a small-scale study into children’s media and children’s aspirations. With the aim being to look into any differences between the aspirations of those children that engage with higher levels of US produced media content and those that engage with more UK produced media content – which in this setting can also be framed as differences between those that engaged with more or less public service media content. Research was conducted with 16 ten and eleven year-old children. Avoiding an ‘effects’ bound approach common to studies that look at possible media-facing correlation/causality, the study focussed instead on children’s lived media experience, and recognised the agency and competence of children to talk for themselves - as both participants and researchers – whilst also acknowledging approaches that value participant creativity. The tasks were co-designed with child participant-researchers, who helped shape the fieldwork interactions, and acted as research facilitators on the day – with the actual research interactions becoming those between peers, rather than adult to child. The participant-researchers were introduced to a range of research tools that they could adopt to address a research question (e.g. interview), but also offered the freedom to design and adopt their own research tool. The participant-researchers were drawn towards tools that might be said to sit, partly, under a ‘creative research method’ approach – and selected a questionnaire, role play and drawing a picture, and then self-designed a listening task. The child participants were then guided by the participant-researchers through the role play task (of them being ‘heroes’), responding to audio recordings (of the same words said in an US and UK accent) and the drawing (of themselves, anywhere in the world, doing whatever they wanted). With these tasks stimulating children’s ‘aspirational’ responses. The study, in its admittedly limited way, identified that what a child watches might be seen to impact on their aspirations. The presentation will ultimately reflect on the value and viability of working with children in creative and participatory research settings.

Source: Manual