1st Edition
Using Innovative Methods in Early Years Research Beyond the Conventional
Exploring a range of unconventional research methods and considering how these can be used effectively in practice, this accessible textbook encourages the use of innovative approaches to conduct research in early years contexts.
Using Innovative Methods in Early Years Research provides key information on a range of non-traditional research methods, and details the strengths, limitations and challenges involved in diverging from more standard research methods. From researching with young children, practitioners and parents, to harnessing the arts, vignettes, identity boxes and narrative accounts, chapters draw on authors’ first-hand experiences to highlight the value of ‘thinking outside the box’ and developing innovative research methods that meet the needs and aims of the researcher, while also involving and empowering research participants. Including detailed information on ethical concerns and the importance of reflexivity, individual and group tasks encourage students to take a critical and well-thought-out approach to conducting independent research.
This will be an invaluable and inspiring resource for high-level undergraduate and postgraduate students as they embark on research projects in the field of early years education and care.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
List of Figures
About the Contributors
Introduction - Zeta Brown and Helen Perkins
Section one: Research in early education
1. Reflexivity in educational research - Jackie Musgrave
2. Ethical considerations in using innovative methods in early education research - Kieran Hodgkin and Gary Beauchamp
3. Going beyond participatory ideology when doing research with young children: The case for ethical permeability and relatability - Ioanna Palaiologou
Section two: Researching with children
4. Art as a research method - Elisabetta Biffi and Franca Zuccoli
5. The use of drawing methods with young children in research - Helen Lyndon
6. Listening to young children in messy, playful research - Laura Heads and Michael Jopling
7. Play-based interview techniques with young children - Sarah Holmes
8. Using the mosaic approach as an ethnographical methodology - Zenna Kingdon
9. Using video to research outdoors with young children - Gary Beauchamp, Chantelle Haughton, Cheryl Ellis, Siân Sarwar, Jacky Tyrie, Dylan Adams and Sandra Dumitrescu
10. The use of vignettes in research with young children - Ioanna Palaiologou
Section three: Researching with practitioners and parents
11. The use of identity boxes as a research method - Helen Perkins
12. Narrative inquiry: storying lived experiences with early childhood student-practitioners - Lynn Richards
13. The use of observations in early childhood research - Jackie Musgrave
14. Q-methodology: seeking communalities in perspectives of young children and practitioners - Zeta Brown and Gavin Rhoades
Index
Biography
Zeta Brown is Reader in Education for Social Justice at the University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Helen Perkins is Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Family Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK.
