Visual methodologies, sand and psychoanalysis: employing creative participatory techniques to explore the educational experiences of mature students and children in care

Social science research has witnessed an increasing move towards visual methods of data production. However, some visual techniques remain pariah sites because of their association with psychoanalysis; and a reluctance to engage with psychoanalytically informed approaches outside of therapy based settings. This paper introduces the method of ‘sandboxing’, which was developed from the psychoanalytical approach of the ‘world technique’. ‘Sandboxing’ provides an opportunity for participants to create three-dimensional scenes in sand-trays, employing miniature figures and everyday objects. Data is presented from two studies conducted in Wales, UK. The first, exploring mature students’ accounts of higher education, and the second, exploring the educational experiences of children and young people in public care. The paper argues that psychoanalytical work can be adapted to enable a distinctive, valuable and ethical tool of qualitative inquiry; and illustrates how ‘sandboxing’ engendered opportunities to fight familiarity, enabled participatory frameworks, and contributed to informed policy and practice

The importance of social relationships and loneliness: An inclusive research project in Spain

This article presents the results of a project carried out by a group of researchers with and without intellectual disabilities on the importance of social relationships and loneliness. We wanted to find out about the experience of loneliness in young people with and without intellectual disabilities and know whether this was an important issue for them too. We interviewed a total of 23 young people during our research which was developed over more than a year and a half. This article has been organised into three parts. In the first part, the two academic researchers outline the concept of inclusive research highlighting the value of recognising and making the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities visible. Following this, the four authors describe how the research group was formed and the methodological decisions that were made. Finally, we report the results of the research and the main conclusions. The young people with and without disabilities we interviewed told us that nobody wants to feel lonely. We believe that it is important for other researchers at the university to recognise our work and be encouraged to implement inclusive research processes.This work was supported by the Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (EDU2015-68617-C4-4-R). Principal researcher: Teresa Susinos Rad

Using Visual Timelines in Telephone Interviews: Reflections and Lessons Learned from the Star Family Study

Visual timeline methods have been used as part of face-to-face qualitative interviewing with vulnerable populations to uncover the intricacies of lived experiences, but little is known about whether visual timelines can be effectively used in telephone interviews. In this article, we reflect on the process of using visual timelines in 16 telephone interviews with women as part of the ‘STarting a family when you have an Autoimmune Rheumatic disease’ study (STAR Family Study). The visual timeline method was used to empower women to organize and share their narratives about the sensitive and complex topic of starting a family. We conducted a thematic analysis of the audio-recorded interview data, using researchers’ field notes and reflections to provide context for our understanding of the benefits of using timelines, to understand the process of using visual timelines during telephone interviews. Resource packs were sent to women before study participation; 11 out of 16 women completed a version of the timeline activity. Six themes were identified in the methodological data analysis: 1) Use and adaptation of the timeline tool; 2) Timeline exchange, 3) Framing the interview: Emphasizing that women are in control; 4) Jumping straight in; 5) Taking a lead, and; 6) Disclosing personal and sensitive experiences. The use of visual timelines facilitated interviewee control and elicited rich narratives of participants’ experiences in telephone interviews. Women created their visual timelines autonomously and retained ownership of their timeline data; these features of the data generation process need to be considered when using visual timelines in telephone rather than face-to-face interviews. Use of visual methods within telephone interviews is feasible, can generate rich data, and should be further explored in a wider range of settings

Schools, families, and social reproduction

Neoliberal educational discourse across the Global North is marked by an increasing homogeneity, but this masks significant socio-spatial differences in the enactment of policy. The authors focus on four facets of roll-out neoliberalism in English education policy that have expanded the function of primary schools, and redrawn the boundary between state and family responsibilities. Specifically, these are increased state support for: (1) working parenthood through provision of wraparound childcare; (2) parent-child relationships through school-led provision of parenting classes; (3) parental involvement in children’s learning; and (4) child development through schools’ fostering of extracurricular activities. The politics of policies that both enhance state responsibility for, and influence in, matters that were previously within the purview of families are complex. The collective impact of these developments has been both to reform how the work of daily and generational social reproduction is done, and to reshape the social reproduction of a classed and gendered society

Reconciling care and justice in contesting social harm through performance and arts practice with looked after children and care leavers

The proportion of young people taken into the care of the state has increased recently and there is evidence that this social group suffer negative long-term outcomes that might be conceptualised by the emergent criminological category of ‘social harm’. This discussion is then related to debates on social work which have juxtaposed an ethics of care and justice. This paper reports findings from an innovative arts-based intervention with Looked After Children and Young People and concludes that holding these competing value sets in creative tension is central to the success of the programme in helping young people to cope with and contest social harm.DANCOP. The Mighty Creatives

Autistic Development, Trauma and Personhood: Beyond the Frame of the Neoliberal Individual

This chapter critically explores notions of childhood development, particularly in regard to autism, reactions to traumatic events and the meaning of ‘personhood’. The construction of the neoliberal individual is contrasted with that of personhood as experienced by an autistic person. Person-centred methods of engagement as outlined in this chapter can give opportunities for opening up a respectful discursive space where autistic development is not framed from the outset as ‘disordered’

Using photo-elicitation to understand reasons for repeated self-harm: a qualitative study

Background: Reasons for self-harm are not well understood. One of the reasons for this is that first-hand accounts are usually elicited using traditional interview and questionnaire methods. This study aims to explore the acceptability of using an approach (photo-elicitation) that does not rely on solely verbal or written techniques, and to make a preliminary assessment of whether people can usefully employ images to support a discussion about the reasons why they self-harm. Method: Interviews with eight participants using photo elicitation, a method in which photographs produced by the participant are used as a stimulus and guide within the interview. Results: Participants responded positively to using images to support a discussion about their self-harm and readily incorporated images in the interview. Four main themes were identified representing negative and positive or adaptive purposes of self-harm: self-harm as a response to distress, self-harm to achieve mastery, self-harm as protective and self-harm as a language or form of communication. Conclusions: Employing this novel approach was useful in broadening our understanding of self-harm

The Politics of Visibility, Voice and Anonymity: Ethically Disseminating Visual Research Findings Without the Pictures

The visual offers a range of possibilities for social research but it also brings particular challenges, and ethical guidelines do not always provide sufficient reference to the dissemination of images. Participants may want some level of anonymity, and some topics may be particularly sensitive; in such cases being visible and recognisable may not be practical, possible or ethical, both for participants and the non-consenting others they present in their accounts. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the potentialities and challenges associated with visual research dissemination and considers how we can creatively and ethically communicate our findings without using pictures

Creative methods: anonymity, visibility and ethical re-representation

Researchers employ creativity in their studies when designing, conducting, and presenting their data; in this way creativity is central to academic practice. Within this more general sense of being creative, “creative methods,” as presented in this chapter, refer to creativity in the literal sense, where researchers and participants are involved in producing visual images, artefacts, or other representations, through a range of arts-based or performative techniques. This creative and novel “making” is often associated with the field of creative methods in visual studies, particularly in relation to photography and film. The recognizability of people and places in these photographic modes has invoked tensions between revealing and concealing the visual images we produce in social research, in relation to confidentiality and anonymity. This becomes more problematic in a climate where the burgeoning use of new technologies means that images are more easily shared, disseminated, and distorted. Accordingly, once a visual image is created, it becomes very difficult to control its use or remove it from public view if participants decide that they no longer want to be represented in a fixed visual trope for time immemorial or if they decide to withdraw their data from a study. Arguments around anonymity and participant visibility are most closely related to photographs and film. However, it remains important to explore the ethical issues around other creative practices where researchers and participants make something new and understand that such issues can also be contentious. This chapter focuses on techniques of data production, including drawing, collaging, and sandboxing, where participants are involved in creating some form of artefact to represent aspects of their lives and experiences. It examines how these creative approaches generate a number of uncertainties around voice, confidentiality, informed consent, avoidance of harm, and future use. The chapter also explores the opportunities that creative approaches, which produce novel outputs, can offer in re-representing and revisualizing research data, engaging audiences in nontraditional formats, and increasing the impact of research studies. In this way, the chapter offers an insight into the ethical risks and potentialities of creative methods as tools of both data production and dissemination

What happens when you take your eye off the ball? Reflecting on a ‘lost study’ of boys’ football, uneven playing fields and the longitudinal promise of ‘esprit de corps’.

This chapter reflects on an undergraduate dissertation study that explored the idea of school choice with parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds who were all connected through their son’s football team. The project became ‘lost’ when the author’s doctoral work took a different direction; however, this loss was not complete as there was an extended physical engagement with the research site, a social tapestry of ongoing connections, and a psychological and intellectual reflexive process that has both influenced and guided the author’s future studies and writing. The original study involved individual interviews with the boys’ parents, discussing the transition from junior school to secondary school. As well as some informal ethnographic observations of the football games and wider community activities. It employed the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explore the extent to which parents have a ‘choice’ about their children’s education. The findings of the study supported the premise that there are pervasive forms of classed based inequalities in education and the idea of a ‘fallacy’ of school choice. The theoretical frameworks applied highlighted the ways in which ‘choice’ is constrained in relation to finance, place, class and ideas of belonging and community. The ‘lost’ project would have taken a longitudinal approach to follow the journeys of boys using multimodal forms of ethnography. The chapter argues that even though projects may be lost, they are not forgotten. It details how the author’s ideas for following up the football boys and the findings of the initial study have done, and continue to permeate the author’s thinking, research and understandings of place, class, stigma, constraint and the absence of choice for individuals and communities