Designing Psychological Co-research of Emancipatory-Technical Relevance Across Age Thresholds

The requirement that theoretical and empirical research is to sustainably benefit not only the nominal researcher, but also the other research participants, is deeply embedded in the conceptual-analytical framework of Psychology from the Standpoint of the Subject (PSS) and its co-researcher principle. PSS research is thus to be of emancipatory relevance to those others the researcher comes to collaborate with. Meanwhile, the question of how this requirement can be prospectively integrated into the design of a research project remains subject to debate. This question emerges as particularly difficult to tackle in research projects that engage in co-research with young children: How can a researcher ensure that the young children s-he works togethe with benefit from the research project? Based on the critical analysis of an earlier research project implemented by the author, the contribution at hand suggests that PSS’ foundational notion of emancipatory relevance needs to be revisited. It argues that if a research project is to sustainably benefit young co-researchers, the technical relevance of the expected mutual emancipation should as well be explicitly considered in the project design. A discussion of recent methodological developments in child-targeted Participatory Design (PD) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) serve as inspiration for this conceptual specification. The contribution thereby invites co-research to further investigate how emancipatory relevance cannot only to be methodologically attained via dissemination of research results and conceptual developments, but also via the actual research process it attempts to engage the co-researchers in irrespective of their age

Methodological challenges in the transition towards online audience research

This review of the literature published between 2005 and 2014 presents an overview of the methodological environment in which audience research is transiting towards the study of online audiences. Online audience research is a mix of long-established research rationales, methodical adaptations, new venues and convergent thinking. We discuss four interconnected, and sometimes contradictory, methodological trends that characterize this current environment: 1) the expansion of online ethnography and the continued importance of contextualization, 2) the influence of big data and an emphasis on uses, 3) the reliance on mixed methods and the convergence of different rationales of research, and 4) the ambiguous nature of online data and the ethical considerations for the conduct of research. In spite of a massive research activity, there remain gaps and underprivileged areas that call for a re-prioritization of research. In the conclusion of this paper, we offer recommendations to orient future research.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-0075

Exploring Media Technologies with Children: Conduct of Everyday Life and Subject-Scientific Technology Research

Der alltäglichen Nutzung von Medientechnologien liegen komplexe Interaktionsprozesse zugrunde. Eine Erforschung des Kind-Technik-Verhältnisses benötigt daher Konzepte, die der intersubjektiven und materiellen Beziehungshaftigkeit menschlichen Alltags gerecht werden. Das zuletzt verstärkt von der Kinderforschung aufgegriffene Konzept der alltäglichen Lebensführung unterstreicht die Zweiseitigkeit des Mensch-Welt-Verhältnisses, die sozio-materielle Vermitteltheit alltäglichen Lebens sowie die Gerichtetheit menschlicher Handlungen. Potenziell ermöglicht es dadurch eine Überwindung naheliegender einseitiger Erklärungen für die Kind-Technik-Interaktion. Der Beitrag bezieht in einem Kindergarten erhobenes Datenmaterial ein, um das Konzept der alltäglichen Lebensführung für eine subjektwissenschaftliche Technikforschung mit Kindern fruchtbar zu machen. Die hier vorgeschlagene Erweiterung betont die Relevanz einer präzisen Analyse materieller Anordnungen in den spezifischen Praxiszusammenhängen sowie die kollektive Gestaltung dieser Zusammenhänge durch Erziehende, akademisch Forschende und Kinder.Complex interaction processes lie at the heart of everyday media technology usage. An investigation of the child-technology relationship thus necessitates concepts that are able to embrace both the intersubjective and the material relatedness of human everyday life. Recently, child research has increasingly discussed the conduct of everyday life concept, which emphasizes the two-sidedness of the human-world relationship, the socio-material mediatedness of everyday life as well as the directedness of human action. Consequently the concept has the potential to overcome taken-for-granted, one-sided explanations for the child-technology interaction. The article includes data material collected in a kindergarten in order to make the conduct of everyday life concept fruitful for psychologically investigating technology together with children. It underlines the importance of a precise analysis of material arrangements in specific practice relations as well as the fact that parents, pedagogues, researchers and children all actively contribute to these relations

Subjectivity as Critique: Kollektive Methodologie in Phänomenologie und Kritischer Psychologie

Der Begriff der Kritischen Phänomenologie wird in philosophischen Debatten derzeit verstärkt diskutiert. In der psychologischen Forschung verbleibt der kritische Impetus der Phänomenologie jedoch wenig beachtet. Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht daher kritische Potenziale der phänomenologischen Psychologie mithilfe der subjektwissenschaftlichen Kritischen Psychologie, welche die Phänomenologie als wichtige Inspirationsquelle heranzieht. Insbesondere das Insistieren auf den inneren Zusammenhang von Subjektivität, Intersubjektivität und Lebenswelt ebnet unseres Erachtens den Weg für eine selten hervorgehobene, gemeinsame kritische Reflexion der gesellschaftlich-historischen Zusammenhänge, welche konstitutiv für subjektive Erfahrungen sind. Der Modus der Je-Meinigkeit, dem wir uns durch Klaus Holzkamps Studium phänomenologischer Philosophen annähern, unterstreicht, wie letztere eine notwendigerweise kollektive Methodologie zur Erforschung von Subjektivität im Dialog einfordern. Dies veranschaulichen wir empirisch anhand zweier sozialpsychologischer Forschungsprojekte, welche die kritischen Potenziale der Phänomenologie nutzen, um die Erforschung von gemeinsam gelebter Welt zusammen mit ansonsten in der Wissensproduktion und der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung marginalisierten Gruppen zu ermöglichen: Kleinkinder und Autisten.Recently, the notion of critical phenomenology has gained momentum in philosophical scholarship. Yet, in psychological research, phenomenology’s critical resources remain underdeveloped. In this article, we investigate the critical potential of phenomenological psychology by exploring how phenomenology has been an overlooked source of inspiration for the development of critical psychology. We argue that the phenomenological emphasis on the interrelatedness of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and lifeworld enables a little acknowledged critical reflection on the role of societal-historical development in shaping subjective experience. Retracing the notion of Je-Meinigkeit through Klaus Holzkamp’s »phenomenological turn,« we find a basis for considering the dialogical processes of qualitative inquiry and recognizing phenomenology as a collective methodology. Finally, we develop these points in an empirical context by discussing two research projects that actualize the critical potential of phenomenology through collective research processes with young children and autistic persons respectively, each of whom remain marginalized in processes of knowledge production and societal development