Drawing as a Method for Accessing Young Children's Perspectives in Research A thesis submitted to the University of Stirling for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education School of Education 18th of June 2013 Pauline Agnieszka Duncan 1826383 TABLE OF CONTENTS INDEX OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... VII INDEX OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ XI GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................. XII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... XIII DECLARATION ........................................................................................................... XIV ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. XV CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 17 1.1. Overview ............................................................................................................... 17 1.2. Introducing the study ............................................................................................ 17 1.2.1. Why drawing? ................................................................................................ 19 1.2.2. Topic of drawings: why play? ....................................................................... 23 1.2.3. Why analysis? ................................................................................................ 25 1.2.4. Introducing the study: summary .................................................................... 29 1.3. Aims, objectives, and research questions ............................................................. 32 1.4. Organisation of the thesis ..................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 37 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 37 2.2. Children’s drawings and research ......................................................................... 39 2.2.1. Children’s drawing development................................................................... 39 2.2.2. The preschool child and drawing .................................................................. 42 2.4. The widespread use of children’s drawings in research ....................................... 45 i 2.5. Drawing as a method of gathering children’s perspectives .................................. 48 2.6. Using drawing as a research tool for gathering preschool children’s perspectives ........................................................................................................................... 55 2.7. Drawing as meaning-making: implications for research methodologies and analysis .............................................................................................................. 61 2.8. Social semiotics and children’s multimodal drawing practice ............................. 69 2.8.1. The path to ‘reading images’ ........................................................................ 71 2.8.2. A social semiotic approach to interpreting children’s drawings .................. 78 2.9. Summary ............................................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 84 3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 84 3.2. Research approach ................................................................................................ 85 3.2.1. Subjectivity..................................................................................................... 89 3.2.2. Reflexivity ...................................................................................................... 91 3.3. Research with children .......................................................................................... 94 3.3.1. Adults and children…same or different? ....................................................... 94 3.3.2. Children as participants ................................................................................ 96 3.4. Ethical issues ......................................................................................................... 98 3.4.1. Children, gatekeepers and consenting to participation ................................ 99 3.4.2. The ethical complexities of using drawings as data .................................... 101 3.5. Context ................................................................................................................ 103 3.6. Drawing as a method for accessing children’s perspectives ............................... 104 3.7. Drawing as communication and implications for interpreting children’s representations: a social semiotic lens ............................................................ 106 3.8. Summary ............................................................................................................. 114 ii CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURE ....................................... 116 4.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 116 4.2. Overview of research design ............................................................................... 117 4.3. Sample ................................................................................................................ 117 4.4. Context ................................................................................................................ 120 4.5. Rapport and familiarization ................................................................................ 121 4.6. Methods .............................................................................................................. 122 4.6.1. Use of video ................................................................................................. 122 4.6.2. Photos .......................................................................................................... 126 4.6.3. Drawing materials ....................................................................................... 126 4.7. Overview of procedure ....................................................................................... 127 4.7.1. Drawing activity .......................................................................................... 130 4.8. Ethical considerations ......................................................................................... 131 4.8.1. Information forms and consent .................................................................... 132 4.8.2. Participant privacy and confidentiality ....................................................... 134 4.8.3. Managing and analysing the data ............................................................... 135 4.9. Summary ............................................................................................................. 138 CHAPTER 5. A 4-STEP APPROACH TO THE SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN’S DRAWINGS ................................................................. 139 5.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 139 5.2. Why a social semiotic analytical technique? ...................................................... 141 5.3. The complexities of analysing visual data and the need for a suitable principled approach .......................................................................................................... 144 5.4. Developing a 4-step approach to the semiotic analysis of children’s drawings (4- SASA) ............................................................................................................. 149 iii 5.5. Children’s perspectives on play: outcomes of the 4-SASA ................................ 168 5.6. Summary ............................................................................................................. 173 CHAPTER 6. CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ON PLAY ...................................... 175 6.1. Play: an elusive concept ...................................................................................... 176 6.2. An overview of the drawing data ........................................................................ 181 6.2.1. Prompted drawing ....................................................................................... 183 6.2.2. Free drawing ............................................................................................... 185 6.3. Children’s perspectives on play: summary ......................................................... 185 6.4. “Look. This is someone playing!” Children’s conceptualisation and definitions of play .................................................................................................................. 194 6.4.1. Children’s unique perspectives on play ...................................................... 195 6.4.2. Children’s unique perspectives on play: gender ......................................... 205