Methodology in Child and Childhood Research

The course will provide an overview of diverse qualitative research methodologies in researching children’s lifeworlds and experiences. The course covers debates on the links between ontology, epistemology, theory, and methodology. It also prepares the students for researching with children and childhood as a social and cultural phenomenon by discussing the various steps in a research process, such as data collection, analysis, interpretation, and the making of a research text. The possibilities and limitations related to the use of different qualitative research methodologies will be addressed. Children's perspectives within research involve the exploration of children's everyday lives from children's perspectives and experiences. A ‘bottom-up’ perspective such as this entails a methodological approach towards children as informants in the research process and calls for the use of different research methods. These may include various forms of interviews, observations, visual methods, and ethnographic fieldwork. Methodological issues such as positionality and reflexivity, accessing children as informants, and research ethics will be addressed. Though the main emphasis is on qualitative research, various quantitative methods and the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches will be discussed.

Lectures draw on ongoing empirical research carried out in the department as well as from an international milieu of children and childhood researchers.

At the end of the course students have acquired the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

• In-depth understanding on a range of qualitative methodologies to undertake empirical qualitative research on/with children.
• Critical insights into the relationships between epistemology, theory, research questions and methodology.
• Reflexive knowledge linked to methodological discussions on fieldwork, children's perspectives and children as informants.

Skills

• Develop a reflexive use of different methods and techniques with a focus on qualitative approaches.
• Assess the implications how a choice of methodology relates to a choice of theory and vice versa

General competence

• The ability to make connection between epistemology, methodology and theory
• Insights into the process and politics of knowledge production using qualitative methodologies

Total lecture hours: ca. 20. Supervision of paper, individually and/or group based. The teaching language is English.

The course is offered when teaching/supervisor resources are available and can be changed or cancelled if less than 5 PhD candidates are registered.