Toward an Ecological Approach to Ethics in Visual Research Methods with Children

  • Philip Waters
  • Sue Waite
Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

This conceptual paper presents an approach to conducting visual research with children. It locates research praxis within an ecological framework where researchers operate within spheres of moral and emotional engagement through play. It critiques research activities that consider ethics as a system to manage the behavioral conduct of researchers, sometimes resulting in a disconnect between those doing research and those being researched, and proposes instead an ecological form of collaborative ethical enquiry. Targeted at research practitioners, the text is written from the perspective of the first author’s research with children using film. It charts various research activities that were located at a small off-grid school in Cornwall, UK, and discusses the ethical dilemmas encountered and the measures used to overcome them.

Keywords

Ethical Dilemma Visual Method Visual Medium Creative Method Behavioral Code 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Aitken, S.C. 2001. Playing with children: Immediacy was their cry. The Geographical Review 91(1–2): 12.Google Scholar
  2. Alderson, P., and V. Morrow. 2011. The ethics of research with children and young people: A practical handbook, 2nd ed. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bakhtin, M.M. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination. Trans. C. Emerson, M. Holquist. Austin: University of Texas.Google Scholar
  4. Christensen, P.H. 2004. Children’s participation in ethnographic research: Issues of power and representation. Children and Society 18(2): 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Clark, A. 2012. Visual ethics in a contemporary landscape. In Advances in Visual Methodology, ed. S. Pink. London: Sage.Google Scholar
  6. Clark, A., and P. Moss. 2005. Spaces to Play: More Listening to Young Children Using the Mosaic Approach. London: National Children’s Bureau.Google Scholar
  7. Coady, M.M. 2001. Ethics in early childhood research. In Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice, ed. G. MacNaughton, S.A. Rolfe, and I. Siraj-Blatchford. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
  8. Cox, S., S. Drew, M. Guillemin, C. Howell, D. Warr, and J. Waycott. 2014. Guidelines for Ethical Visual Research Methods. Melbourne: The University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
  9. Craig, W.M., D. Pepler, and R. Atlas. 2000. Observations of bullying in the playground and in the classroom. School Psychology International 21(1): 14.Google Scholar
  10. Dunn, J., and C. Hughes. 2001. “I got some swords and you’re dead!” Violent fantasy, antisocial behaviour, friendship, and moral sensibility in young children. Child Development 72(2): 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Edmiston, B. 2008. Forming Ethical Identities in Early Childhood Play. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  12. Frers, L. 2009. Video research in the open–encounters involving the researcher-camera. In Video Interaction Analysis: Methods and Methodology, ed. U.T. Kissmann, 155–180. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
  13. Gallagher, L.A., and M. Gallagher. 2008. Methodological immaturity in childhood research? Thinking through ‘participatory methods’. Childhood no. 15(4): 17.Google Scholar
  14. Guillemin, M., and L. Gillam. 2004. Ethics, reflexivity, and “ethically important moments” in research. Qualitative Inquiry 10(2): 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Henley, P. 1998. Film-making and ethnographic research. In Image-Based Research, 16 edn, ed. J. Prosser. London: RoutledgeFalmer.Google Scholar
  16. Kullman, K. 2012. Experiments with moving children and digital cameras. Children’s Geographies 10(1): 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Lomax, H. 2012. Contested voices? Methodological tensions in creative visual research with children. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 15(2): 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. MacDougall, D. 2011. Anthropological filmmaking: An empirical art. In The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods, ed. E. Margolis, and L. Pauwels. London: Sage.Google Scholar
  19. Nicolini, D. 2010. Practice as the site of knowing: Insights from the field of telemedicine. Articles in Advance Organization Science 22(3): 18.Google Scholar
  20. Pink, S. 2009. Doing Sensory Ethnography. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Rose, G. 2012. Visual Methodologies. London: Sage.Google Scholar
  22. Scott, E., and J. Panksepp. 2003. Rough-and-tumble play in human children. Aggressive Behaviour 29: 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Simpson, M., and J. Tuson. 2003. Using Observations in Small-Scale Research: A Beginner’s Guide. Glasgow: University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
  24. Sorensen, H.G., and A. Jablonko. 1995. Research filming of naturally occurring phenomena: Basic strategies. In Principles of Visual Anthropology, ed. P. Hockings, 147–162. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
  25. Veale, A. 2005. Creative methodologies in participatory research with children. In Researching Children’s Experience, ed. S. Greene, and D. Hogan. London: Sage.Google Scholar
  26. Waters, P. 2011. Trees talk: Are you listening? Nature, narrative and children’s anthropocentric place-based play. Children, Youth and Environments 21(1): 9.Google Scholar
  27. ———. 2014a. Into the woods: Stories and nature in playwork training. Children, Youth and Environments 24(3): 14.Google Scholar
  28. ———. 2014b. Tracking trolls and chasing pixies: Stories, creativity and children’s outdoor experiential learning. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research 3(3): 24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Waite, S. 2013. ‘Knowing your place in the world’: How place and culture support and obstruct educational aims. Cambridge Journal of Education 43(4): 413–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Waters, P., S.J. Waite, and I.J. Frampton. 2014. Play frames, or framed play? The use of film cameras in visual ethnographic research with children. Journal of Playwork Practice 1(1): 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Philip Waters
    • 1
  • Sue Waite
    • 2
  1. 1.University of ExeterExeterUK
  2. 2.Plymouth Institute of EducationPlymouthUK

Personalised recommendations