Chapter 17: Creative methods for listening to children in research

Test your understanding of each chapter by taking the quiz below. Click anywhere on the question to reveal the answer. Good luck!

1. What international framework underpins participatory methods with children?

  1. The Early Years Foundation Stage
  2. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
  3. The Declaration on Human Rights
  4. The Mosaic Approach

Ans: B

2.  What does the term ‘creative methods’ refer to?

  1. Participatory methods which are not only imaginative and creative in approach but are also rigorous
  2. Methods which mean the researcher needs to be an imaginative, creative person
  3. Positivist research methods to ensure scientific rigour
  4. Methods which involve the children engaging in art activities in order to elicit their perspectives

Ans: A

3. According to the chapter, why is encouraging children to draw sometimes viewed as problematic as a research method?

  1. Young children are not very good at drawing so adults won’t be able to recognize the subject matter
  2. Young children might prefer to do other activities and not engage with the drawing activity
  3. Drawing has practical limitations as the researcher has to provide a wider range of costly material when employing this strategy unlike interviews
  4. Drawing is reliant on children’s talk about their pictures in order to ascertain their meaning so it is less appropriate for research with the very youngest children and infants

Ans: D

4. What was Angelides and Michaelidou’s (2009) research focus in their research employing use of children’s drawings?

  1. Children’s views on outdoor play
  2. Children’s experience of marginalization and exclusion
  3. Children’s experience of home–school transition
  4. Children’s views on mealtimes

Ans: B

5. What is Brian Edmiston’s relationship to the child discussed in much of his work (and also discussed in the chapter)?

  1. Teacher–pupil
  2. Social worker–child in care
  3. Father–son
  4. Father–daughter

Ans: C

6. How might Persona Dolls be useful in research?

  1. Young children might feel happier in an environment which includes toys, so research may be less distressing
  2. Young children can use the dolls to imitate behaviour they have seen, such as in Bandura’s research, which can be observed by the researcher
  3. Young children can be encouraged to discuss their feelings relating to issues of equality and inclusion via a Persona Doll
  4. Young children are likely to have Persona Dolls at home so will enjoy having them incorporated into research

Ans: C

7. Why is the metaphor of a ‘mosaic’ used in the Mosaic Approach (Clark and Moss, 2011)?

  1. It represents the bringing together of many pieces such as using different tools for listening and different stakeholder perspectives on a child
  2. It represents the creativity needed to undertake research
  3. It represents combining quantitative and qualitative approach to form a fuller picture of the child, her interests and her abilities
  4. It represents the bringing together of policy initiatives and institutional initiatives so the researcher can consider their impact on practice

Ans: A