Subverting the Research Encounter: Context, Structure, and Agency in the Creative Analysis of Research Data

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is twofold: first, to demonstrate that the use of creative methods with children and young people is less important than creativity in the data analysis process; and second to introduce a framework for analysis which takes into account structure and agency and reveals the multi-layered context of the research encounter. The argument presented here has implications for those working within the “new” social study of childhood in the ongoing endeavor to understand children’s experiences and childhood in a social context. The model presented here is of potential value as a tool in data analysis and more widely in helping us to conceptualize childhood agency and the relationship between structure and agency. This chapter problematizes the call for creative methods with children and young people and instead focuses on creative data interpretation. An original model is presented which researchers can apply to the analysis and interpretation of data gathered in research with children and young people. The creative ways in which children and young people use the research encounter are a multi-layered response to context, which additionally demonstrates the creation of “other” spaces in and through their shared talk.

Citation

McNamee, S. and Frankel, S. (2017), "Subverting the Research Encounter: Context, Structure, and Agency in the Creative Analysis of Research Data", Researching Children and Youth: Methodological Issues, Strategies, and Innovations (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 22), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 175-197. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120180000022009