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Abstract
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PURPOSE:
This paper highlights the critical role of triangulation to facilitate meaning-making amidst contradictory narratives of participants in sensitive art-based research with children.
Design/methodology/approach:
Multiple qualitative case study research included seven months of participant observation, individual semi-structured teacher interviews and open-ended art-based interviews using the Draw-Write-Narrate method (Ogina & Nieuwenhuis, 2010) with upper primary students in two schools in Kirinyaga County, Kenya.
Findings:
The art-based approach to student interviews, combined with participant observation and teacher interviews, provided a child-centered process that illuminated students' understandings and experiences while minimizing risks to participants. Its application requires researchers to recognize data collection and analysis as subjective processes that strongly benefit from triangulation to interpret a diversity of perspectives that may not easily align.
Originality/value:
As art-based research with children increases in popularity, it is important to identify challenges in the process of analysis and meaning-making. This article identifies triangulation as a valuable tool for handling the challenge of competing narratives from child participants, particularly in conducting sensitive research that may increase the likelihood of contradictory narratives.
Copyright: © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2017
Language: en |