Parents as Coresearchers at Home

Abstract

This article discusses the use of observational video recordings to document young children's use of technology in their homes. Although observational research practices have been used for decades, often with video-based techniques, the participant group in this study (i.e., very young children) and the setting (i.e., private homes) provide a rich space for exploring the benefits and limitations of qualitative observation. The data gathered in this study point to a number of key decisions and issues that researchers must face in designing observational research, particularly where nonresearchers (in this case, parents) act as surrogates for the researcher at the data collection stage. The involvement of parents and children as research videographers in the home resulted in very rich and detailed data about children's use of technology in their daily lives. However, limitations noted in the data set (e.g., image quality) provide important guidance for researchers developing projects using similar methods in future. The article provides recommendations for future observational designs in similar settings and/or with similar participant groups.

Studying the Digital: Directions and Challenges for Digital Methods

“…In addition to the textual analysis of online content and natural-languageprocessing and machine-learning approaches to textual analysis (Evans & Aceves 2016), researchers have also been analyzing the content of other media to explore technology use. For example, Given et al (2016) pioneered the analysis of video recordings taken by parents to study children's use of technology in the home. Hampton et al (2015) compared the content of archival Super 8 films from the 1980s and recent digital videos to study change in public spaces as a result of mobile phone use.…”

Watching young children “play” with information technology: Everyday life information seeking in the home

“…Parents set up the researcher's video camera in a location where their children were interacting with technology at an angle to capture both the screen and the child. Over a one-week period, parents recorded their children's use of technologies during typical, everyday activities (see Given et al, 2016, for details on the observational method). The full dataset comprised 29 hours of video recording, showing children using laptops, desktops and a range of handheld devices.…”

Narratives of Maternal Action and Cultural Re-evaluation in Relation to the Transition to School

“…The purpose was to engage in photo-elicitation (Dockett, Einarsdóttir, & Perry, 2017;Given et al, 2016;Pink, 2013;Rose, 2007) during the interview sessions; to stimulate discussions with visual material, evoke reflection, unlock memories in greater detail and give the participants an opportunity to discuss important aspects that might otherwise have gone unnoticed by the researcher. The interview sessions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim.…”