Researching family food decision making processes: highlights, hits and pitfalls when including young children’s perspectives

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss a number of child-centric research methods/stimuli involving young children (5-6 years old) in interviews without, and subsequently with their parents. Existing and new methods were selected and developed for a study which aimed at obtaining insights into parents’ and young children’s understandings of children’s influence and family interaction with regard to family food consumption practices. Design/methodology/approach A total of 35 children were interviewed using semi-structured interviews in five kindergartens. Subsequently, 13 families were interviewed in their homes. The latter interviews included the same children as were interviewed in the kindergarten. The methods discussed include drawings, a desert-island-choice task, a sentence completion task, photographs, vignettes and a video-clip. Findings When interviewing young children about family decision making influence, the use of engaging methods contributes to the quality of data achieved and to the participants’ enjoyment of their participation. Care should be taken not to overload children with exercises. Visual rather than verbal methods worked better for engaging the children in the research process; for parents all included methods worked well. Research limitations/implications The current study shows that a method developed specifically for the study (desert-island-choice task) was apt at including all family members’ perspectives; future studies should develop methods that capture shared rather than individual experiences. The study was carried out in wealthy areas in Denmark. It would be highly relevant to broaden the sample to other socio-economic and cultural contexts. Originality/value The study is based on interviews with children usually deemed too young to interview. The contribution is novel methods that allow for studying the interaction between children and parents and that are not based on reading and writing skills to access the perspectives of 5-6-year old children. Precautions regarding using existing methods are offered.

Enhancing data collection methods with qualitative projective techniques in the exploration of a university’s brand identity and brand image

“…In terms of practical outcomes-implications, this study equips practitioners with pragmatic insight, guidance, and capabilities in the use of projective techniques and reaffirms that projective techniques can be seen as a series of devices that allow respondents to articulate sub-conscious, repressed, or often withheld feelings, opinions and perceptions by projecting these onto another character (Boddy, 2005;Denzin & Lincoln, 2017;Gordon & Langmaid, 2008;Gronhoj & Gram, 2020). For example, this study demonstrates that projective techniques are useful in gathering deep insights into employees' perspectives as it puts them at ease in a non-intrusive way, so that evidence can be teased out on how people interpret the corporate brand which provided us with access to unspoken values.…”

“…Hence, the sentence completion projective technique confirms that “the interviewee is given an incomplete sentence, story, argument or conversation, and asked to finish it, and it is generally known to be a structured-indirect way of investigating the whys of a situation” (Gronhoj & Gram, 2020, p. 9). However, although Hofstede et al (2007) and Farook (2013) claim that sentence completion and word association share similarities, it appears not to be the case in this study as findings from the word associations were far deeper, but importantly, they substantiated findings from the sentence completion.…”

“…Through the use of the sentence completion projective technique (Escribanoa et al, 2020; Gronhoj & Gram, 2020; Hofstede et al, 2007; Janetius et al, 2019; Soley & Smith, 2008), it was established that by far the most prevalent reason student respondents had chosen the RoI University was the popularity of the course and the fact that it was the only one available in the country. This projective technique, therefore, allowed respondents to describe how they interpreted the university and the department (Chandler & Owen, 2002; Escribanoa et al, 2020; Fisher, 2010; Gronhoj & Gram, 2020; Hofstede et al, 2007; Janetius et al, 2019; Soley & Smith, 2008). Thus, the findings from the qualitative projective techniques demonstrate the university had secured a strong corporate brand image (Kapferer, 2012), in the eyes of its external stakeholders, through the delivery of a clear brand identity.…”

“…involve the use of stimulus that allow participants to project their subjective or deep-seated beliefs onto other people or objects” (Hofstede et al, 2007, p. 301). Similarly, projective techniques have been conceptualized as a series of devices that allow respondents to articulate sub-conscious, repressed, or often withheld feelings, opinions, and perceptions by projecting these onto another character (Boddy, 2005; Denzin & Lincoln, 2017; Gordon & Langmaid, 2008; Gronhoj & Gram, 2020). In addition, projective techniques can provide access to the private conscious and unconscious inner world of the respondent (Boddy, 2004; Vince & Broussine, 1996) which, Kay (2001) maintains can help respondents express themselves in a way that is more emotion-driven rather than remaining sub-conscious or difficult to articulate verbally (Donoghue, 2000).…”

Exploring children’s reactions to sponsorship transition: a study of interpersonal and pro-social demands

“…Early relationships with brands are predicated on perceptual cues such as tangible form, colour and taste while the more advanced analytical stage is a time when children, invariably between the ages of 7 and 11, start to assign subjective meanings to brands (Folkvord et al , 2019). By 11 years of age, these choices are fully developed and children can express their preferences and articulate their relationships with brands in a critical and competent manner (Grønhøj and Gram, 2020). These preferences extend to sport and, as football fans, children are said to have “powerful” connections to their teams (Tamir, 2019), with football a predominant factor in their young lives.…”