The role of triangulation in sensitive art-based research with children

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the critical role of triangulation to create authentic analytical frameworks amidst contradictory participant narratives in sensitive art-based research (ABR) with children. Design/methodology/approach Multiple qualitative case study research included three months of participant observation, individual semi-structured teacher interviews and open-ended art-based interviews using the Draw-Write-Narrate method (Ogina and 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-centred 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 ABR with children increases in popularity, it is important to identify challenges in the process of analysis and meaning-making. This paper identifies triangulation as a valuable tool for handling the challenge of diverse perspectives from child participants, particularly in conducting sensitive research that may increase the likelihood of contradictory narratives.

Renewed Understandings, Dialogue, and Reflective Practices: Engaging With Indigenous Experience and Worldviews Through Art

“…Drawing on the use of triangulation in arts-based research (c.f. Vanner & Kimani, 2017), these different forms of data will be reviewed and coded for the presence of multiple, emergent worldviews. In order to provide corroborating evidence triangulating the data and creating opportunities to validate study findings, the qualitative data will be brought in conversation with the quantitative data from surveys and evaluation data.…”

Inclination State on the Philippine Culture and Arts Using the Appraisal Theory: Factors of Progress and Deterioration

“…In this case, Ishiguro et al (2016) stated that learners change their viewing strategies in art appreciation after a course of education in which the mean duration of addiction decreases when one is viewing photographs with recognizable subjects. The critical role of triangulation to create authentic analytical frameworks amidst contradictory participant narratives in sensitive art-based research (ABR) with children make them appreciate or not appreciate what art is (Vanner & Kimani, 2017). If one truly understands one-piece or form of art, it can be assumed that they are also be able to appreciate it.…”

Overcoming “You Can Ask My Mom”: Clinical Arts-Based Perspectives to Include Children Under 12 in Mental Health Research

“…The emphasis on the meaning that can be elicited through the arts and the relational value of artistic productions are converging, along with a posture of sensitive listening (see Bagnoli, 2009;Boydell et al, 2012;C. Mitchell et al, 2011;Vanner & Kimani, 2017). Arts-based methods have been used to give a voice to the experience of children, even very young ones, in relation to sensitive issues like inclusion, fear, life after trauma, and even on the very issue of having a voice or not, in healthcare settings and in education (see for example Akesson et al, 2014;Blaisdell et al, 2019;Clark, 2005;Coad, 2007;Driessnack, 2006).…”

“…We know, from Spratling et al (2012), for example, that it is possible for children to talk about their experiences in interviews but little is known about how to foster this. Researchers have also highlighted the challenges encountered in working with children on sensitive issues (Akesson et al, 2014;Vanner & Kimani, 2017). Research has shown that children will mask or withhold negative or emotionally disturbing information and focus on the present in verbal interviews as Docherty and Sandelowski (1999) have pointed out.…”