http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
eliciting children's voices in child wellbeing research
In 2014, I enrolled in a doctoral program within the discipline of Public Health with the aspiration of conducting research on young childrens wellbeing as they transition to school. In undertaking a systematic review of the literature on young childrens health and wellbeing, it was evident that current conceptualizations of child wellbeing were derived almost exclusively from adult understandings, excluding the voices of children and how they understand and experience being well. This case provides an account of how visual methods were used within a child-centered research design to elicit childrens understandings and experiences of wellbeing. Conducting research with children, rather than on children, presents many methodological challenges as hierarchical power relations between adults and children habitually operate to exclude children and their voices from matters that affect them. This case study elucidates the challenges of conducting child-centered research with young children, and how visual research methods set within a child-centered research design allows childrens understandings and experiences to become centre-stage within the research process.