Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad

Tailoring data collection
The experiences of researchers who have worked with children
are presented here as a guide to some approaches that may be
useful, not as recipes for how to work with children. In the final
analysis, the ‘best’ thing to do has to be worked out in the context
of the individual relationships between the researcher and each
child. There are, however, a couple of overriding principles in
working with children, in any context. These are the importance of
neither over-estimating nor under-estimating a child’s capabilities,
and the necessity to like children, to be comfortable with them, to be
really interested in what they think and feel, and to be able to
communicate this to them.
Interviewing children
In this section, we consider first the issue of deciding who to interview
and in what order. This is important in studies where other
family members are also being interviewed. We then consider some
practical issues relating to the interview context itself.
Who to interview and in what order?
In research with children there will always be adults whose cooperation
and trust, as well as formal consent, is crucial to the
child’s participation in the research. Very often, others who are
significant in the child’s life will also be interviewed. Researchers
have taken a number of approaches to deciding the order in which
interviews are conducted, or whether to interview children alone
or with others. There is no right or wrong approach. All have pros
and cons, and these are decisions that need to be made in the
context of the research purpose and the setting in which it is being
conducted.
In general, where parents and children are being interviewed,
interviewing parents first gives them an opportunity to get to know
the interviewer and also to develop a clear idea of what the interviews
involve. In all cases, parents should be informed as to the
nature of the children’s interviews, and any techniques that will be
used. It is also vital that they understand the importance of not
influencing what the children say, both prior to the initial interview
and before any subsequent interviews.
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