Development Vectors of Interviewing Children: Inclusion, Trust, Agency

Development Vectors of Interviewing Children: Inclusion, Trust, Agency


Savinskaya O.B.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Associate Prof. of the Department of Sociology, Leading Research Fellow, International Laboratory for Social Integration Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics osavinskaya@hse.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Savinskaya O.B. Development Vectors of Interviewing Children: Inclusion, Trust, Agency. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2023. No 7. P. 63-74




Abstract

In this article, we discuss how the modern project of childhood, developed within the framework of the new sociology of childhood, forms a methodological framework for rules and techniques in the empirical research methods using the example of interviewing children. Approaches to the understanding of childhood, described in theoretical works, influenced the development of the method. On the other hand, field work made it possible to open up the children’s world, as, for example, in the Chicago school of the first wave. Recognition of the plurality of childhood in the global world, on the one hand, gives rise to many unique practices in field work, on the other hand, creating the ground for the development of common ethical and methodological approaches and principles. The second part of the article presents a systematization of these principles at different stages of field work and, in particular, the application of the interview method and the ethical aspects of its implementation: creation of a child-friendly toolkit, informed consent and the creation of trusting relationships, the dynamics of the interview situation, post-field relations, data analysis and the world of childhood representation in scientific articles and political documents. In the final part of the article, we outline the vectors for further development of the interview method and field practices for studying children.


Keywords
sociology of childhood; interview method; methodological inclusion; child agency; trust in an interview situation; interview gamification; stimulus material

References

Adler E.A., Adler E. (1998) Peer Power: Preadolescent Culture and Identity. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Ahern E.C., van Meter F., Lamb M.E. (2018) A Macro-Coding Perspective: Interviewer Support and Child Comfort in Investigative Interviews with Young Alleged Victims of Sexual Abuse. Children and Youth Services Review. No. 95(12): 361–367. DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.013.

Bardina S.M. (2019) “Children, Idiots and Crazies”: Thomas Hobbes and Problems of Modern Sociology of Childhood. Sotsiologiya Vlasti [Sociology of Power]. No. 31(1): 14–29. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.22394/2074-0492-2019-1-14-29.

Berger P., Lukman T. (1995) Social Construction of Reality. Treatise on the Sociology of Knowledge. Moscow: Academia-center, Medium. (In Russ.)

Beschasnaya A.A. (2016) The Dichotomy of “Childhood – Adulthood” in the Views of Children (in the Context of the Socio-Economic Situation of their Parental Families). Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie [Knowledge. Understanding. Skill]. No. 1: 133–145. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.17805/zpu.2016.1.10.

Brubacher S.P., Benson M.S., Powell M.B., Goodman-Delahunty J., Westera N.J. (2020) An Overview of Best Practice Investigative Interviewing of Child witnesses of Sexual Assault. Child Sexual Abuse / Ed. by

Bryce I., Petherick W. Academic Press: 445–466. DOI:10.1016/B978-0-12-819434-8.00022-2.

Corsaro W.A. (1997) The Sociology of Childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Erpyleva S. (2019) Are Children Born as Social Actors? Antropologicheskij forum [Anthropological forum]. Vol. 42: 54–61. (In Russ.)

Filipova A.G., Rakitina N.E. (2017) Urban Benevolence Towards Children: from Inequality to Participatory Design of the Urban Environment (on the materials of the Cities of the Far East). Vladivostok: Far Eastern Federal University Publishing House. (In Russ.)

Fontana A., Frey J. (1994) The interview: From Structured Questions to Negotiated Text. In: Handbook of qualitative research. Ed. by N.K. Denzin, Y.S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications: 645–672.

James A. (2007) Giving Voice to Children’s Voices: Practices and Problems, Pitfalls and Potentials. American Anthropologist. No. 109(2): 261–272. DOI:10.1525/aa.2007.109.2.261.

James A. (2009) Agency. In: Handbook of Childhood Studies. Ed. by J. Qvortrup, W. Corsaro, M.S. Honig. London: Palgrave MacMillan: 34–45.

Johnson H.B. (2001) From the Chicago school to the new sociology of children: The sociology of children and childhood in the United States, 1900–1999. Advances in Life Course Research. No. 6: 53–93. DOI: 10.1016/S1040-2608(01)80007-1.

Johnston V., Benedan L., Brubacher S., Powell M. (2021) The roles of child temperament and interviewer support on children reports of adult wrongdoing, Personality and Individual Differences. No. 175(6). DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110732.

Kalabikhina I.E., Kuchmaeva O.V. (2013) Monitoring the participation of children in decision-making affecting their interests. Questions of statistics. No. 10. C. 29–35. (In Russ.)

Kon I.S. (2004) Childhood as a social phenomenon. Journal of Social Policy Research. No. 2(2): 151–174. (In Russ.)

Latour B. (2020) Reassembly of the social: an introduction to actor-network theory. Moscow: HSE Publishing House. (In Russ.)

Lee J.A. (1982) Three Paradigms of Childhood. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. No. 19: 591–608.

Mannheim K. (1994) Diagnosis of our time. Moscow: Lawyer. (In Russ.)

Mavletova A.M., Gavrilov K.A., Tholmogorova T. (2019) Gamifying a web survey among adolescents: effects on understanding of risk, risk calculation, and ratio-bias. Journal of Risk Research. No. 22(12): 1532–1545. DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2018.1501592.

Mayorova-Shcheglova S.N., Kolosova E.A. (2018) Children and Childhood as Objects of Sociological Research. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research]. No. 3: 62–69. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.7868/S0132162518030066.

Mayorova-Shcheglova S.N., Krivosheeva P.N. (2015) Representations of Schoolchildren about Political Life in Russia: Experience of Research by Projective Methods. Narodnoe obrazovanie [People Education]. No. 1452(9): 157–162. (In Russ.)

Merton R., Fiske M., Kendall P. (1991) The Focused Interview. Trans. from English by T.N. Fedorovsky, ed. by S.A. Belanovsky. Moscow: Youth Institute. (In Russ.)

Mitrofanova S.Yu. (2016) Implementation of the principles of the participatory approach in modern sociology of childhood. Vektor nauki TGU [Vector of Science TSU]. Tolyatti. No. 2: 132–135. (In Russ.)

Morrow V., Richards M. (1996) The ethics of social research with children: An overview. Children and Society. No. 10: 90–105Nikitina den Besten O. (2009) “Childhood” in the Social Sciences: New Meanings and New Approach. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. No. 5: 8–24. (In Russ.)

O’Reilly M., Parker N. (2014) Doing Mental Health Research with Children and Adolescents. A Guide to Qualitative Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Oberemko O.A., Terenteva N.N. (2018) Focused interview according to Robert Merton: features and criteria of quality. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya [Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes]. No. 6: 74–90. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.14515/monitoring.2018.6.04.

Omelchenko E., Lukyanova E. (eds) (2015) Children and Adolescents in the Ethnosphere of a Large Russian City. SPb.: Own publishing house.

Osorina M. (2018) The Secret World of Children in the Space of the World of Adults. 6th ed. St. Petersburg: Peter. (In Russ.)

Prout A., James A. (2015) A New Paradigm for the Sociology of Childhood? Provenance, Promise, and Problems. In: Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. Ed. by A. James, A. Prout. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Reason P., Bradbury H. (eds) (2001) Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. London, UK: Sage.

Savinskaya O. (2016) One More Step in Childhood Research Discovering. Review. Doing Mental Health Research with Children and Adolescents. A Guide to Qualitative Methods. By M.O’Reilly and N. Parker. Sage, 2014. The Qualitative Report. No. 21(1): 68–70.

Savinskaya O.B. (2018) The Social Order of the Kindergarten Through the Eyes of Children: Constructing the World of Childhood Through an Interview Game. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research]. No. 3: 77–85. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.7868/S013216251803008X.

Savinskaya O.B. (2023) INTER-Encyclopedia: Interviews with Children. INTER. Interakciya. Interv’yu. Interpretaciya [INTER Interaction. Interview. Interpretation]. No. 15(1): 95–103. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.19181/inter.2023.15.1.5

Self B., Ryazantsev A.P. (2021) How to Conduct an Interview During and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. INTER. Interakciya. Interv’yu. Interpretaciya [INTER. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation]. No. 13(4): 9–27. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.19181/inter.2021.13.4.1.

Shaw C.R. (1930). The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy’s Own Story, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Shcheglova S.N. (2000) How to Study Childhood? Sociological Methods of Research of Modern Children and Modern Childhood. Moscow: UNPRESS. (In Russ.)

Solodnikova N.V. (2020) The Peculiarities of Consumer Behavior of Teenagers. Sociological Research. Vestnik RGGU. Seriya Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Iskusstvovedenie [RSUH/RGGU BULLETIN. Series Philosophy. Social Studies. Art Studies]. No. 1: 105–118. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.28995/2073-6401-2020-1-105-118.

Thomas W.A. (2009) Unadjusted girl. Chelovek. Kul’tura. Obshchestvo [Personality. Culture. Society]. Vol. XI. No. 50(3): 61–77. (In Russ.)

Thrasher E.M. (1927) The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Veselkova N.V., Vandyshev M.N., Pryamikova E.V. (2017) On the Main Vectors of Development of the Interview Method. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research]. No. 6: 44–56. (In Russ.)

Vygotsky L.S. (2017) Ch. 26. Difficult Children. In: Vygotsky L.S. Notebooks. Moscow: Kanon+: 449–523. (In Russ.)

Wyness M. (2018) Childhood, Culture and Society in a Global Context. Sage: Los Angeles (CA).

Yashina M.N., Zharikova A.V. (2023) Communication in Interviews with Adolescents on Sensitive Topics. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research]. No. 5: 37–46. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.31857/S013216250023705-8.

Content No 7, 2023