Participant Observations of Children’s Communities—Exploring Subjective Aspects of Social Practice

Abstract

This article contributes to ongoing discussions in psychology about how to explore psychological phenomena as embedded in social practice. While recognising the valuable contributions from ethnographic methodology, we argue that ethnographic explorations in psychology can be developed further in order to shed light on psychological problems in practice. As an exemplary empirical field, we draw on studies of the everyday life of children and how children’s problems in school can be understood and explored as part of their conduct of everyday life across contexts and together with others. Through concrete examples, we elucidate an approach where theoretical concepts guide how researchers conduct observations. It is concluded that such situated observations are at odds with a tendency in psychology to focus separately on isolated individual characteristics. Situated observations thus shift awareness from categorisations of individual children to conflictual social interplay between persons in social practice.

Keywords:

• children’s everyday life
• participant observation
• researcher position
• social practice
• subjectivity

Notes

1. 1. A basic search in psychology information using “participant observation” as the keyword (identifier) generates a total of 823 results compared with 138 984 results for “interview” (search done 22 August 2013). However, see Hedegaard and Fleer (2008) for a discussion of multiple methods within a cultural historical approach and Tudge and Hogan (2005) for an ecological approach to participant observations.

2. 2. We previously conducted 24-hour observations where the observer was picked up at a kindergarten along with the children, slept at their houses, and was subsequently dropped off at the kindergarten again (Kousholt 2011). We also carried out trajectory observations whereby the children were followed through their transition from kindergarten to preschool class and into grade 1 and the after-school centre (Højholt 1999, 2006; see also Stanek 2011; Schwartz 2007; Morin 2008; Røn Larsen 2012).

3. 3. In Denmark, grade 3 (3. klasse) is equivalent to fourth grade in American schools or year 4 in British schools; children are typically 9 or 10 years old.

4. 4. The project focused on children’s everyday life in leisure time institutions and on how pedagogues work with, develop knowledge of, and collaborate about children’s communities; see also www.fritidspaedagogik.dk.

5. 5. Mads had undergone a long screening process and was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

6. 6. Indeed, psychology’s concept of behaviour tends to separate a person’s actions from his/her reasons for acting, disregarding the latter (see Danziger 1990 for the historical tendency and for the theoretical discussion; Dreier 2008; Højholt 2006).

7. 7. It is often recommended for ethnographers to employ an open-ended approach. Bronislaw Malinowski points out that ethnographers often have a “foreshadowed problem,” that is, an interest in some particular area or aspects of social life. However, the overall emphasis is put on the exploratory aim (cited in Hammersley & Atkinson 2007). In this article, the explorative ambition is closely connected to an interest in a specific problem.

8. 8. In Denmark, grade 1 (1. klasse) is equivalent to second grade in American schools or year 2 in British schools. The children are typically 7–8 years old.

9. 9. The research projects presented here vary with regard to how long the researchers followed the children—from six months up to two years with varying intensity. The point about the importance of following children over time does not signify a specific amount of necessary time. Following transitions and interplay during, for example, a couple of weeks can provide relevant knowledge. The main point is that it takes knowledge of several situations and interplay in different practices to access the type of composite knowledge that we advocate.

10. 10. This is similar to an ethnographic point that the challenges related to entering the field reveal important aspects of the social structure of the field (e.g., Hammersley & Atkinson 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charlotte Højholt

Charlotte Højholt is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Educational Studies at Roskilde University. The focus of her research is on children’s everyday lives, and she is working with theoretical development through ‘Practice Research’—a unity of empirical research and developmental work. She takes her point of reference in children’s participation in social practice, going across different life contexts in family, school, kindergarten, recreation centers, and special help arrangements. This has given a focus on the communities of children, their personal conduct of life, and the cooperation between the grown-ups (parents, teachers, pedagogues, psychologists). She is head of the PhD program “Social Psychology of Everyday Life” at Roskilde University.

Dorte Kousholt

Dorte Kousholt is an associate professor in the Department of Education at Aarhus University and is also part of the research program Diversity, Culture and Change. Her research interest is children’s and families’ everyday lives, children’s communities in different institutional contexts, and parenthood in relation to children’s everyday lives. Methodologically she works with practice research—research arranged as collaborative investigative processes between researcher, professionals, children, and parents—and has worked extensively with participant observations in the contexts of children’s everyday lives.