Psychoanalytic methods of observation as a research tool for exploring young children’s nursery experience

Abstract

Nurseries play a major role in the lives of many families. This paper argues for the value of psychoanalytic methods of observation as a research tool to explore young children’s interactions and emotional experience in nurseries. The paper reviews what has been learned already about early development using such methods. The second part of the paper illustrates observation data gathered using psychoanalytic methods in nursery research, through the observations of an 18-month-old boy. It uses these data to show the potential of the method in accessing what young children communicate about their nursery experience and in exploring current questions of nursery policy and practice.

Keywords:

• observation
• psychoanalytic
• nursery
• research
• emotion