Confidence and the effectiveness of creative methods in qualitative interviews with adults

ABSTRACT

This paper examines two contrasting creative methods; a drawing task and a LEGO building task used in a study exploring the gap between policy and practice in widening participation to higher education across two different types of university in England. These creative methods were used within 16 semi-structured interviews in seven universities to attempt to explore deeper understandings of everyday policy and what they mean in practice and to make comparisons across types of institutions. This paper examines the role that creative confidence played in the effectiveness of both methods through exploring the successes and failures of each arguing that understanding these barriers can improve the successful use of these methods, especially with adults. When these barriers are overcome, the paper also demonstrates how creative methods encouraged more reflective discussion of everyday issues, increased levels of rapport, and shared engagement in the interview process.

KEYWORDS:

• Drawing
• creative methods
• LEGO
• interviews
• visual methods

Acknowledgments

In additional to the valuable comments from the reviewers of this paper, I wish to thank the attendees at the University of Surrey ‘Using Creative and Visual Methods in Comparative Research’ seminar and the XIX International Sociological Association world congress session on unforeseen difficulties in empirical research for their insightful comments and questions that have informed this final paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jon Rainford

Jon Rainford is an early career researcher working within the intersections between Sociology and Education. Having worked across a range of educational settings, his recently completed doctoral research focused on exploring the gaps between policy and practice in relation to widening participation in higher education. His research interests also centre on how creative methods can be used both in data collection and effective engagement of publics with research including in online spaces.