Research with children from a transdisciplinary perspective: coproduction of knowledge by walking

ABSTRACT

Based on a transdisciplinary perspective, this contribution aims to describe the methodological issues presenting themselves when walking is deployed as a tool to co-produce knowledge in a research project conducted with children. An analysis of two projects, one in Switzerland and the other in Spain, shows the relevance of working across a number of disciplines to study the movement of children and adolescents in their living environment. These research projects use a participatory methodological device, combining the interview and walking technique (mobile interview or accompanied itineraries) as a method of analysing and understanding the experiences of young social actors by prioritising their viewpoints. We also show how adopting a transdisciplinary approach to data co-production enables the participants to inhabit the research through their physical presence and their words.

KEYWORDS:

• Research with children
• transdisciplinarity
• co-production
• mobile interviews
• walking as a research method
• ethnography in movement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Adoptions and Fosterages in Spain: Tracing Challenges, Opportunities and Problems in the Social and Family Lives of Children and Adolescents, filed by Diana Marre of the research group AFIN, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, financed by Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness in Spain between 2013 and 2015 [CSO2012-39593-C02-01].

2 Request n° CR11I1_166050 filed by Dre Zoe Moody (HEP-VS), Prof. Philip D. Jaffé (CIDE) and Prof. Frédéric Darbellay (CIDE) : “Exploring the way to and from school with children: an interdisciplinary approach of children’s experiences of the third place ». Specialised Committee on Interdisciplinary Research (CoSP-ID), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

3 Agency is defined as “children’s ability to construct and determine their own social lives, the lives of those around them, and the societies in which they lived” (James and Prout 1997, 8).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness in Spain: [grant number CSO2012-39593-C02-01]; Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF): [grant number CR11I1_166050].