This session was very much an extension of the last one: the group continued devising their research tools with some support/challenge from myself. In some cases, plans really seem to be coming together, and the team can articulate really well what they intend to do and how. Lily, for instance, has a good list of questions for her interviews; the challenge to her was around open-ended questions, and tightly focusing in one area of the interview on the materials her interviewees are going to bring. Lily, like the others, is really open to discussing what they are doing, and keen to ask questions. Eva, who has been asking lots of questions as she figures out Google Forms, is planning on a hybrid approach as she researches with her participants: it's a survey and complementary discussion, with layered recording of data.
Recording of data has been one of those areas requiring some unpicking. The whole group, bar Izzie who was absent, all decided to use computers to prepare their research materials. I have no problem with this, if course, but there was a little uncertainty in the group about how data would be recorded. Some good discussions + thinking later...and decisions made! The consensus is for participants to write down answers, or for the researchers to record these; only Ryan said that he wanted to digitally record his interviews and then do some subsequent transcribing and analysis. Terry, just to note, is working on a worksheet for participants, and appears to be the only one incorporating/eliciting a creative (drawn) response.
In our next session, the group is presenting plans to their class. They have asked me to be present, but that I let them get on with introducing the project, talking through forms to go home, discussing consent, etc. In fact, they asked me to choose a spot at the back of their classroom and just be present. I think this is a positive demonstration of how power is more equitably distributed in this sort of research, with the co-researchers making decisions and collectively taking control. Good discussion with colleague about this, and links with posthumanism. I'm extremely excited about the upcoming steps - hopefully by Christmas, or early into the new year, we will begin to have answers about what children enjoy about history.
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