Presented at LILAC 2019

1. PRESENTED AT THE LILAC 2019 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
BY LINDSEY WATSON
Senior Lecturer in Early Years
FHEA, MA by Research, PGDip, BA Hons
From Digiducks to Penguin Pigs: Using stories as a creative methodological approach with research
involving young children and their perceptions of online safety.

2. • To critically examine the use of storytelling as a creative
research method within research involving young children
• To explore the findings from a study exploring younger
children’s perceptions through the use of story
• Critically discuss what aspects of stories and storytelling
appeared to impact the research
Aims of the presentation

3. Research context
Why this research?
What does the literature say?
• The increasing digitalisation of contemporary UK society sees younger children
engaging with technology at a younger age and for longer periods of time (Chaudron,
2015; HM Government, 2017; Mekinc, Smailbegovic and Kokic, 2013)
• Discussions have moved away from whether children should engage with digital
technologies to how they positively influence children’s lives through effective
pedagogy, practice and learning (Scollan and Gallagher, 2017)
• Younger children should be viewed as being at the forefront of technology and are
recognised as keen and able users (Livingstone and Third, 2017).

4. Research context
Are there more creative ways to genuinely attempt to include children in the production of
knowledge? (Lomax, 2012)
This suggests that we need to involve younger children in research. Research with children
rather than on children (Pinter, Kuchah, and Smith, 2013)
Chaudron (2015) suggests we need to know more about younger children’s understanding
of the internet
This study proposes that more research focused around younger children’s understanding of digital technologies and online
safety would be potentially beneficial (Watson, 2017)
(Buck, 2012)

5. Wider aims of the PhD
1. Examine how the home
and school environments
work together to tackle the
issues of child online safety
4. Apply an ecological approach to deepen
understanding of younger children’s, parents’ and
teachers’ contemporary perceptions of online safety
2. Evaluate differences between younger
children’s and adults’ perspectives on online
safety, gaining insights into how best to
support younger children with online safety
3. Analyse child orientated creative
research practices, such as
storytelling, in eliciting the views of
younger children within research

6. Why storytelling?
• A more relaxed approach to asking
children questions (Morgan, Gibbs,
Maxwell & Britten, 2002; Shaw, Brady
& Davey, 2011).
• A pedagogical strategy that children are familiar
with, capitalising on children’s desire to interact
with others, motivating and engaging to connect
with the content (Jug and Vilar, 2015; Miller and
Pennycuff, 2008)
• Includes generating
language focused data
suitable for
phenomenological
interpretation
• Aimed at encouraging younger children’s voices as
competent co-constructors of knowledge, in which their
experiences and opinions about the social reality of their
lives are valued (Gray, 2018)

7. Storytelling
• Five children, aged four to five
in a reception class in a primary
school in the UK
• Unstructured nature and social
elements involved, allowing children
the freedom of expression to
articulate their opinions and
perceptions (Jug and Vilar, 2015)
• A wide range of age appropriate
story book about online safety,
following the important dilemmas
faced by a range of book styles
and characters
• Sessions lasted between 15-30mins
involving 1-9 children

8. Thinking about storytelling…
• Choose a story book?
What useful
prompts could
the book
support?
Suitability
of content?
Ethics?
Ability to facilitate
children’s voices?

9. What did the storytelling sessions reveal?
• Initial findings propose storytelling as an appropriate method for facilitating the views of
younger children, helping participants to describe and analyse their experiences
• In agreement with Harper (2002), the use of visual representations, such as storybooks, stimulate
further parts of the brain than just language alone, adding depth and sincerity
• Informality placed less pressure on children to answer questions, encouraging receptive and
spontaneous participation (Đurić, Meško, and Popović Ćitić, 2010, cited in, Jug and Vilar, 2015)
• Limitations: Children are being led by adult choices made for them, raising questions around how
much can be claimed in relation to children’s agency (Gallacher and Gallagher, 2008).

10. What did the storytelling sessions reveal? Group Dynamics
• Shared experience: In contrast to the findings of Clark (1996), children had sufficient expressive language and social
interaction skills to effectively manage a group research situation
• Gallacher and Gallager (2008) question children’s motives when engaged in research, suggesting participation could be
‘out of habit’, such as following rules and expectations, rather than an agentic decision?
• Does the communication rule focused school environment lead to children potentially feeling compelled, required or
expected to conform?
• Interesting effect of less communication rules affecting different children in different ways

11. What did the storytelling sessions reveal?
Some struggles with
separating the real and
online world, but pictures
really help
Children show a varied
understanding of what
the internet is
You Tube is place where
they are ‘allowed’ to go
Identified comments
associated with a range of
internet activity
Children are aware of
rules around online use,
but find some abstract
concepts difficult
Very clear on
who to ask for
help
Good emotional intelligence
around cyberbullyingSome books just
do not work!

12. Final thoughts?
• The initial analysis process has successfully informed the wider PhD focus
• The range and choice of books is being used in an important aspect of the methodological process
• Still examining some key aspects, such as familiarity, story content and the balance of the flow
• Will the strategy create a more balanced research environment in terms of power and agency?
• Positive beginnings around facilitating and listening to children’s voices

13. References
Buck, L. (2012). Digiduck’s Big Decision. London: Childnet International.
Chaudron, S. (2015). Young Children (0-8) and Digital Technology: A Qualitative Exploratory Study Across Seven Countries. Ispra: Joint Research centre –
European commission.
Clark, C, D. (1996). Interviewing Children in Qualitative Research: A Show and Tell. Canadian Journal of Market Research, 15, 74-79.
Gallacher, L., and Gallagher, M. (2008). Methodological immaturity in childhood research? Thinking through participatory methods. Childhood, 15(4), 499-
516. 10.1177/0907568208091672
Gray, D. (2018). Doing Research in the Real World, 4th edn. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Harper, D. (2002). Talking about Pictures: A Case for Photo Elicitation. Visual studies, 17(1), 13-26.
HM Government. (2017). Internet Safety Strategy – Green paper. Retrieved from
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650949/Internet_Safety_Strategy_green_paper.pdf

14. References
Jug, T., & Vilar, P. (2015). Focus Group interview through storytelling: Researching pre-school children’s attitudes towards books and reading. Journal of
Documentation, 71(6), 1300-1316.
Livingstone, S., and Third, A. (2017). Children and young people’s rights in the digital age: An emerging agenda. New Media and Society, 19(5), 657-670.
doi:10.1177/1461444816686318
Lomax, H. (2012). Contested voices? Methodological tensions in creative visual research with children. International Journal of Social Research Methodology
15(2), 105–117.
Mekinc, J., Smailbegovic, T., and Kokic, A. (2013). Should we be Concerned about Children Using the Internet? – Pilot Study. Innovative Issues and
Approaches in Social Sciences, 6(2), 6-20.
Miller, S., & Pennycuff, L. (2008). The power of story: Using storytelling to improve literacy learning. Journal of Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives in Education,
1(1), 36-43.

15. References
Morgan, M., Gibbs, S., Maxwell, K., and Britten, N. (2002). Hearing children's voices: methodological issues in conducting focus groups with children aged 7-
11 years. Qualitative Research, 2(1), 5-20.
Pinter, A., Kuchah, K., & Smith, R. (2013). Researching with Children. ELT Journal, 67(4), 484-487.
Scollan, A., and Gallagher, B. (2017). Personal and Socio-emotional Development and Technology. In Kaye, L, Young Children in a Digital Age: Supporting
Learning and Development with Technology in Early Years, pp.113-133. Oxon: Routledge.
Shaw, C., Brady, L, M., and Davey, C. (2011). Guidelines for Research with Children and Young People. London: National Children’s Bureau Research Centre.
Watson, L. (2017). Storytelling and role play to increase younger children’s autonomy within research. What younger children really think and understand
about online safety. In Annual Conference of TACTYC: The Association for Professional Development in Early Years, Birmingham. Retrieved from
https://tactyc.org.uk/conferences/

16. Lindsey Watson
Senior Lecturer in Early
Years
The University of
Huddersfield
Email: l.watson2@hud.ac.uk
Telephone: 01484478218
Twitter: @chanlje94