TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of 'friendship as method' with child co-researchers in the primary school environment.
AU - Bennion, Holly
AU - Rutter, Nikki
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [Grant Number: ES/P000762/1]. The authors would like to thank the individual children who gave their time and stories, and to the schools involved. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful insights. Thank you to our PhD supervisors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024/11/1
Y1 - 2024/11/1
N2 - Within social science research the complex nature of relationship-making and ‘friendship as method’ has gained enthusiasm. However, there is still a significant lack of research on ‘friendship as method’ with children and young people in participatory studies. Drawing on empirical case studies, we ask: how does ‘friendship as method’ work in research with children? The paper considers the role of vulnerability and reservations, friendship facilitator, and discusses the ethical dimensions of creating and sustaining ‘friendships’ between researcher and participants (as co-researchers). We argue that friendships in research are not a hierarchical or linear continuum, but a spectrum: friendships often mean different things to different people at different times; they can be positive and negative, both liberating and restrictive, fleeting and sustained, energising and tiresome. We recommend that participatory research with children considers not only the participatory components of power and action, but the emotionality and relationality of participatory research with children.
AB - Within social science research the complex nature of relationship-making and ‘friendship as method’ has gained enthusiasm. However, there is still a significant lack of research on ‘friendship as method’ with children and young people in participatory studies. Drawing on empirical case studies, we ask: how does ‘friendship as method’ work in research with children? The paper considers the role of vulnerability and reservations, friendship facilitator, and discusses the ethical dimensions of creating and sustaining ‘friendships’ between researcher and participants (as co-researchers). We argue that friendships in research are not a hierarchical or linear continuum, but a spectrum: friendships often mean different things to different people at different times; they can be positive and negative, both liberating and restrictive, fleeting and sustained, energising and tiresome. We recommend that participatory research with children considers not only the participatory components of power and action, but the emotionality and relationality of participatory research with children.
KW - friendship
KW - friendship as method
KW - children
KW - creative methods
KW - participatory research
KW - practitioner research
KW - Friendship
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183618929&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09650792.2024.2310539
DO - 10.1080/09650792.2024.2310539
M3 - Article
VL - 32
SP - 867
EP - 883
JO - Educational Action Research
JF - Educational Action Research
SN - 0965-0792
IS - 5
ER -