Research through Play

Lorna Arnott is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Early Years in the School of Education, University of Strathclyde. Lorna’s main area of interest is in children’s early play experiences particularly in relation to technologies, social and creative play. She also has a keen interest in research methodologies, with a specialist focus on consulting with children and methods derived from pedagogy. Lorna is the convener for the Digital Childhoods, STEM and Multimodality Special Interest Group as part of the European Early Childhood Educational Research Association and is the Deputy Editor for the International Journal of Early Years Education and Assistant Editor for the Journal of Early Childhood Research.  Kate Wall is Professor of Education at the University of Strathclyde. A primary teacher by background, her work is characterised by enquiry-based partnership with children and practitioners of all ages and stages. 

Part I: Founding Principles to Playful Research Approaches
Chapter 1: Framing and Defining Play in Early Childhood - Elizabeth Wood & Liz Chesworth
Chapter 2: Young Children’s Play, Voices and Rights in Research - Jane Murray
Chapter 3: Ethical considerations: Play for fun and play for data collection - Sue Dockett
Part II: Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks for Playful Research
Chapter 4: Practitioner-enquiry: A Reflexive Method for Playful Pedagogy - Kate Wall, Lorna Arnott & Elaine Hall
Chapter 5: Pedagogical Documentation as a Thinking Companion - Alma Fleet & Jane Merewether
Chapter 6: Analysing and Interpreting Data from Research with Young Children: Faithfulness, Integrity and Trustworthiness in Eliciting Meaning - Cathy Nutbrown
Part III: Adapting Play-based Pedagogies as a Research Method
Chapter 7: Approaches to informed consent with young children - Lorna Arnott, Kate Wall, Loreain Martinez, Caralyn Blaisdell & Shannon Ludgate
Chapter 8: Using drawing as a playful research encounter with young children - Pauline Duncan
Chapter 9: Observing and interpreting embodied interactions: Interpreting Voice from Birth to 3 years - Lorna Arnott, Jonathan Delafield-Butt & Timothy J McGowen
Chapter 10: The use of pedagogical documentation and artistic languages in research with young children - Ioanna Palaiologou, Elisabetta Biffi & Franca Zuccoli
Chapter 11: Frame, explain and theorise: Using an App as a tool to interpret imaginary play with children and teachers - Marilyn Fleer
Chapter 12: Using playful methods to understand children’s digital literacies - Pekka Mertala
Part IV: Research Resources from Early Childhood Education
Introduction to Part IV - Kate Wall & Lorna Arnott
Project 1 : Facilitating voice with our youngest children - Rhona Matheson, Starcatchers
Project 2: Being an Investigator in Our Learning Environment - Heidi Sairanen
Research Proposal 1: Investigating the perceptions of young children in school-based pretend play - Triona Stokes
Research Proposal 2: Playing and Being, Here and Now: adults using improvisation to join children aged 0 – 5 in free-play - Maddie Broad