The Reality of Research with Children and Young People

Book excerpt: The Reality of Research with Children and Young People illustrates the process of carrying out research through thirteen `research stories′. Each story includes a piece of published research, accompanied by a commentary from the author of the research explaining: · the origins of the research · how research questions were formed · factors influencing the choice of methodology and data collection techniques · problems that arose and how these were dealt with · personal reflections on the project. The research examples included in this volume have been carefully selected to demonstrate the reality of researching with children from pre-school age to late adolescence. They reflect the different traditions and variety of methods of collecting data, including interview, evaluation, ethnography, experiment, survey, case study, questionnaire, longitudinal, and standardised assessment. The Reality of Research with Children Young People provides valuable insights into the process of research for students and professionals in a range of fields including education, health, welfare, childhood and youth Studies, psychology and sociology. The book was developed to accompany The Open University Course, Research with Children and Young People (EK310).