Providing opportunities to talk is always a good solution

Observation in activities and interviews based on the observation - use pictures as support if neccessary.

Videotaping and then analize it carefully to get as much input from the actions.

Hi Helena & Allen, seems so easy when you say it but on top of that I would if possible like to get something where the adult filter i.e my interpretations are not creating a partial barrier. What about photos i.e give them an instant camera each....

What exactly are you trying to measure (i.e., what are "social concepts")? It seems the discussion of how to measure behavior is dependent upon what behavior you are trying to measure.

Can the "social concept" be directly observed as opposed to inferred through pictures (assuming this is what you are using the pictures for)?

Analogue social situations can be constructed for assessment purposes. For example, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule uses social context to assess social interactions for a determination of an autism diagnosis. Another example would be setting up what Miltenberger et al., (2005; Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis) calls an in situ situation. These types of situations can be arranged for social tests and can help to eliminate observer bias.

Can you use puppets and pictures to improve their understanding of the question, can the question itself be simplified, why do you have to ask questions, this suggests theory driven rather than grounded research which is always difficult with very young or developmentally young children,

Hi Carolyn, Thank you. I was wondering if a story might be a good way to get across aspects. I am still very new to qualitative techniques but I know in other settings the puppet shows are very effective. The age group I have been looking at is 13-15 with Mild learning Difficulties but I wonder would they find the use of a puppet show as insulting and that present itself as a barrier too. Certainly worth a test run to see how it might be received.

Hi Shawn, I am looking at independence. I would like to have an opportunity to create a picture of what they understand independence to mean. Not lead it in a way that mirrors back to me basic living skills as defined by their social construct.

Hello Melissa, may be you can try collage as well ? I used collage to explore the professional projects of teenagers from underprivileged background & having experienced school failure in Mauritius. Since it is very hard to question the teenagers directly because they are not used to express themselves in school settings, we first did the collage activity in big groups then carried 10 minutes individual interviews where they were asked to explain their collage. The collage acted as a good support for the interview. It presented various advantages : 1. they were not blocked by the fact that they had to draw 2. the pictures offers a variety of ideas which they could use & interprete as they want, 3. the collage had very nice results (aesthetically) which they were proud of, 4. the fact that they were proud of what they had created helped them in expressing themselves.

Emilie, i love that idea. Thank you so much. It sounds great. I was wondering yesterday as my children were working could the children do stories, the collage is a nice way to do this. I have noticed many have an issue with glue but if I am the gluer & tape the making as well that could present interesting results free from too many perceived barriers. Thank you.

Happy to help, hope you have interesting results !

I do agree with Emilie's idea. I would like to add another one. the person who is collecting data may have mask of child liking personalities Ex. Spiderman, Pogo characters, santa claus, Barbie etc. and make the child to wear such one. Though most of the child like all these characters, when provided too many they come out with individual thought / like I hope.

Be patient and be part of the child's informal / odd period life

This website might be useful, this project sought the view of young people with learning disabilities in the age range that you are working with, look at their resources and how they gained the voices of the young people http://www.whataboutus.org.uk/

Try a comic strip. There are online sites which enable the user to make their own Marvel like graphic novels. Therefore you are meeting the needs of the age whilst addressing the difficulties they may have with processing language. It works well for Children between the ages of 8-16.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/

http://disney.go.com/create/apps/comiccreator/avengers

The first is good for Irlen /Dyslexia- as it has less to impact the eye.

The second is really great for more involved creations - true to genre.

Marie, Great ideas. Yes I want them to be co-enquirers but anticipate them to also be participants if this makes sense. I would like them to co-construct a collaborative learning environment engaging with an assistive technology and co-creating opportunities for use and exploration using it. At the same time I anticipate them to be participants in that I will be noting, observing, facilitating and recording the use, the participation, the effects on independence and human flourishing and other things. Does this make sense? I anticipate this to be at least a year long. Following an academic School year and coming in and out of the classroom weekly preferably a minimum of twice a week I hypothesize that as the environment becomes more collaborative and the participants become more acquainted with co-constructing tasks that they will want more time dedicated. Throughout this process though I have to be able to track the effect on independence but in order to do this I need to understand not only what I understand independence to mean but what research shows, what it also means to them, their peers, their teachers, the school, the government and understand the value and importance placed on aspects of it.

Have you tried providing them with a personalised, individualised educational game which they could click on buttons? They get visual, auditory and animated clues. I could provide you with this if you like. Do let me know and I will send you my email address.

There is a "tell me about" protocol we developed to get at participants' (adults) mental model by just asking them. "Tell me about x" and then analyzing the recording of the response. We allow the subjects to just talk. When they are stuck, you ask non-leading questions like, "tell me more…" or "you said yyy. can you tell me more?" etc.

Seems like this could work for children?

Hi Marie, you are very good at making me think. At the moment I am I suppose exploring areas in relation to a project proposal for progression to PhD level from my degree. Independence is very important to me as is assistive devices and working with children with varying abilities. All of which will feature. I am still learning about independence. It appears there has not been that much written on it for some time so am currently defining it in my head in an educational capacity in terms of advocacy and capacity which both seem to have a very close influence from an advocates relationship to risk versus protection & care and also their belief re the capacity of the child amongst other things. I shall have a good look at the stuff you suggest as it sounds very interesting.

In terms of optimal functioning I believe independence should not simple be defined as basic living skills but they deserve the opportunity to feel valued in society, with a purpose and not wholly dependent on others or frightened to use their voice.

I shall have a good look over the link.

I read a great paper this morning on "Our Voice" project in Lebanon. They interesting speak of positively influencing independence. The project they had was run inclusively and not inclusive. By this I mean everyone within a certain age was welcome not that everyone has to take part. I was wondering for my own project if this might work better. Instead of having the project contained within one classroom for an academic year perhaps volunteers within the school who wish to take part should be allowed. That way the project becomes inclusively run. I want the participants to become willing co constructors and co researchers instead of just passive participants. Thoughts?

Try using augmentative communication combined with games.. I used it with hearing impaired students and cognitive problems in some cases... try always changing activites http://catedu.es/arasaac/software.php

Hai! Better you use interview and observation to collect the data.

Focus groups with children (some of whom are co-researchers) could really add to the data set. They may have conversations with their peers that will open up their experiences of autonomy and collective independence, which they would not give with observation and interview?

Video games and illustrative pictures may help.

I have started doing very crued forms of focus group just to get initial data to look at how to proceed.

Hello Merisa,

Depending on your participants and ethical clearance concerning consent, I would suggest using social stories presented visually (cards or incorporating drama) with a video analysis of responses.

This is an interesting question, indeed. My first thought is to identify what it is that I want to extract data for from the child? (Social/Emotional, Pre-Academics, Intelligence Level, Speech, Behavioral Traits, e.g.) Depending on the age of the child, there are various standardized assessments. I would lean towards hands-on, colorful, entertaining, and certainly not lengthy - when choosing a form of an assessment. (Mullen Assessment, perhaps). Just some thought!

Love the question!

Suzann

Hi Suzann, Thank you. I am looking at 'independence' however that in itself has proven quite challenging as not only do I believe it to be a cultural construct (Raeff) I also feel from my initial groups that independence would need to be defined also by the participants. Hence my question. In what ways can I get them to define their own concept of independence, then agree fundamental principles and then how can I operationally track it's effect on optimal functioning and social engagement. I have had some excellent suggestions which have given me avenues to explore. I want the project to use mixed methods and I think the voice of the children are very important at constructing a benchmark. I also believe it is important over time to have some standard assessment to use as a basis of comparison and discussion when analysing the data. Thank,you for your suggestion I shall have a look at the Mullen Assessment. With kind regards,

Merisa

I hope, A Child can be specially trained to obtain data from sample group, because they may be tuned up in some frequency at their level and express the expected / required data.

Prabaharan, Do I understand you correctly? you mean the child might observe / anticipate what we / I wish and deliver that instead of their own ideas? I am hoping to control for that (as best I can) by also recording data on their teacher / parents attitude & definition of independence and their belief of the child's capacity as well as their role as advocates. I hope using multiple mixed methods a more accurate picture can be captured for analysis. Is this what you meant? Merisa

That is an interesting question. Within my research project on science in relationship to emergent mathematics I searched for a way to measure how Kindergarten students can reveal together with their teacher how they profit from working in small groups with regard to the two contents. I designed two tasks that I would happily share with you too, that allows the teacher to get the children start thinking and then acting out. The first task, the pretest, was to cross a river with a puppet after thinking about what material would either float or sink. The second measure, the posttest, was about traveling to an island and taking an animal with you and draw a map of the house you will live in while at the island. Of course children differ in how they draw but they all did because, and that would be my explanation of your problem, they had a reason to draw. Good luck. Diny van der Aalsvoort.

Not all children are the same so having a flexible method helps - e.g. you could invite them to talk about their own cultural artefacts in the setting where you meet them - so having a bicycle might aid independence or enable them to expand their horizons. If you are meeting them in their homes their may be sports equipment around or successes and achievements celebrated on the walls in the form of certificates, pictures etc. The key thing is to enable them to use everyday things to explain their lives and world views rather than imposing your own.

Have a look at the top tips in this book:

Researching with Children and Young People

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book229420

or top tips attached

for references on children as researchers see also:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_children_act_as_researchers_with_other_children?

John,

I love the reference you supplied. Thanks so kindly.

Suzann

Happy to have been a help Suzann

For those near to the UK:

This centre at our University runs excellent CPD courses in the spring

http://www.crfr.ac.uk/eventsandtraining/training/cpd-training/using-creative-methods-in-research-with-children-and-young-people/

there are also other courses at places like the Institute of Education in London on Children's Rights in practice

When I saw a child, if he did not like drawing, he might tell a story about a picture shown to him, or simply tell 'any story you like', or play with little dolls or a construction set.  Or simply talk. Or I would use some form for assessment.

Without having the details of the "mild learning disabilities", as well as the age of the child(ren) this is a difficult question to answer. Is the issue that the child(ren) have fine motor deficits, so they do not feel comfortable/excel at drawing/use it as a form of expression? Or their verbal comprehension is weak, so they do not understand the question(s) either verbally/in writing? For many students, use of visuals along with narrative (verbal/texts) aids in comprehension, which can also include graphics/ comics to encourage thinking. Is it possible for you to let students use assistive technology to allow you to both assess and gather data (iPad apps/comic generating or text-to-speech software with illustrated dictionaries)? If the students are in the primary years, try puppets, as well as dramatic demonstrations for all ages. You may also find that allowing students to fidget/handle objects while providing verbal responses may yield surprising data.