Making Use of Audio Diaries in Research with Young People: Examining Narrative, Participation and Audience

Abstract

This article examines the use of audio diaries as an innovative method for research with young people. As the second stage of a project about visually impaired (VI) young people's transitions to adulthood, young people recorded their experiences and reflections about growing up on microcassette recorders. As a follow-up to a narrative interview, audio diaries allowed the research to get closer to the lives of young people, as participants actively reinterpreted the research questions in the context of their own lives. This article focuses on the utility of audio diaries—detailing the research process and the accessibility of the method for VI young people. Then, using excerpts from a set of twenty-two audio diaries, this article examines how the audio diary technique designed for this project engages with three key issues: how audio diaries capture narrative in distinctive ways; how the method can be employed within a participatory framework; and how audio diaries raise complex issues about the nature of audience.

Theorizing emotional capital

“…Such data allow for an in-depth examination of men's situational emotion practice on the job as well as their semi-structured reflections on the types of emotional resources they possess and use as nurses (Kenten 2010;Ragin et al 2004;Worth 2009). Men in the traditionally feminine occupation of nursing are a distinct group that can provide unique reflections on emotional resources and practice.…”

Beyond ‘us’ and ‘them’: migrant encounters with difference and reimagining the national

“…The interviews explored each participant's life in Poland pre-migration, the experience of migration itself, the first impressions of the British society and aspects of life in the UK post-migration. In addition, I asked the migrants to record audio-diaries (Worth 2009) for a period of one 'typical' week -a time which they would expect to be illustrative of their life in the UK. In the audiodiaries they talked about their impressions, feelings and emotions related to day-to-day encounters with difference.…”

The Integrated Use of Audio Diaries, Photography, and Interviews in Research with Disabled Young Men

“…Research with children and youth suggest that photographs can increase children's engagement in research, encourage expression of their ideas, reduce self-consciousness, and alter power dynamics (Adams, Theodore, Goldenberg, McLaren, & McKeever, 2010;Capello, 2005;Clark, 1999;Clark-Ibáñez, 2004;Einarsdottir, 2005;Morrow, 2001;Worth, 2009). Others have cautioned against overly simplified claims that photographs reduce power inequalities between researchers and participants (Lomax, Fink, Singh, & High, 2011).…”