My Family through the Lens. Photo Interviews with Children and Sensitive Aspects of Family Life

Abstract

We elaborate on an aspect of photo interviews with children that has so far not been considered sufficiently: Photographs may encourage children to talk about sensitive aspects of family life. The potential and limitations of this aspect are discussed along the lines of visibility and invisibility. Visualisations support children in verbalising their thoughts, but also stimulate narrations on issues that are not displayed. Data are drawn from interviews with fifty 10‐year‐old children who took photographs in their families, and their parents (n = 71). We conclude that visual methods and their combination with a multiple perspectives approach may generate substantial benefits in childhood and family research.

The role of family communication and parents' feeding practices in children's food preferences

“…We chose in-depth photo interviews as an exploratory approach. This method actively engaged children in photographing their environments, and the pictures were used as a basis for conversations between the researcher and the child (Zartler & Richter, 2012). This approach helps children verbalise their thoughts and overcome the discomfort of being interviewed by an adult stranger.…”

Photo Interviews With Children: Relating the Visual and the Verbal From a Participation Perspective

“…Other issues that were elaborated on vividly were family activities. Yet the photos not only supported the children in verbalizing their thoughts but also stimulated narrations about sensitive topics, such as critical aspects of family life, negative views towards family members, criticisms of parental behaviour, or violent disputes among siblings (Zartler & Richter, 2014). These are issues that usually are difficult to address in interviews with children.…”

“…Thus, the images may trigger a relating to content that otherwise may remain poorly understood, overlooked, or even concealed from the researcher (Collier, 1967;Mannay, 2010;Schwartz, 1989). Recently, photo interviews have also been shown to be fruitful in the exploration of particularly challenging research issues, such as the perspectives of young refugees (McBrien & Day, 2012) or sensitive aspects of children's family lives (Zartler & Richter, 2014).…”

“…It is important to notice that, in children's narrations, photos were not exclusively used in connection to the category they had been allocated to. The pictures often rather had the function of a trigger that initiated narrations on other topics than those that were manifestly displayed (see Zartler & Richter, 2014). …”

Conducting qualitative interviews with children – methodological and ethical challenges

“…Interviews can be effectively combined with task-based instruments; this could make the research more enjoyable, and help to maintain interest (Hunleth 2011). For example, the use of participatory photo interviews (also referred to photovoice 6 ) as a visual technique may be highlighted (Zartler -Richter 2014;Jorgenson -Sullivan 2010). Similarly, eliciting drawings with younger children or using diary writing might be also an efficient tactic (Punch 2002a).…”