Narrative vignettes and online enquiry in researching therapist accounts of practice with children in schools: An analysis of the methodology

Abstract

Aims: This article reviews a research methodology that uses an Internet mediated qualitative, narrative approach to provide in‐depth analysis of vignettes. The research sought to investigate the ways in which dramatherapists, based in different countries, understood the nature of therapeutic change in their work with children. Method: The article describes a qualitative approach to the generation of data by a combination of therapist‐authored vignettes, live, synchronous Internet mediated communication (aMSN Messenger) and email. Participants kept a diary of their response to the research and the article draws on this data within its analysis of the methodology. Findings: Samples of the data are used to analyse how such innovative, online methodology can develop effective access and relationships with geographically dispersed participants and as an effective way of investigating therapist practitioners' understanding of their practice.

Reflective practice and participant involvement in research

“…The professionals were engaged in a narrative-based professional learning process as part of the research. Each wrote short vignettes illustrating some aspects of their work (Jones, 2014) and participated in individual interviews, based on the vignettes. These were followed by three focus groups over a number of months, when the five participants came together with an aim to reflect on their practice and explore each other's perspectives and work with children concerning bullying prevention.…”

“…Children were offered a choice regarding how they wished to express their views. Five psychotherapists consented to participate in semistructured interviews and in a narrative vignette (Jones, 2014) interview. All transcribed data was subjected to inductive thematic analysis.…”

Trauma and dramatherapy: dreams, play and the social construction of culture

“…ix-x), who frames it as an interdisciplinary innovation: 'drama-therapy … the art or science of healing by means or through the instrumentality of the drama, or by means or through the instrumentality of dramatic presentation'. Following on from this firstpublished form of the term, the emergence of dramatherapy as a profession has developed since the 1930s in a number of countries (Casson, 1997;Jones, 2007Jones, , 2013. This development has had a common route: of 'training programmes, the creation of professions governed by national associations along with state recognition and registration in some countries' (Jones, 2007, p. 57).…”