03.01.2016 the precarious worlds of children a methodological approach to the experience of poverty...

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The Precarious Worlds of Children

A methodological approach to the experience of poverty from the point of view of children

Elena Bütow and Sarah Korenke

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Overview

1. Introduction

2. Child poverty – national and international findings

3. Child poverty from the perspective of children: a qualitative study

1. Aims of the research project (2009 to 2012)

2. The Research Field

4. Research Design / Methodology

1. Participant Observation

2. Photo documentation and interviews

3. Group Discussions

5. Conclusion


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2. Child poverty – national and international findings

• At present, one in six children (under the age of 15) live in poverty in Germany

• Child poverty cannot therefore be reduced to a single cause but is a complex

matter for which there are manifold causes

• Research must move beyond the material level

• It must explore what constraints and restrictions children experience in their

everyday lives in addition to their poverty and what experiences they talk

about


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3. Child poverty from the perspective of children: a

qualitative study

3.1 Aims of the research project (2009 to 2012)

• Analysis of precarious childhood in Germany from the view of the

disadvantaged children themselves

• To link different qualitative methods with an approach that is sensitive to social

inequality


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3.2 The Research Field

• Childcare centre in a precarious district of Hamburg

• The children involved in our research were in the age range of six to twelve

• 23% of all children in Hamburg are poor, the highest child poverty rate in Germany


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4. Research Design / Methodology

4.1 Participant Observation

• The major focus of our research was the question of the social reality of these

children

• Looped process: constant interplay between the phases of collection and

analysis

• The method offers a adequate approach to the research field and allows to

make contact with the children and to create a situation of trust


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4.2 Photo documentation and individual interviews

• At the beginning the children had the chance to document their environment

with disposable cameras

• During the interviews, the children made collages using the photos and other

craft materials

• The collages were meant to take into account forms of expression suitable for

children and create a friendly and relaxed atmosphere


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Collages


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4.3 Group Discussions

• The group discussions were recorded on video and the detailed transcript is

the basis for the later analysis

• The aim of the group discussions was an exchange by the socially

disadvantaged children of their joint biographical experiences and certain

aspects of their life world

• If certain methodical conditions are met, group discussions can be a useful tool

in childhood research


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5. Conclusion

• The three methods are closely connected to the children’s themes and build on

one another. The promise of this procedure is to get as closely as possible to

the children’s own experiences

• Our view of poverty and the social disadvantage of children can be

reconstructed very closely to that of the children themselves

• For research into childhood and poverty, this approach brings a considerable

gain in knowledge


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Elena Bütow & Sarah Korenke

Goethe University of Frankfurt

DFG-Research Project:

„Precarious Childhood – How Children Experience Poverty“

[email protected]

[email protected]

03.01.2016 the precarious worlds of children a methodological approach to the experience of poverty...

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