The use of vignettes in participatory research with young children

Participatory advocacy in research has brought new ways of
thinking and researching young children’s lives. Although some
such methods in research are more successful than others, it is
the process of involving children and their voices that matter
most. Thus, this paper examines to what extent the vignette
method facilitates participatory research with young children. This
paper draws on a research project that employed the vignette
method (hypothetical scenarios which unfold through a series of
stages) and critically examines to what extent this can be used as
participatory research. It is argued that vignette can become part
of the repertoire of participatory methods as it allows space for
dialogicality and is concerned with children’s personal meanings.
Finally, it is proposed that when using vignettes the research
should not strive for generalisations from homogenous data, but
instead move towards the discourse of heterogeneity of data.