Participants’ data from the early years practitioner and parent interviews was assigned
pseudonyms to ensure anonymity and all computer data records use the same
pseudonyms. All interview transcripts were made anonymous to ensure participants’
identities were not revealed. Computer data and video footage was held securely with
restricted access via a user name and password. The data management complies with
Case study children’s parents and the settings agreed that video extracts may be used in
conference presentations and dissemination of the research. Where other children
appear in the video footage, specific consent will be sought from the parents for the
individual presentations of the video footage. If necessary, images will be obscured to
protect participant identity.
The video content in each of the four settings was made available to the individual
settings, the parents of the case study children and the children to review. Each setting
received two copies of the completed video footage of their setting on DVD, whilst case
study children’s parents received a copy of the video footage containing their child. The
footage also formed part of the interview process for both the practitioners and parents,
used for video stimulated review (Forman, 1999).
The video aspect of the research acted as non-participant observations and captured the
naturally occurring instances of child-initiated social play in different play situations. As
the researcher, I was not counted in the legislative requirement for child/adult ratios and
there was an agreed protocol between myself and practitioners in each of the settings that
the filming would not (as far as possible) engage with children’s play or indeed in any
conflict that arose amongst children. In each of the settings, the play space was within a
defined area and practitioners acted as gatekeepers if a case study child wanted to
withdraw from being filmed. If any child was in danger or conflict arose, the practitioners
acted in accordance with the setting’s policies regardless of the filming. At the end of
each filming session the researcher, practitioners and manager/owner discussed any
incidental event that happened during the session and the potential reasons for the play
behaviour. All of the practitioners and managers at the settings expressed interest in
taking part in debriefing sessions and on-going conversations about children’s play and
empowerment. Their commitment, time and willingness to accommodate the research
5.5 Summary
This chapter has provided an overview of the context of the research and the case study
children with an insight into their daily routines and play preferences. Seven case study
children attending a total of four different early years settings were selected with three of
those seven children attending multiple settings. It was important that the settings were
willing to support the research taking place as it required a time and organisational
commitment from them in facilitating the collection of observational video data as outlined
in the previous chapter. The children and parents involved in the research also committed
to interviews and a home visit where their children’s play was recorded. This meant that
the ethics in the research process had to be carefully considered and settings,
practitioners, children and parents supported through the safeguards put in place. One of
the key elements as part of the ethics was to have open discussions with anyone
interested in the study before the research took place. This assisted in the children and
adults willingness to take part. It was also important that practitioners understood their
role as gatekeepers and that all children were aware of their options for participation and
non-participation throughout the video data collection process.
In the next chapter the way in which the data gathered from the video observations and
interviews from practitioners and parents has been analysed is examined including
systematically coding the video data and interviews. The analysis of the data contributes
Chapter Six: Analysis
In this chapter thematic analysis applied to the research data is examined through
organising and systemising the intricacies of the video and interview data. The analysis
began by looking at the video data and coding children’s actions and interactions in child-
initiated, social play. The semi-structured interviews were also coded in relation to
parents’ and practitioners’ opinions about children’s preferences, play behaviour and their
understanding of empowerment. There were three stages to the analysis of the data
collected in the study:
• the organisation of data through coding;
• content analysis of the codes;
• thematic development through interpreting the content analysis.
The aim of the analysis was to develop valid and repeatable interpretations of the
research data capable of being generalised for future research.
The focus on the seven case study children’s play in different contexts generated the
video data, but alongside the footage, perspectives from parents and early years
practitioners who worked with the children on a daily basis were also captured through a
series of semi-structured interviews. The video and interview data were considered under
three main areas:
• children’s choices and their decisions;
• the context of children’s play in respect of the environment and resources;
• interactions between children.
These three areas were decided upon from the analysis of literature surrounding
children’s play and the concept of empowerment outlined in chapter 2.1 and 2.5. In the
video data, the codes looked for instances of children’s actions and interactions in their
opinions about children’s play in relation to their choices and decisions, the context they
played in and the influence of other children. The interviews also asked direct questions of
parents and practitioners about their understanding of children’s empowerment which
generally informed the conclusions of the research.
Practitioners and parents also had the opportunity to consider a cross section of video
stimulated reviews of their children’s play. Their comments about the video footage were
coded and subject to content analysis. These were cross referenced with the content
analysis of the video data to look for patterns in the codes. The spreadsheet in appendix
F shows the specific video sequences that parents and practitioners offered their views
and perspectives on during the interviews.