Play in Research. Considerations on an Involving Methodological Approach

It is a serious task in child-centered research designs to establish trustful situations in which children can express their sense-making. Building on means of interaction and communication which are part of children’s everyday life and expertise often serves as key factor in regard to research validity and data quality.

Playful methodologies seemingly meet this condition. Yet, play has been rarely reflected as research method in activation, data collection, analysis and dissemination. A reason might be the several ambiguities of the magic circle (Sutton-Smith 1997), in other words the immersive power of good games or intensive play with its multilayered, frictional relations to social practices and cultural codes. Then again, play has been framed as prominent competence and means of appropriation by children, and in a cross-generational definition as self-chosen, voluntary activity, localized in time and space, constituted by rules and enabled by one's own imagination, experience and competence (Caillois 2017). In this, the author finds a lot of similarities to methodological and ethical qualitative research requirements, especially in the realm of participatory or space-related approaches.

The contribution reflects on research projects by the author with children between four to twelve years of age. It identifies potentials of play as an inclusive research strategy on the one hand and points out challenges on the other. While social-reformist, e.g. in pedagogy, social work, urban studies, have refered play as method to address social hierarchies and practices, post-colonial perspectives have stressed the power relations embedded in play (Trammel 2020). In order to engage in a differentiated debate, the paper will relate the considerations on play in empirical processes to current debates in cultural studies on play.

Caillois, R.. Die Spiele und die Menschen: Maske und Rausch., 2017.

Sutton-Smith, B. The Ambiguity of Play. 1997.

Trammell, A. Torture, Play and the Black Experience. 2020