Experimenting with visual Tasks to Research Children's Representations of Family in Contexts of Family Diversity

Abstract

In this article we discuss the process of methodological experimentation that led to the construction of a visual instrument ("the family poster/mural") to explore views of the family and family experiences in children from non-conventional families. We review the potentials of different visual approaches to the concept of family that have developed over the past few decades and we situate our proposal as an alternative that responds to some of our theoretical and methodological needs. In short, to develop a device that allowed us to work flexibility and collaboratively with families, that was sensitive to an ecological perspective on the family and that explored the possibilities of family photographs as an analytic device. We showcase ways in which the family poster has been used and, especially, we discuss strategies to analyze the "family poster". We close the paper situating our methodological process within broader debates in ethnography and child studies about collaboration and experimentation in qualitative research.