‘It’s written in the sand’: Considering creative methods for design, data production, analysis and dissemination

Mannay, Dawn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7368-4111 2024. ‘It’s written in the sand’: Considering creative methods for design, data production, analysis and dissemination. Presented at: Igniting Creative Methods: Social Change and Community Co-Production, University of Bedfordshire, 15 November 2024.

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Abstract

In this talk, I reflect on some of my engagements with creative research methods, thinking through aspects of design, data production, analysis and dissemination. There is a focus on ‘sandboxing’, drawing on my work with care-experienced children, mothers and mature students, as well as a range of international sandboxing research. The sandboxing method was developed from the tradition of play therapy, specifically the World Technique, where children create three dimensional scenes, pictures, or abstract designs with a range of miniature, realistic and fantasy, figures and everyday objects in a tray filled with sand. We adapted this therapeutic practice, to create as a distinctive tool to support qualitative data generation, which we named sandboxing. The technique has been used with children, young people, and adults who create sand scenes and discuss their metaphorical meanings in elicitation interviews. It has also been drawn on as a design activity, as an approach to data analysis, and as a tool to move beyond the academic article and develop accessible multimodal film outputs to inform policy and practice. There is a consideration of the origins, ethics, affordances and limitations of sandboxing; and how this approach can be combined with other creative activities to generate different understanding with and representations of the communities that we collaborate with in our research.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Keynote)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	creative methods; visual methods; qualitative research
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2025 16:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/175121

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