Abstract
The study is part of a Nordic research project that aims to explore values education. The aim of the study is to examine researcher experiences with conducting video observations and share understandings regarding the methodological and ethical challenges of such observations in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in Finland and Iceland. The study asked the following question: What methodological and ethical challenges do researchers confront while studying values using video observations in preschools? This chapter is inspired by Merleau-Ponty and his theory of the life-world, which suggests that the body is the basis of all human experiences. According to this theory, the researcher exists in the life-worlds of the children and practitioners through his/her bodily being. The current study’s research material consists of researcher reflections regarding video recordings, written field notes, and researcher diaries, as well as researchers’ embodied experiences during the research process. The findings indicated that during the research process, the researchers faced several methodological and ethical challenges related to values. Three intertwined methodological and ethical challenges were identified: researcher participation and reactions in the lived moment, reciprocity in co-constructions of roles, and respecting the perspective of others. The findings raised issues concerning ethical considerations that are at the core of relational methodologies, such as how researchers influence life in preschools and how researchers should interpret videos in which they themselves are involved. Building trust between us, as researchers, and the participants in the study was important when observing the lived values of education.
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Acknowledgments
The study is part of the research project “Values education in Nordic preschools – Basis of Education for tomorrow,” which is funded by the NordForsk research program “Education for Tomorrow” (project number 53581).
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Pálmadóttir, H., Juutinen, J., Viljamaa, E. (2018). “Sharing Horizons” Methodological and Ethical Reflections on Video Observations. In: Johansson, E., Emilson, A., Puroila, AM. (eds) Values Education in Early Childhood Settings. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75559-5_8
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