Interview with Marek Tesar

Abstract

In this interview, Marek Tesar turns our attention to the concept of data in childhood studies. As childhood researchers, we know that “data”—in whatever shape or form, is a necessary part of empirical research. Marek engages this topic by bringing his philosophical and methodological insights to ideas not only about what data are but what data can do for our understanding of children in our research. As Marek suggests, “thinking about ‘data’ means thinking about children and their childhoods being part of a larger global conceptual and ontological movement in research.” Marek also poses important questions about researchers’ desires for data, and how this mining of data may actually not always be beneficial to the children in our research.