Why are we researching play?
I have written to our parents and practitioners regarding the research I (Lianne Maltman) intend to carry out within the Summer Term 2024 at preschool. I am carrying out this research as part of my doctoral studies in Education with the leading university for Education, the Institute of Education at UCL. I am a second-year doctoral student on the EdD programme. An EdD is equivalent to a Ph.D.
About the Research
I am interested in the idea that the body is essential for learning, communicating, and building early concepts. In particular, I am interested in studying "image schemas" in play. For instance, you might notice your child putting things in or out of containers, showing an interest in big or small things, pushing and pulling things, or trying to balance a toy on top of another.
Current research indicates that image schemas make way for primary metaphors. For example, when a child is pouring water into a cup, and the water rises (schema), they come to learn that 'up is more' (primary metaphor). Researchers think that when the child grows, this primary metaphor might help children understand phrases like "prices rose due to inflation." Another example is when you hold your child with warmth and affection, they come to learn the primary metaphor of affection is warmth. As your child grows, this may help them to categorise how they feel about relationships, for example, "she has a warm smile" or "he is a cold person." Other primary metaphors identified are bad is stinky, importance is big, and knowing is seeing.
There will be two stages to data collection. The first stage will include field observations and photographs of the child in play recorded by Lianne Maltman (preschool manager). During the second stage, parents will be invited into preschool to create a collage of the photographs collected in the first stage of data collection with their child and key-person. During this session a dictaphone will record their discussion. The participants (child, parent, practitioner) will be invited to discuss what the child is doing in each photo. The photographs, observations and discussions will make up the data to be analysed by Lianne Maltman as part of her doctoral research.
Consent to Participate
I have written to invite parents, children and practitioners to participate in a study I am conducting for my Doctorate with the Institute of Education at UCL. The proposed research is interested in better understanding the way in which children use their bodies to play and communicate. Parents, Children and Practitioners can choose to participate or not to participate. Children’s consent will only be requested if their parent agrees for them to participate. If the parent gives consent, but the child does not, the child will not be included in the research.
Data Protection and ethics
This project has been given ethical clearance by UCL.
This project will be conducted ethically using the Bera (2018) Guidelines
The data collected during this project will be kept in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR Regulation. The project is registered under, reference No Z6364106/2024/03/82 social research in line with UCL’s Data Protection Policy.
You and the children will be fully pseudonymised, with a different name used for the purposes of the study. You will be informed of the name you have been assigned before the study begins.
I will be writing up my findings as part of my Doctorate in Education with UCL, and the write-up may include stills from the videos. All participant identities will be protected by pixelating identifiable features.
My findings may be accepted by an academic journal, or I may present them at a conference discussing educational research.
Any issues can be discussed with the supervisor of this research project at any time.
Supervisor Name: Guy Roberts-Holmes Email: g.roberts-holmes@ucl.ac.uk
Partcipant Information Sheet
(Data Protection Privacy Notice)
The controller for this project will be University College London (UCL). The UCL Data Protection Officer provides oversight of UCL activities involving the processing of personal data, and can be contacted at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk
This ‘local’ privacy notice sets out the information that applies to this particular study. Further information on how UCL uses participant information can be found in our ‘general’ privacy notice:
For participants in research studies, click here
The information that is required to be provided to participants under data protection legislation (GDPR and DPA 2018) is provided across both the ‘local’ and ‘general’ privacy notices.
The lawful basis that will be used to process your personal data is: ‘public task’.
Your personal data will be processed so long as it is required for the research project. If we are able to anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data, you provide we will undertake this and will endeavour to minimise the processing of personal data wherever possible.
If you are concerned about how your personal data is being processed, or if you would like to contact us about your rights, please contact UCL in the first instance at data-protection@ucl.ac.uk