Evaluation of Child-centered Research Methods From a Researcher's Perspective: An Investigation of Activity Diaries

Studies focusing on children in the field of urban planning are increasing along with an increase in the number of children living in urban areas and problems associated with urbanization. There has been a tendency in these studies for the usage of child-centered methods. Accordingly, a growing number of researchers have begun to assess the success of the methodologies they employed in their research, especially in western countries. However, from the standpoint of the researchers, the success of the methods may change from one context to another. This fact highlights the necessity of refraining from generalizing results obtained from different contexts. This study presents a method of assessment to evaluate the success of child-centered data collection methods. Thereafter, it uses this method to assess the success of various activity diaries completed by 1303 9-14-year-old children in Ankara and Istanbul from a researcher's perspective. Results show that the diaries analyzed in this study have both overlapping and non-overlapping benefits and drawbacks in relation to the applicability of the methods, children's capabilities, and the principles of scientific research. The author found that activity diaries in the form of spreadsheets are more beneficial to researchers than those that can be categorized as creative in type. These benefits can be especially seen regarding the empiricism and repeatability dimensions of scientific research. Conducting the activity diary exercises with individuals rather than groups yields better results in engaging children in research. The discussion of these experiences is essential for the success of future research.