Researching Children’s Multiple Family Relations: Social Network Maps and Life-Lines as Methods

Henna Pirskanen; Kimmo Jokinen; Kati Kallinen; Minna Harju-Veijola; Sonja Rautakorpi

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.11.1.03

Authors

Henna Pirskanen University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Kimmo Jokinen University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Kati Kallinen University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Minna Harju-Veijola University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Sonja Rautakorpi University of Jyväskylä, Finland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.11.1.03

Keywords:

Family Relations, Children, Life-Line Method, Social Network Maps, Visual Methods, Sensitive Issues

Abstract

Visual methods are reported to have certain advantages when conducting interviews on sensitive topics, such as intimate spaces, home-related ethical issues, and vulnerable families. In this article, we concentrate on two visual methods: social network maps and life-lines. In our research project on children’s well-being and emotional security in multiple family relations, we collected data by interviewing children and asking them to complete social network maps and life-lines. We discuss the suitability of these two visual methods for describing children’s close relationships with their family members and significant others. Combining these two methods during an interview process with children has not very often been tested. It is thus argued that these particular methods help a child to explain his or her family relations and life events. For the researcher interested in studying challenging and complex family relations, they can be extremely useful tools.

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Author Biographies

Henna Pirskanen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Henna Pirskanen, Ph.D., is a senior researcher in the National Institute for Health and Welfare (Finland) and in the Family Research Center, University of Jyväskylä. She currently works in the Growing Up in the Finnish Alcohol Culture project. Pirskanen’s scientific publications put an emphasis on the ethics and methodologies of research on challenging family relations. Her doctoral dissertation (2011) concerned sons’ experiences in families with a problem-drinking father. She worked in the Academy of Finland-funded EMSE project (2010-2013). She has coordinated the Doctoral Program for Family Studies since 2010.
Kimmo Jokinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Kimmo Jokinen is a Professor of Family Studies and Head of the Family Research Center at the University of Jyväskylä. His research interests have focused on childhood, youth, and media, families, and family transitions, in particular on complex and challenging family relations and the well-being of families. He is the Director of the national Doctoral Program for Family Studies (funded by the Academy of Finland) and President of the European Society on Family Relations. Professor Jokinen was the Head of the EMSE project, and also participated in the EU project Family Platform.
Kati Kallinen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Kati Kallinen (née Hämäläinen), Ph.D., is a post-doctoral researcher in the Family Research Center, University of Jyväskylä. Her doctoral dissertation (2012) investigated foster children’s views on their home and family relations. Her research interests lie in foster children’s perspectives on their lives, foster children’s sibling relations, kinship care, and sensitive research issues. She has been involved in the EMSE project and has started her own post-doctoral research about foster children’s sibling relations and their experience regarding kinship care.
Minna Harju-Veijola, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Minna Harju-Veijola, M.Ed., is preparing her dissertation in education on boys’ family relations. Her research interests include family interactions and children’s sense of security.
Sonja Rautakorpi, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Sonja Rautakorpi, M.Soc.Sc., is a Ph.D. candidate in social work in the Family Research Center, University of Jyväskylä. She is preparing her doctoral dissertation on mother- child relationships in challenging family situations. She is currently working as a social worker in family counseling

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