Artefacts, third objects, sandboxing and figurines in the doll’s house

The field of visual studies and academic involvement with participatory and creative methodologies is often dominated by the genres of film and photograph (see Flicker and MacEntee, 20XX; Milne and Muir, 20XX; Mitchell and de Lange, 20XX (this volume)). Rather than exploring these technology reliant techniques, this chapter considers the role of objects as a tool of elicitation and a way to engender participatory forms of research where participants can more easily set the agenda and lead the conversation. As Wagner (20XX: xx (this volume)) contends ‘visual questions about what an artefact ‘looks like’ are complemented with substantive questions about how artefacts are made and used’. This chapter is not concerned with how artefacts are made, but it is particularly interested in how they are used in the context of creative and participatory forms of social science research; and how they can provide an insight into the subjective meaning making of research participants. The chapter explores the usefulness of objects in relation to three distinct approaches. Firstly it is interested in the artefacts, objects and things that belong to participants, these are items that they own, which are shared with the researcher. Secondly, there is an exploration of ‘third objects’ that are introduced to the interview space by the researcher to provide a point of focus and to generate discussion. Thirdly, the chapter examines the use of multiple objects and an accompanying backdrop scene (here sandbox and doll’s house), which are provided by researchers for participants to build a representation of an aspect of their lives or to create a scene in response to a specific research question. The chapter draws on a range of empirical examples to illustrate how objects are utilised in the research process, and what can be gained from their introduction as tools of elicitation