Children’s drawing in research: a historical-cultural analysis

Abstract

This article discusses the use of drawing to complement interviews when doing research with children. It is based on a research project that investigated the attributed to work by children of 7 to 8 years of age by using drawing as a resource. In a historical-cultural perspective in psychology, the drawing of a child is understood as a form of language in which the human being creative imagination is expressed. To analyze the results in line with this approach, it is important to consider not only the process of drawing, but also the conditions in which it takes place – which necessarily includes the relationship between the researcher and the research participant – as well as the end product. Drawings express meanings that are socially shared, but the meanings the authors/children ascribe to their drawings can only be understood in the light of their own explanation. Through their on the drawings one can get important information on the historical and cultural environment where they live and how they signify it.

Key words: children’s drawings, research, historical-cultural perspective.