just how magical unstructured play , particularly in nature , is .
What do you anticipate and hope for regarding your research impacts for your thesis work ?
I hope that my thesis work has an opportunity to have an impact . That ’ s most likely an embarrassingly typical naïve , grad-student thing to say . There ’ s just a lot that ’ s coming up — play is an important topic to explore and there ’ s a lot of passion surrounding it . Some who tell me their stories express that they ’ re just happy someone is listening to them . They talk about trauma , birth , relationships , mental health , play spaces , programming ... and together we daydream and re-imagine a community based around play-accessibility . A lot of what we discuss is possible . I suppose I hope that the community will listen to them alongside me . Part of why I incorporated a non-profit ( Project Play YQR ) is to continue co-constructing accessibility to play in and around Regina .
Project Play YQR recently received $ 5000 funding from the U of R ' s Community Research Unit in partnership with the Regina Early Learning Centre ( ELC ) for a COVID-19 community-focused research project . How did this project / partnership come about ?
The ELC is a fantastic organization . Since I incorporated Project Play YQR last summer , I ’ ve been working hard to highlight ELC ' s services for the community . The Family Centre Coordinator Monica Totton is supportive and curious about the research findings and how they could potentially help improve the ELC programs and spaces for the community and I am happy to share findings with her . Monica truly cares about early childhood services in the community and seems to take every opportunity to do even better work . It ’ s refreshing and inspiring . Pre COVID-19 she had gently approached me about potentially doing some community research with them in the future surrounding a different topic . When this pandemic started , we connected again as we were both concerned with the effects the lack of playspaces and programming could have on people and their ability to play . The ELC also typically reaches a vulnerable demographic so we are anticipating that this research will help them to still have a positive effect on some of these families going forward .
As the Principal Investigator , what will the research involve ?
The research will mostly use grounded theory , which is the method I use for my thesis research . It will be a bit autoethnographic naturally , which means that I will use how this pandemic has affected my own ability to play as an entry point to then explore openly and develop questions for exploring with other people . I am applying grounded theory in a way that resembles how Kathy Charmaz applies it . I will ask questions , listen to stories , analyze responses , and continue exploring depending on what new questions and patterns are emerging . Once I feel I ’ ve circled back enough times and the patterns are starting to repeat , I ’ ll narrow my intake of responses and focus on analysing and writing about what is being constructed . Through this process I may find a lot more interesting information than I originally thought I had , and may need to open the study back up for more responses if there ’ s an interesting pattern . Grounded theory is like those coin donation bins where you put the coin in and it circles around and around and its spiral grows narrower and narrower until it drops and every once in a while the coin starts moving upwards again . It ’ s not linear but it ’ s so much fun . I am hoping to put together a report to share that includes different ways that people are finding time and space to play during this time . Participants will be co-constructing this report together in community .
With play spaces no longer accessible during Covid-19 restrictions , and home becoming the play space , how does the current context affect the research and your perspective on the topic ?
This is exactly our concern . The playspaces and programming around the city are important . When I ask people about play , they talk about going out . They talk about gathering with people . They talk about maintaining their own playfulness and passions which depends on other people stepping in to help with their children . What ' s
happening in our communities , although entirely necessary , will most certainly have an impact on play . We are eager to explore these impacts , and also eager to create greater accessibility to play in the home , whatever that may look like .
As for the technical side of the research : to keep everyone safe , all of the coconstructing of the research will be contactless , whereas I ’ ve done face-toface conversations for my own thesis in the past . I ’ ve also used social media for my thesis and will be continuing to use that for this new project . We are hoping that , because the ELC is connected with some families that they do home visits with , we can incorporate these families in this research too . We are still working out how everything will look and of course will be held to a high ethics standard regarding every decision we make .
What do you anticipate and hope for regarding your research impacts ?
People have shared that even just the presence of the Play YQR organization and research , since I share on social media ( Play YQR on Instagram ), helps to create a greater awareness and elevate the importance of play in their minds .
Screenshot of Instagram PlayYQR site
I hope that this research can therefore facilitate a community consciousness of play . I am also excited for the collaboration with the ELC . This research will be a great means for them to reach more people , find out if and how they
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Education News | Page 11