Dse141 Tma02 Essays - 1330 Words

Brain Bigelow, John La Gaipa and William Corsaro have both made important contributions into understanding how children interpret â€Å"friendship†. Bigelow and La Gaipa carried out one of the first studies from what was a very under researched area. Bill Corsaro, a key figure in childhood studies, was particularly successful in gaining access into young childrens worlds which has helped shape a further picture of this somewhat intriguing definition. Brace and Byford (2012) One similarity is that they both aimed to study friendships in children and to also provide a persuasive explanation into this. A further similarity was in their methods used for measuring their research, as both initially used a qualitative approach. Bigelow and La†¦show more content†¦So by transforming written text into a form that can be counted or â€Å"frequency counts† it enabled Bigelow and La Gapia to identify any similarities in the data that would help provide information about the way childrens friendships alter. Brace and Byford (2012). Subsequently Corsaro took a different approach to studying childrens friendship, Corsaro was more interested in maintaining the childrens individual view of the word â€Å"friend† and seeing how children talk to each other about this. In addition Corsaro wanted to see what this may mean to children from different backgrounds and personal beliefs. Corsaro carried out his study by using a â€Å"reactive† method, that is letting the child draw him in then observing the children from within the group. Corsaro made detailed notes and video recorded the childrens interactions with one and other and then analysed the conversations between the children. Corsaro argued that rather than asking a child to write down their thoughts on friendship it enabled him to gain a first hand account of the childs experience, to see things from a childs perspective and by engaging with the children on their own terms he was able to better understand the world of childrens friendship. Interview with William Corsaro (2010) 3 Consequently these two different