CHAPTER 5: A DISCUSSION OF ART PRACTICE
5.2. Development of story narratives: Focus group study
I chose to hold focus group sessions to gain inspiration for my picture books. The purpose was to develop narratives that were personal and relatable, but also connected to the experiences of other adults rather than insular and possibly self- indulgent. The focus groups took the form of orchestrated conversations with adults in a similar age bracket and with similar cultural experiences to me.
A particular demographic was chosen to draw these shared experiences from.
Specifically, the participants were twenty to forty years old and they fall within the categorisation of millennials.72 This group would have been young children in South
72 Millennials are categorised as a generational group born between 1980 and 2000 (Bachman, Hull &
Haecker 2020: 123). They have been referred to in a derogatory sense as the “look at me generation” but are known to be “more accepting of diversity than were past generations [and] have the ability to see problems and opportunities from fresh perspectives” (Myers & Sadaghiani 2010: 225, 226). However, as Bachman, Hull and Haecker’s article title suggests, Millennials are not all the same (2020). They value individualism, authenticity and want to shape the world around them to accommodate their “individual quirks” (Growth from Knowledge 2017: Online). A 2016 study by data analysts Growth from Knowledge (2017: Online) shows that 84% of South African millennials completed a high school or tertiary education, being a much higher level of education in relation to previous generations, thereby making them more informed and worldlier. They are known to be able to digest large amounts of information being that they are the generation who experienced the rapid changes in the area of information technology and are comfortable with various forms of communication technologies (Myers & Sadaghiani 2010: 225). In everyday life, they get along with team members, are prompted by the fact that they can make a positive impact on the world
Africa during the 1980s and 1990s.73 These participants also hail from a variety of economic, cultural and social backgrounds. They consisted of visual artists, educators and students. Furthermore, the participants that were asked to join this study were individuals I had a relationship with as friends, acquaintances, work colleagues or family members. Our existing relationships helped steer the conversations and allowed for a comfortable atmosphere in which we could share our stories and find similarities in our childhood memories regarding play. Some of our meetings consisted of larger groups of up to five participants, while others were smaller groups of three
participants. Individual conversations via telephonic methods were held with a couple of participants who lived in other cities or countries.
Each participant of the focus group gave their informed consent to be interviewed by signing official consent forms following the University of South Africa’s ethics
procedure, preapproved with my proposal document. Each controlled focus group started with a brief introduction of the participants in the room, allowing everyone to meet and become more comfortable with each other. As the host, I shared my research topic with the group and clearly stated the objectives of our meeting. The participants were also reminded that our conversations would help me create picture books with a new perspective on play as I intended to use their narratives as
inspiration for the stories.
around them and appreciate open communication with their superiors (Myers & Sadaghiani 2010: 225).
Specifically, in South Africa, millennials have experienced both sides of the political coin, some being young enough to remember the years of apartheid clearly and some who can recall the shift in the country to a democratic nation.
73Participants for the focus groups were recruited using convenience sampling. This non-probability sampling technique was chosen for its ease of implementation and because statistical rigour was not required (Turner, 2020). The purpose of the focus groups was to stimulate creativity and new ideas for my own art practice and, as such, I selected participants similar to me in personal background, age, and geographical location. These participants were also easier to sample during the COVID-19 pandemic, when substantial restrictions were in place limiting access to participants outside of my personal circle. However, I am aware that convenience sampling falls prey to problems with representativeness meaning that the findings of the focus groups cannot be generalized to other situations (Turner, 2020). While this is a limitation, the purpose of the focus groups was not to be able to say something about all adults in this age category and geographical location but, again, rather to spark ideas for my own creation of picture books.
During the focus groups, participants were asked to recall the imaginative games they played as children and how they played these games in the imaginary realm, whether they played with peers or imaginary friends. In these group sessions, I shared my own experiences from my childhood, which led the conversation to other themes in an informal manner. All physical meetings were held in my lounge at home.74 Participants were provided with snacks and refreshments and were encouraged to make
themselves comfortable, so as to encourage a casual atmosphere. The relaxed format of these sessions allowed participants to openly share their experiences rather than feel like they are being interviewed or interrogated. Through conversation, certain similarities from childhood play were noted and it was soon realised that there were overlapping approaches to creative play.
The following questions were posed to the participants to initiate and stimulate the conversation:
1. What was your favourite game to play as a child?
2. What was your favourite toy to play with?
3. What are the memories attached to these games and toys you just mentioned?
4. Did you have close friends or siblings that you played with?
5. How did you play with these close friends or siblings?
6. Did you play differently when alone in relation to playing in a group?
7. What games did you play when you were alone?
8. What sort of imaginative thoughts did you have about the world around you that helped you understand it?
9. Did you have imaginary friends/worlds or play imaginative games?
10. What did your imaginary friends/worlds look like?
74 These focus groups were initially held in person but shifted to online platforms in 2020 and 2021 with the effects of the global pandemic. Applications such as Zoom, WhatsApp and audio recordings were used to relay information and share stories. This did not take away from the quality of the content produced as the conversations continued like usual.
These questions allowed the topic of discussion to drift between these points to purposefully keep a casual flow. This conversational approach allowed participants’
memories to spark other participants’ thoughts. The questions were purposefully formulated to guide the conversation relevant to the study. Questions 1 to 7 were constructed to establish how the participants set up play time, that is, whether they required external stimuli or could simply play with imaginary entities. I was most interested to hear the stories of alone play and how a child was able to conjure imaginary games while playing alone. Questions 8, 9 and 10 related to imagination.
Curiosity was piqued when it was asked whether they experienced instances of
Winnicott’s ‘True Self’ while at play within the ‘transitional space’. In these focus group sessions, stories about childhood games and moments were shared, to discover when the world felt magical and when playing felt driven by the imagination alone. Cass (1971: 118) states that sharing stories can assist one in relating to children, or in this case, assists us in writing and illustrating for children. Some of these focus group meetings allowed me to share some of my already existing stories and allowed me to regularly gauge listeners’ responses.