Unlocking Imaginations: Lessons Learnt from Using Story Stem Completion with Young Children

Abstract

Although a substantial proportion of psychological research focuses on the topic of ableism in schools, there is an extremely limited use of qualitative methodology in this area, with no instances, thus far, employing the story stem completion method. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of academic literature discussing best practice in terms of research conducted (a) with children instead of adults, (b) within school settings, or (c) addressing ableism and disabilitybased prejudice. This paper seeks to fill this gap by sharing insights gained from our own research project. We collected qualitative data through story stem completion tasks to explore perceptions and discourse surrounding disability among N = 195 children aged 5 – 11 years in the UK. We explain and critically assess our research decisions, including the creation of story stems, remote and indirect engagement with pupils and school staff, and our data collection methods. In doing so, we highlight the array of choices available to researchers, emphasize the importance of further dialogue within the research community, and advocate for evidence-based best practices in this specific research area.