Chapter 15: Using Children’s Drawings as A Source of data in Research

Children’s drawings have a fascination that has attracted the attention of artists and scientists, philosophers, psychologists and educators for more than a century. Over this time, many different theoretical interpretations have been proposed to explain the developmental, symbolic, and artistic meanings that are provoked when analyzing the images produced by young children (Anning & Ring, 2004; Gardner, 1980).

A diversity of theoretical interpretations can be found in the literature that focuses on the product of children’s drawing. Dominant amongst these are: Drawing as intellectual development—the analysis of human figure images for accuracies in detail, proportion, and realism (Abell, Von Briesen, & Watz, 1996; Harris, 1963; Simner, 1985; Ter Laak, De Goede, Aleva, & Van Rijswijk, 2005); also extended to include accuracy in drawing mathematical figures and everyday objects (Häidkind, Kikas, Henno, & Peets, 2011), numbers, letters, and words (Thomson, Rowe, Underwood, & Peck, 2005); Drawing as psychological projection—the analysis of emotional wellbeing and unconscious feelings from signs and symbols in children’s depiction of the human figure, either alone (Furth, 2002; Groves & Fried, 1991; Koppitz, 1968; McNeish & Naglieri, 1993) or as a member of the family group (Burns & Kaufman, 1971; Fury, Carlson, & Sroufe, 1997; Pianta, Longmaid, & Ferguson, 1999); Drawing as projective representation of identity—the analysis of stereotypes in children’s depiction of gender and people’s roles at home, at work and in the community (Brooker & Sang-Jin, 2005; Cherney, Seiwert, Dickey, & Flichtbeil, 2006; Farland-Smith, 2012; Hague, 2001); Drawing as a visual language, a graphic “equivalent of what is observed in the object” (Arnheim, 1974. p. 98)—the analysis of children’s use and invention of a graphic vocabulary for objects and movements, such as the primordial circle, concentric circles, circle radii, horizontal and vertical lines (Arnheim, 1974), and experiences, including depiction of proximity and similarity in their interpersonal relationships with others (Pinto & Bombi, 2008; Pinto, Bombi, & Cordioli, 1997); Drawing as problem-solving—the analysis of spatial patterns, sequence and composition to understand the choices children make when faced with drawing challenges (Goodnow, 1977; Pinto et al., 1997), including the task of drawing an object that does not exist (Karmiloff-Smith, 1990; Picard & Vinter, 2006); and Drawing as aesthetic, creative expression—the analysis of line and composition in children’s drawings, which has been compared to the work of avant-garde artists such as Klee, Kandinsky and Miro (reviewed in Gardner, 1980; Thomas & Silk, 1990; Willats, 2005) and children’s artistic development (Fawson, 2009; Milbrath & Trautner, 2008).