Sandboxing in practice: Qualitative interviewing with sand, objects and figures

This contribution to the Creative Research Methods in Practice series focuses on the qualitative technique of ‘sandboxing’. The sandboxing method was developed from the tradition of play therapy, specifically the World Technique, where children create three dimensional scenes, pictures, or abstract designs with a range of miniature, realistic and fantasy, figures and everyday objects in a tray filled with sand. Sandboxing adapts this therapeutic practice as a distinctive tool of qualitative data generation with children, young people, and adults who create sand scenes and discuss their metaphorical meanings in elicitation interviews. This is the first book dedicated to the methodological technique of sandboxing. It will be useful for students, researchers and practitioners interested working with creative methods to generate data with participants. The book explains the development of the sandboxing technique, presents key international case studies, and reflects on the affordances, limitations and ethical considerations of sandboxing. The chapters offer pragmatic advice for adopting this technique in practice, in terms of generating data with participants, adopting frameworks of analysis, and exploring strategies of dissemination, engagement and impact. The book provides an essential guide to sandboxing that critically engages with the potentialities of the method and provides the reader with the information and tools to implement or adapt sandboxing for their own research and practice.