Image and Word as a Space of Ethical Dialogue Between Researcher and Child: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations of an Original Research Method
Abstract
The article presents the author’s method of visual-verbal dialogues as an ethical and participatory approach to working with children in early childhood education. The objective is to examine how image and word can serve as complementary tools of ethical dialogue, enabling children to co-create meaning with adults. The study addresses the lack of dialogical, partnership-based methods in research with children, where hierarchical relations often reduce their agency. The method is grounded in C.S. Peirce’s semiotic triad (object–sign–interpretant) and combines art-based research (ABR) with participatory pedagogy. It has a qualitative character and is illustrated with short case studies of visual-verbal dialogues conducted in Poland, in the Pomeranian region, in 2025, across various contexts (child–parent–researcher, child–parent, child–teacher). The article introduces the theoretical and ethical foundations of the method, then presents three case studies, each mapped onto Peirce’s triad, followed by analysis of their educational significance. The results show that the method supports children’s language development, emotional expression, and sense of agency. It also reveals children’s needs that are difficult to verbalize, while the adult perspective contributes dimensions of care, community, and responsibility. Visual-verbal dialogues offer a practical tool for early childhood education, especially in art lessons, supporting shy or sensitive children and fostering empathy and cooperation in the classroom. The method integrates conceptual, methodological, and ethical dimensions, proving useful both in research with children and in educational practice.
References
Baraldi, C., & Cockburn, T. (Eds.). (2018). Theorising childhood: Citizenship, rights and participation. Palgrave Macmillan.
Barthes, R. (1977). Image–music–text (S. Heath, Trans.). Fontana Press. (Original work published 1964).
Bezemer, J., & Kress, G. (2020). Multimodality, learning and communication: A social semiotic frame. Routledge.
Bland, D. (2018). Using drawing in research with children: Lessons from practice. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 41(3), 342–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2017.1307957
Christensen, P., & Prout, A. (2002). Working with ethical symmetry in social research with children. Childhood, 9(4), 477–497. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568202009004007
Clark, A., & Moss, P. (2023). Listening to young children: The Mosaic approach (Updated edition). National Children’s Bureau.
Eco, U. (1979). The role of the reader: Explorations in the semiotics of texts. Indiana University Press.
Eco, U. (2009). Teoria semiotyki (M. Czerwiński, Trans.) [A theory of semiotics]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Farrell, A. (Ed.). (2005). Ethical research with children. Open University Press.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (M. Bergman Ramos, Trans.). Continuum.
Graham, A., Powell, M. A., Taylor, N., Anderson, D., & Fitzgerald, R. (2013). Ethical research involving children. UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti. https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/ethical-research-involving-children?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Jewitt, C., Bezemer, J., & O’Halloran, K. (2016). Introducing multimodality. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638027
Karczmarzyk, M. (2011). Co znaczą rysunki dziecięce? Znaczenia i potencjał komunikacyjny rysunku dziecka sześcioletniego [What children’s drawings mean: Meanings and communicative potential of six-year-old children’s drawings]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Karczmarzyk, M. (2014). Co znaczą rysunki dziecięce? [What children’s drawings mean?]. ANWI.
Karczmarzyk, M. (2019a). Metoda dialogów wizualno-werbalnych w terapii z dzieckiem z niepełnosprawnawnością w wieku wczesnoszkolnym. Analiza indywidualnych przypadków [The method of visual-verbal dialogues in therapy with a child with disabilities in early school age: Case study analysis]. Niepełnosprawność. Półrocznik naukowy [Disability. A Scientific Biannual], 36, 91–102. https://doi.org/10.4467/25439561.NP.19.048.12291
Karczmarzyk, M. (2019b). Ikonosfera popularna jako kultura wpływu. Analiza wybranych, edukacyjnych stron internetowych dla dzieci w kontekście estetyzacji współczesnej rzeczywistości [Popular iconosphere as a culture of influence: An analysis of selected educational websites for children in the context of the aestheticisation of contemporary reality]. In B. Kurowska & K. Łapot-Dzierwa (Eds.), Kultura, sztuka, edukacja (vol. 4, pp. 139–147). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego im. KEN w Krakowie.
Karczmarzyk, M. (2020a). Dialogi sztuki. Potencjał komunikacyjny i arteterapeutyczny alternatywnej metody dialogu wizualno‑werbalnego w pracy nauczyciela/wychowawcy/rodzica z dzieckiem w wieku wczesnoszkolnym [Dialogues of art: Communicative and art-therapeutic potential of an alternative method of visual-verbal dialogue]. Edukacja Pomorska, 102(52), 10–12. https://www.pcen.gda.pl/files/userfiles/2020-09/4125.pdf
Karczmarzyk, M. (2020b). Polska sztuka współczesna w oczach dzieci i dorosłych : potencjał pedagogiczny, komunikacyjny oraz kulturowy wybranych obrazów Jacka Yerki, Tomasza Sętowskiego, Rafała Olbińskiego i Zdzisława Beksińskiego [Polish contemporary art in the eyes of children and adults: Pedagogical, communicative, and cultural potential of selected works by Jacek Yerka, Tomasz Sętowski, Rafał Olbiński, and Zdzisław Beksiński]. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Leavy, P. (2018). Method meets art: Arts-Based research practice (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
Maciejewska-Mroczek, E., & Reimann, M. (2017). Kodeks dobrych praktyk w badaniach z dziećmi. O potrzebie tworzenia zasad prowadzenia badań z udziałem dzieci [A code of good practice in research with children: On the need to create rules for conducting research with children]. Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica, 18(3), 11–23.
Peirce, C.S. (1991). Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols. 1–8). Harvard University Press.
Sullivan, G. (2005). Art practice as research: Inquiry in the visual arts. SAGE Publications.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elementary Education in Theory and Practice
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- When submitting a text, the author declares that he/she is the Author of the article (hereinafter referred to as the “Work”) and:
- he/she owns the exclusive and unlimited copyright to the Work,
- is entitled to dispose of the copyright to the Work.
Declares that it does not infringe any third party copyrights or legal rights.
Declares that there is no conflict of interest.
2. At the same time, the Author grants the Ignatianum University in Cracowa royalty-free, non-exclusive and territorially unlimited licence to use the Work in the following fields of exploitation:
- recording the Work in a hard copy, as well as on a digital or magnetic medium;
- reproduction of the Work using any technique, without limitation of the number of editions or copies;
- distribution of the Work and its copies on any medium, including marketing, sale, lending, and rental;
- introduction of the Work into a computer memory;
- disseminating the Work in information networks, including in the Internet;
- public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, as well as making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to it at a time and place of their own choosing;
- within the scope of dependent rights to the Work, including in particular the right to make necessary changes to the Work resulting from editorial and methodical development, as well as to translate the Work into foreign languages;
The licence is granted from the moment of the transfer of the Work to the Ignatianum University in Cracow. The Ignatianum University in Cracow is entitled to grant further sub-licences to the Work within the scope of the right granted. The licence is time-limited and it is granted for a period of 15 years, starting from the date of its granting.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish their text online (e.g. in their institution’s repository or on the institution’s website) before or during the submission process as this may lead to beneficial exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published text (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following portals of research associations:
- ResearchGate
- SSRN
- Academia.edu
- Selected Works
- Academic Search
