Sandboxing: Qualitative Interviewing with Sand, Objects, and Figures

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 Bristol Conversations workshop explains the development of the sandboxing technique, and reflects on the affordances, limitations and ethical considerations of sandboxing. The workshop also offers an opportunity for attendees to engage with sandboxing materials, and consider if they could adopt sandboxing for their own research and practice.