The Subjective Evidence Based Ethnography (SEBE) for the study of ICTs-parents-adolescents' everyday interactions

A recent and comprehensive European report (see Livingstone et al., 2015) has highlighted that most studies on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have based their findings on quantitative and self-report methods, while few have included qualitative and ethnographically oriented methods. In fact, little is known about children’s actual practices with ICTs in their everyday life, i.e. when and how they use ICTs, for which purposes, in which moments of the day, etc. Guided by the idea that quantitative and self-report based methods provide only a partial view of a more complex dynamics concerning child-ICTs interaction, this contribution illustrates an innovative ethnographic method named Subjective Evidence-Based Ethnography (SEBE) (Lahlou et al., 2015). The potentials of SEBE for documenting children’s use of ICTs and their role in parent-child interaction and communication will be illustrated using video materials from an ongoing research project carried out with parents and their adolescent children (13-16 years) in Italy. The definition of methods anchored to adolescents’ actual practices in their everyday life can be particularly relevant for researchers interested in child development and family processes but also for educators and practitioners. SEBE is consistent with social constructionist theoretical approaches and activity theory, in particular. Its innovative nature allows the investigation of traditional research fields from a different perspective, never used before with children and their families.