'Looking and listening-in': a methodological approach to generating insights into infants' experiences of early childhood education and care settings

In this article, we describe an observational approach, 'looking and listening-in,' that we have used to try to understand the experience of an infant in an Australian family day-care home. The article is drawn from a larger study of infants' experiences of early childhood education and care settings. In keeping with the mosaic methodology of the larger study, 'looking and listening-in' encompasses constructs drawn from diverse (phenomenological, socio-cultural, social cognition) theoretical perspectives. In the context in which we are using it, looking and listening-in has dual utility: as a methodological approach for helping us to edge closer to understanding the infant's experience, and as a way of describing how the infant made meaning of his experience. The infant's looking and listening-in is illustrated and analysed through a visual narrative.