The sibling postcard exercise - substance and methodology
The sibling postcard exercise - substance and methodology
Objective: this research note has both substantive and methodological objectives. It presents an account of undertaking a surface thematic analysis of a data sub-set from a repurposed public engagement written postcard exercise, to consider: (i) the significant non-relationally framed (i.e. factual and not related to the quality of the sibling relationship) information that people across gender and generation think that researchers should know about their siblings, and (ii) the written postcard exercise as a potential research method in family research.
Background: much research on siblings is concerned with outcomes or everyday relational processes. There is less attention to what people themselves regard as significant features of their siblings’ circumstances that is not shaped by researcher agendas and interactions.
Method: the research note draws on electronic and hard copy written postcard data, submitted in response to the open prompt ‘Please tell us about your brothers and sisters’, submitted by 795 children and adults. The majority were aged 29-58 and were female. A surface thematic analysis was undertaken to identify the factual, non-relationally framed information provided by postcard writers in a data sub-set in order to identify the issues that they regarded as important.
Results: postcard writers providing factual information about their siblings’ circumstances did so largely in the here-and-now of their siblings’ lives. They addressed family form, geographical location, and age at which siblings left home, framing this non-relationally as information about their siblings.
Conclusion: the analysis of sibling-provided information that is not relationally framed provides an alternative or additional perspective to both developmental outcomes research and studies of sibling perspectives. The postcard exercise offers possibilities as a data generation method that enables an initial co-production design.
Family structure, Work, gender and age cohort, geographical location, leaving home, postcard research method, surface thematic analysis, written accounts
148-158
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Weller, Susie
07acfcf1-d661-40e6-9931-62b5a65e1dbd
Weissenberg, Luisa
a27584f9-f38f-4707-bd00-a971a6e336e4
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Weller, Susie
07acfcf1-d661-40e6-9931-62b5a65e1dbd
Weissenberg, Luisa
a27584f9-f38f-4707-bd00-a971a6e336e4
Edwards, Rosalind, Weller, Susie and Weissenberg, Luisa
(2026)
The sibling postcard exercise - substance and methodology.
Journal of Family Research, 38, .
(doi:10.20377/jfr-1345).
Abstract
Objective: this research note has both substantive and methodological objectives. It presents an account of undertaking a surface thematic analysis of a data sub-set from a repurposed public engagement written postcard exercise, to consider: (i) the significant non-relationally framed (i.e. factual and not related to the quality of the sibling relationship) information that people across gender and generation think that researchers should know about their siblings, and (ii) the written postcard exercise as a potential research method in family research.
Background: much research on siblings is concerned with outcomes or everyday relational processes. There is less attention to what people themselves regard as significant features of their siblings’ circumstances that is not shaped by researcher agendas and interactions.
Method: the research note draws on electronic and hard copy written postcard data, submitted in response to the open prompt ‘Please tell us about your brothers and sisters’, submitted by 795 children and adults. The majority were aged 29-58 and were female. A surface thematic analysis was undertaken to identify the factual, non-relationally framed information provided by postcard writers in a data sub-set in order to identify the issues that they regarded as important.
Results: postcard writers providing factual information about their siblings’ circumstances did so largely in the here-and-now of their siblings’ lives. They addressed family form, geographical location, and age at which siblings left home, framing this non-relationally as information about their siblings.
Conclusion: the analysis of sibling-provided information that is not relationally framed provides an alternative or additional perspective to both developmental outcomes research and studies of sibling perspectives. The postcard exercise offers possibilities as a data generation method that enables an initial co-production design.
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SiblingPostcardsJFRnoteAccepted
- Accepted Manuscript
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jfr-1345_Edwards_etal_A3
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 March 2026
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 March 2026
Keywords:
Family structure, Work, gender and age cohort, geographical location, leaving home, postcard research method, surface thematic analysis, written accounts
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 510981
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510981
ISSN: 2699-2337
PURE UUID: 9bf3fd63-e09e-4326-bb36-cb334ab2d958
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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2026 16:46
Last modified: 30 Apr 2026 01:43
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Contributors
Author:
Susie Weller
Author:
Luisa Weissenberg
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