Visual Research

Banks (1995) describes a variety of visual research methods. He writes of “photo-elicitation,” involving reviewing photograph albums, “directed photographs” involving the creation of images for a research project, and projects that benefit participants by giving them access to visual media. He notes the value of designing projects so that they accomplish goals for the participants as well as providing information for the researcher.

Hurworth (2003) reviews different uses of photographs for social research. She describes photo-interviewing as a “particularly powerful tool for the researcher” that can “challenge participants, provide nuances, trigger memories, lead to new perspectives and explanations….” (p. 4). In participatory action research, people “create and discuss photographs as a means of enabling personal and community change” (p. 4). She notes that there are limitations with using photo techniques, citing ethical considerations and privacy among other concerns.

Treasures: The Stories Women Tell about the Things They Keep is a book by Kathleen Cairns and Eliane Silverman that documents a visual research project about memory and meaning. The researchers asked 100 women to talk with them about six important objects from their lives. "These texts bring to light the patterns of story and emotion that women have woven around the objects they have kept and treasured, objects which in the past may have seemed unimportant. These treasures contain and reveal each womanís life experience and act as vehicles for her values and for the development of her character. They are often passed along to other women or handed down to family members, thereby connecting generations and cultivating a collective womens history." http://www.uofcpress.com/1-55238/1-55238-073-4.html

The Tideline Project in Vancouver engaged 200 participants in Walking along the shores of False Creek, gathering visual images to create a map describing their interactions with, and concern for, the environment.

The Life Mapping Project on Salt Spring Island employed a visual research methodology, building on the work of Kristopher Wells (2004). Wells describes creating space in which research participants become co-researchers who make and discuss visual images on themes including identity, safety, community supports, secrets, fears, dreams and desires. He writes, “The co-researcher’s visual narratives created rich visual and symbolic texts that revealed many of the larger institutional and societal discourses and discursive practices that work to regulate and fix their queer bodies and identities” (p. 517). The organizers of the Life Mapping Project felt that visual research techniques would allow the pull of contradictory forces on queer subjectivities, encouraging narratives that incorporate paradox, integrate and conscious and unconscious processes, challenge easy understandings, and show the ongoing interaction of participants with a changing world. This project was also situated within the tradition of Participatory Research. http://www.queermap.com/lifemaps/lifemaps.htm

References

Banks, M. (1995). Visual research methods. Social Research Update Issue 11: Winter 1995 Electronic Version. Retrieved May 16, 2005 from http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU11/SRU1.html (not found Nov. 2006).

Hurlworth, Rosalind. (2003). Photo-interviewing for research. Social Research Update 40: Spring 2003 Electronic version. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2005 from http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU40.html

Wells, K. (2004). Queer visual narrative research: pictures are worth more than a thousand words. In Clover, D. (Ed.) Adult education for democracy, social justice and a culture of peace: proceedings of the joint international conference of the Adult Education Research Conference and the National Conference of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, University of Victoria. Retrieved Nov 16, 2006 from: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2004/2004onlineProceedings/2004Conference.pdf