This volume gives scholars and students a working knowledge of the procedures, challenges, and benefits of using photo methods in their ethnographic work through studies by researchers who are currently using it. The studies are both examples of exemplary scholarship and serve as tutorials on the procedures and methodological considerations of using this personal, even intimate, method. These eight authors were asked to re-open their carefully packed-away studies, disassemble the methods and the findings, and reflect on the contents. Like looking through old photo albums, these reflective essays allowed us to have new conversations with different audiences. Each chapter contains sections that penetratingly explain the research problem, describe why photo methods were used for the study, elucidate and reflect on the method, summarize the findings, and then examine participant empowerment through the method. This unique structure is specifically designed to be used in masters and doctoral classrooms and with researchers looking for new methods or to strengthen their existing work. The editors and authors believe that using photo-methods can empower participants to become part of the research process. Each author uses photo with the same goal; to create rigorous science that has meaning for the participants.
Author(s): Michael Lee Boucher Jr.
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 247
Acknowledgements
Contents
Editor and Contributors
Methodological, Critical, and Ethical Considerations
1 Introduction: Photo Methods, the Image, and Validity
Abstract
1.1 Historical Context
1.2 The Image and Culture
1.2.1 The Image in Ethnography
1.3 What Are Photo Methodologies?
1.4 Using Photo-Methods in Education Research
1.5 How Can a Research Method Empower Individuals?
1.6 Validity in Photo-Methods
1.7 What to Expect in This Book
References
2 The Ethics of Visual Research and Participant Empowerment
Abstract
2.1 Ethics Committees and Approval
2.1.1 Informed Consent
2.1.2 Informed Consent and Children
2.1.3 Privacy and Confidentiality
2.1.4 Safe Spaces
2.2 Beyond the Ethics Committee—Personal Ethics
2.2.1 Exposing Realities
2.2.2 Beneficence and Ethics
2.3 Conclusion
References
‘Listening’ to the Silenced
3 Auto-driven Photo-Elicitation Interviews with Young Deaf People
Abstract
3.1 Research Problem
3.2 Why Auto-driven Photo-Elicitation Interviews Were Used for This Study
3.3 Method
3.3.1 Photo Elicitation
3.3.2 Visucentrism and Research with Deaf Participants
3.3.3 Ethical Considerations and the Ethics Committee (IRB)
3.3.4 The Photo-Elicitation Interviews
3.3.5 Sampling, Self-identity, and Recruiting Participants
3.3.6 Placement, Power, and Language
3.3.7 Gathering, Storing, and Using the Photographs
3.3.8 Conducting the Interviews
3.3.9 Data Analysis and the Unique Challenges of Analysing Visual Communication
3.4 Findings
3.5 How This Method Empowered My Participants
Appendix A: Transitional Experiences of Young d/Deaf People in England
Information Sheet for Taking Photos (Abridged)
References
4 Using Photo-Elicitation to Break the Silence
Abstract
4.1 Research Problem
4.2 Why Photo-Elicitation Was Used for This Study
4.3 Method
4.3.1 Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Other Hurdles to Research with People with Disability
4.3.2 Using Photo-Elicitation in a Time of Digital Photos
4.4 Findings
4.4.1 Introducing Three Participants
4.4.2 Lesson 1: Balancing Belonging
4.4.3 Lesson 2: Quality of Life Is Fluid
4.4.4 Lesson 3: Personal Rights
4.4.5 Lesson 4: Judge More Wisely
4.5 How Photo Elicitation Empowered My Participants (and Changed Me)
4.6 Final Thoughts
References
5 Photovoice as a Tool for Understanding Sustainability in the Anthropocene
Abstract
5.1 Research Problem
5.1.1 Sustainability and the Coming of the Anthropocene
5.1.2 Using Photo as a Research Tool: Locating Ourselves Methodologically and Theoretically
5.1.3 Why Photo-Elicitation Was Used for This Study and Some Caveats Regarding Its Use
5.2 Method
5.2.1 Context of the Study
5.3 Findings
5.3.1 Common Worlds and Emerging Tensions
References
‘Listening’ to Kids and Teachers
6 Friends, the Club, and the Housing Authority: How Youth Define Their Community Through Auto-driven Photo Elicitation
Abstract
6.1 Research Problem
6.2 From Receivers of Service to Givers of Service
6.3 Why Auto-driven Photo-Elicitation Interviews Were Used for This Study
6.3.1 Service Learning Versus Community Service
6.4 Method
6.4.1 Picture Our Community Study
6.5 Findings
6.5.1 The Coventry Square Club
6.6 How This Method Empowered My Participants
Appendix: Picture Our Community Flyer
References
7 Do You See What I See? Family-Produced Photographs and the Transition to School
Abstract
7.1 Research Problem
7.2 Why Photo-Elicitation Was Used for This Study
7.3 Method
7.3.1 The Study and Participants
7.3.2 Data Collection
7.3.3 Data Analysis
7.3.4 Positionality
7.3.5 Rapport
7.4 Findings
7.4.1 Readiness Involves Doing School-like Activities
7.4.2 Readiness Involves Technology
7.4.3 Readiness Is Part of Everyday Activities
7.4.4 Readiness Involves the Right Materials
7.4.5 Readiness Is Supported by Family and Peers
7.4.6 Readiness Relies on the Resources of the Community
7.5 Participant Empowerment
References
8 Curb My Cynicism: Employing Photo Elicitation to Address the Problem of Research on Bullying
Abstract
8.1 Eye Roll Please: Research on Bullying
8.2 How My Cynicism of the “Contest Illusion” Led to Utilizing Photo Elicitation
8.3 Method: A New Way In
8.3.1 Selecting and Arranging Images
8.4 Findings: Snapshots from the Analysis
8.5 Empowerment, Engagement, and Insights Gained from Photo Elicitation
References
9 Mediating the Space Between: Using Photo-Elicitation to Prompt Cultural Consciousness-Raising
Abstract
9.1 Research Problem
9.2 Global Perspective Development
9.3 Mediating Understanding Through Cross-Cultural Interactions
9.4 Photo-Elicitation as a Tool for Cultural Consciousness-Raising
9.5 Method
9.5.1 Participants
9.5.2 Procedures
9.5.3 Data Analysis
9.6 Institutional Review Board (IRB) Consideration
9.7 Methodical Issues that Resulted from My Own Cultural Assumptions
9.8 Findings: Micro-movements Towards Global Perspective
9.8.1 Photography Used as Storytelling
9.8.2 Using Photography to Practice Position-Taking
9.8.3 Photography as Cultural Consciousness-Raising
9.9 Reflecting on This Process: How Photo-Elicitation Empowered the ISTs
Appendix 1: Interview Protocol: Kenyan Secondary Students
Appendix 2: Interview Protocol: Post Travel Interview with ISTs
References
10 Interrogating Whiteness: Using Photo-Elicitation to Empower Teachers to Talk About Race
Abstract
10.1 Research Problem
10.1.1 The Achievement Gap and the “School to Prison Pipeline”
10.1.2 Solutions Are not Readily Found
10.1.3 Finding a Counternarrative
10.2 Why Photo Elicitation Was Used for This Study
10.3 Method
10.3.1 Ethnographic Case Study
10.3.2 Case Study
10.3.3 Critical Ethnography and Positionality
10.3.4 Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Participants
10.3.5 Data Collection, and Analysis
10.4 Findings
10.4.1 Todd Edwards
10.5 Conclusion
10.5.1 Interrogating Whiteness
10.5.2 How This Method Empowered My Participants
References
Conclusion: Troubling Empowerment
Author Index
Subject Index
