Photo Elicitation Interview (PEI): Using Photos to Elicit Children's Perspectives

Abstract

When conducting photo elicitation interviews (PEI), researchers introduce photographs into the interview context. Although PEI has been employed across a wide variety of disciplines and participants, little has been written about the use of photographs in interviews with children. In this article, the authors review the use of PEI in a research study that explored the perspectives on camp of children with cancer. In particular, they review some of the methodological and ethical challenges, including (a) who should take the photographs and (b) how the photographs should be integrated into the interview. Although some limitations exist, PEI in its various forms can challenge participants, trigger memory, lead to new perspectives, and assist with building trust and rapport.

Auto-driven Photo Elicitation Interviews in Research with Children: Ethical and Practical Considerations

“…Conventional methods of collecting data such as focus groups and interviews may limit the depth of inquiry due to various factors including the child's reliance on verbal skills, answering questions posed from an adult point of reference, and their need to respond fairly immediately (Rapport, Wainwright, & Elwyn, 2005). Visual methodologies, such as drawings and photographs can provide artifacts that assist recall and stimulate reflection and conversation, at the same time empowering children in the research process (Epstein, Stevens, McKeever, & Baruchel, 2006;Radley & Taylor, 2003). Children can engage readily with visual-based methods because for many children these methods are fun, can be easily mastered, and can be a useful way of representing children's thoughts, understandings, and constructs in a way that is accessible to adults (Cook & Hess, 2007;Nic Gabhainn & Sixsmith, 2006).…”

“…Our sense was that using photographs to shape the interviews meant that the child was more at ease to talk about their everyday experiences and their meanings. Like Epstein et al (2006) and Meo (2010) we believe that the use of photographs helped us to elicit longer and more comprehensive interviews than a traditional oral interview would have achieved.…”

“…PEI that uses photographs taken by the participant is also referred to as native, reflexive, or autodriven photography (Epstein et al, 2006). The photographs can be used as visual inventories of objects, people, and artifacts; a depiction of events as part of a collective or institution; and to portray an intimate dimension of a family, social group, or person (Clark-Ibanez, 2004;Harper, 2002).…”

Enhancing Students’ Ecological Thinking to Improve Understanding of Environmental Risk

“…Apart from being user friendly and requiring only simple technology to produce, photographs can be used either on their own as content for discussion or as a part of the overall interview process (by varying the way they are presented). Such use enables the interviewer to probe responses about social relationships (Epstein et al 2006 ). Furthermore, photo-elicitation incorporates visual language with verbal language (Hurworth 2003 ) and both interviewer and interviewee share the same visualization that becomes the focus of the interview.…”

“…A sample of students were interviewed prior to its start (pre-test); then they were again interviewed at the end (post-test). Using the photo-elicitation technique, photographs were shown to the students and questions posed to elicit responses (Epstein et al 2006 ;Hurworth 2003 ). The photographs constituted six images of the environment in various situations, as depicted in Fig.…”