Pictorial Representation

Engaging Fringe Stakeholders in Business and Society Research: Applying Visual Participatory Research Methods

“…We further focus in this article on 'participant-produced drawing' (Kearney & Hyle, 2004), or a 'freehand sketch' (Meyer, 1991), which while garnering more attention remains, according to Stiles (2013), a method rarely used within organisation studies (excepting Broussine & Vince, 1998;Bryans & Mavin, 2006;Kearney & Hyle, 2004;Meyer, 1991;Stiles, 2004;Zuboff, 1998). Drawing, it is argued, is a meditative process that allows for reflection on feelings and emotions: indeed it is one of the oldest forms of human communication (Gombrich, 1982;Stiles, 2013).…”

“…They cited the high number of non-literate farmers as being the main reason for their concern, and didn't want to include the less-educated, poorer or migrant farmers in the sample in case they 'ruined' the research. After the first workshop, however, they saw how GALS cut across many levels of literacy, education, language and penmanship, and how this enabled Use of symbols for work tasks and items purchased created a 'universal language' (Mayoux, 2012, p.334), enabling participants of different backgrounds and local languages to participate (Liebenberg, 2009;Stiles, 2004). Conversations with local staff intimated that in other research approaches the older, less educated and very poor migrant farmers would not be included, since they would not be 'smart' enough (Supplier 2).…”

Participatory Visual Methods

“…Meyer acknowledges that 'visual instruments seem uniquely suited to… efforts to build theory and research focusing on human awareness, interpretation and consciousness' (Meyer, 1991: 232). There are a number of published papers that can provide the researcher with discussions and/or examples of this method in organization studies (Vince, 1995a;Holliday, 2000;Kearney and Hyle, 2004;Strangleman, 2004;Stiles, 2004;Bryans and Mavin, 2006;Bagnoli 2009). The method has been used by researchers interested in revealing the links between individuals' real and imagined idea of 'the organization' they work in (Hutton et al, 1997) and the organizing dynamics and forces that shape and are shaped by their interpretations and actions.…”

Engaging Students in the Classroom: ‘How Can I Know What I Think Until I See What I Draw?’

“…However, visual representation has found limited use in research to date (Kearney and Hyle, 2004;Kellman, 1999;MacLure, 2003;Meyer, 1991;Stiles, 2004), whatever about use in the classroom. Indeed, Stiles (2004: 127) contends that 'the academic orthodoxy still regards images as a subjective, inferior or even eccentric form of data compared to words and numbers'.…”

“…Art therapists (see Kellman, 1999) have used drawings for decades, recognising this as a useful tool for examining unspoken thoughts and feelings (Kearney and Hyle, 2004): drawings provide an insight into the psyche that written or spoken texts cannot, as there are some things that cannot easily be put into words. Stiles (2004) posits that academics' reluctance to embrace the pictorial form, as a means of understanding the world, could be due to subjectivity in interpretation, extreme variations in drawing ability, technical publishing difficulties and uncertainties about using the medium. Meyer (1991: 220) argues that, while it has been customary to use visual data where subjects have lacked verbal or literacy skills, research subjects not lacking in such skills frequently possess more meaningful information than they can convey verbally.…”