Reflexive Photography as an Alternative Method for the Study of the Freshman Year Experience

Abstract

❖ This article describes an alternative method for the study of first-year students' impressions of their first-semester experiences in higher education. Using an innovative, phenomenologically-oriented, individual-environment interaction technique, a sample of undergraduates from a public four-year comprehensive university were asked to take a series of reflexive photographs, representative of their impressions of the university, describe in writing the reasons why the photographs illustrated their experiences, and discuss the various underlying themes of their photographs in subsequent focus-group interviews. This reflexive photography technique breaks the study subjects away from the typical researcher-oriented quantitative technique and allows for a more open and creative analysis of student perceptions. Our research revealed a number of primary themes including perceptions about the university's physical environment, interactions with faculty, interactions with other students, student support services, and career counseling and preparation for the future with a level of detail and university specificity not available through quantitative techniques alone.

Using visual ethnography to explore a principal's perceptions of innovations made in a South African primary school

“…After a few days he returned the camera and paragraphlength notes on photographs taken (Zenkov and Harmon, 2009:577). These photographs were developed for discussion during the photo-elicitation interview (Harper, 2008:191-194;Harrington and Schibik, 2003). In this type of interview, the participant (principal) shares and engages in a dialogue about the photos (Vaughn et al, 2008:309).…”