The usefulness of reflexive photography for qualitative research: A case study in higher education

Abstract

This study explores the usefulness of reflexive photography for qualitative research in the human and social sciences. The investigation was done in the context of how male academics construct their world in a university during transformation. A group of white, male academics in the human sciences were provided with a camera and were requested to take pictures of the most meaningful aspects of their work environment. Thereafter photo-elicitation interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed. The study illustrates the usefulness of reflexive photography to determine human interpretation of interaction with the environment. Participants commented positively on and helped to identify the advantages and limitations of the technique. The research indicated that photographs have no intrinsic meaning but serve as symbols of meaning that participants explain during interviews. Content analysis, a second level of analysis that is based on the first level, is useful in some ways as indicated.

Using reflexive photography to study a principal’s experiences of the impact of professional development on a school: a case study

“…As such it involved the exploration and description of a bounded system, in this case a particular primary school in Gauteng (Creswell, 2007:73). In recent years, visual empirical methods have been applied to many studies that have not previously been considered to be visual (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008;Harper, 2008;Schulze, 2007;Zenkov & Harmon, 2009). Furthermore, visual empirical methods help with retrospection of lived experiences of participants and, by combining photographs with other forms of data collection, ensure contextual validity through triangulation.…”

“…When participants interpret photographs they uncover their subjective meanings (Schulze, 2007) and these photos also assist the researcher to understand the participants' subjective experiences of relevant social concerns (Zenkov & Harmon, 2009). The significant advantage of using photographs in the study is to clarify under-standing of the phenomenon, the impact of PD, and to provide a context in discussion with the participant.…”

“…The photo-elicitation interview specifically provided additional insight into the intrinsic meaning in the photographs. The idea is to evoke comments and discussion, since the principal can describe his own experiences via photographs and interviews (Schulze, 2007). The study explores two questions: How does the principal perceive the impact of professional development on the school?…”

A PERSPECTIVA TRANSFORMATIVA NA ANÁLISE DE SIGNIFICADOS DE PRODUTOS DE TECNOLOGIA ASSISTIVA DOI - 10.5752/P.1984-6606.2015v15n40p172

“…e Mendonça, Barbosa e Durão (2007) afirmam que o uso de fotografias proporciona objetividade e credibilidade a uma pesquisa, pois imagens fornecem evidências tangíveis sobre um dado fenômeno. ParaSchulze (2007), a fotografia constitui uma técnica importante para acessar as interpretações que as pessoas fazem do ambiente sociotécnico, a partir das quais se pode oportunamente elaborar um guia para entrevistas. A técnica fotográfica parece se ajustar à pesquisa com PcD: por exemplo,Aldridge (2007) combinou as técnicas qualitativas da entrevista e da fotografia para pesquisar a exclusão de deficientes.…”

Landscape and collective memory in post-conflict Ayacucho, Peru: Narratives and photography of survivors.

“…This idea of communicating one's knowledge is at the heart of Freire's ([1970] 1996) pedagogy, which calls for emancipatory practice that values oppressed knowledge, critical reflection and dialogue. These concepts of empowerment and critical consciousness were highly influential among numerous of the participatory photography methods in the literature, such as reflexive photography (Schulze 2007), auto-driving (Clark 1999) and photo novella (Wang and Burris 1994). Photovoice was developed using theoretical underpinnings from Freire, feminist theory and documentary photography (Wang and Burris 1997).…”