Visual/Material Communication
       
COM 75-474 | Spring 2024

 

 

Making Pictures as Part of a Research Study

 

 

key terms/concepts:

found images vs. made images (321)

Pictures made as part of a study can be either subordinate to the researcher's written argument (photo-elicitation and photodocumentation) or be supplementary/complementary to it (visual essay)

role of photography: access to the real (?) (329), inventory, representation, and/or evocation? (344); photography and non-representational affect (329-35)

research ethics/politics: relations among researcher, people being researched, and the photos produced in the study. Examples: participatory research, multivocal research, etc. Consider limitations (see Packard).

other visual forms: diagrams, maps, timelines, film, collage, memory books, graphic novels, photo diaries (332; 338-39); video documentation, re-photography, photovoice (327, 329-30, 349).

3 approaches to making pictures as part of a study:

1. photo-documentation: research question, shooting script (325-35); Photo-documentation projects can focus on representational and/or non-representational aspects of photography. (see also Barthes' distinction between studium and punctum)

2. photo-elicitation (and photovoice--see Wagner): planning, briefing, developing photos, interviewing, analyzing pictures/interview, writing (326-349)

3. participatory photography (349-50)