Michelle J Searle, OCT, PhD

There are many, many ways to use images and photos as qualitative methods that can

generate/provide data. The main areas I focus on in my work are image elicitation and analysis.  

 

Image eliciation involves asking participants to look at images and respond to research questions.

Data can investigate a wide range of relationships in which an image is used to facilitate more

meaningful responses during interview, to prompt memory, or to evoke an emotional reaction.

As the discussion takes place, participant responses are recorded and this text also becomes data about the phenomena.

 

Analysis of photographs can also be powerful and revealing. It opens up avenues and promotes deeper discussions. Photographs provide a focus and provide something concrete rather than narrative alone. Examining photos allows new issues to arise that may have been over looked. It involves discovering themes, patterns and concepts thus allowing futher more indepth data.