Getting the picture and changing the picture: visual methodologies and educational research in South Africa

TLDR

The paper situates visual methodologies within South African educational research, highlighting the critical need for socially responsible scholarship amid evolving researcher roles. The study aims to clarify that visual methodologies encompass more than a single practice or tool, and to promote appreciation of their full methodological complexity. The author examines nine key visual methodology approaches—drawings, photo‑voice, photo‑elicitation, researcher‑as‑photographer, family photos, cinematic texts, video production, material culture, and advertising campaigns—to illustrate practical application. Keywords: educational research, social change, visual methodologies; published in South African Journal of Education, vol.

Abstract

At the risk of seeming to make exaggerated claims for visual methodologies, what I set out to do is lay bare some of the key elements of working with the visual as a set of methodologies and practices. In particular, I address educational research in South Africa at a time when questions of the social responsibility of the academic researcher (including postgraduate students as new researchers, as well as experienced researchers expanding their repertoire of being and doing) are critical. In so doing I seek to ensure that the term “visual methodologies” is not simply reduced to one practice or to one set of tools, and, at the same time, to ensure that this set of methodologies and practices is appreciated within its full complexity. I focus on the doing, and, in particular, on the various approaches to doing through drawings, photo-voice, photo-elicitation, researcher as photographer, working with family photos, cinematic texts, video production, material culture, advertising campaigns as nine key areas within visual methodologies. Keywords : educational research; social change; visual methodologies South African Journal of Education Vol. 28 (3) 2008: pp. 365-383