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Visual Methods in Social Research
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Visual Methods in Social Research

Second Edition


June 2015 | 208 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
The Second Edition of this popular text confirms the book’s status as an important forerunner in the field of visual methods.

Combining the theoretical, practical and technical the authors discuss changing technologies, the role of the internet and the impact of social media. Presenting an interdisciplinary guide to visual methods they explore both the creation and interpretation of visual images and their use within different methodological approaches.

This clear, articulate book is full of practical tips on publishing and presenting the results of visual research and how to use film and photographic archives.

This book will be an indispensable guide for anyone using or creating visual images in their research.

 
READING PICTURES
The trouble with pictures

 
An introductory example

 
Unnatural vision

 
Reading narratives

 
Formal readings

 
Planning a research project with visual methods

 
 
ENCOUNTERING THE VISUAL
On Television

 
Visual forms produced I: representations of society

 
Interpreting Forest of Bliss

 
Still and moving images

 
Visual forms produced II: representations of knowledge

 
Visualisation

 
Networks

 
Diagrams of Nuer lineages

 
Visual forms encountered

 
Encountering 'indigenous' media

 
The image as evidence

 
'Us' and 'them'?

 
 
MATERIAL VISION
Object and representation

 
The materiality of visual forms

 
Displaying family photographs

 
Exchanged goods

 
Market exchange

 
Size matters

 
Transformations: digitisation and computer-based media

 
Digital manipulation

 
Digital pornography: constraining the virtual

 
Digital pornography: exchange and circulation

 
 
RESEARCH STRATEGIES
Silk thread to plastic bags

 
Researching image use and production in social contexts

 
Watching television

 
Soap opera in India and Egypt

 
Television as social presence

 
Doing things with photographs and films

 
Photo-elicitation with archival images

 
Photo-elicitation with contemporary images

 
Learning from photo-elicitation

 
Film-elicitation

 
Working with archival material

 
Photographic archives and picture libraries

 
Film archives

 
 
MAKING IMAGES
Observing

 
Creating images for research

 
Documentation

 
A ladder climbed then discarded

 
Documentary exploration

 
Documentary control

 
Collaborative projects

 
Indigenous media collaborations

 
Collaborative after effects

 
Ethics and visual research

 
Ethical review

 
Permissions

 
Returning images

 
 
PRESENTING RESEARCH RESULTS
Audiences

 
Presenting photographs

 
The photographic essay

 
Presenting ethnographic and other films

 
Study guides and other contextualisation

 
Databases and digital images

 
Can computer see?

 
Multimedia projects

 
Interacting with Yanomamo

 
Copyright

 
 
PERSPECTIVES ON VISUAL RESEARCH
The state of visual research

 
The place of visual research

 
The nature of visual research

 

This text provides a valuable overview of visual methods, which translates effectively to educational contexts. The foundation of visual methods within anthropology is clear and concise, without narrowing the field too greatly. The range of examples of visual methods also facilitates opportunities for students to engage with visual methods as a robust and comprehensive method for research.

Ms Lorraine Anne Loveland-Armour
Department of Education, Newman University
July 21, 2016

Excellent book in a growing area of interest

Mrs denise Burke Mac Giolla Ri
Humanities , AIT Athlone Institute of Technology
November 25, 2015

Informative text which encourages students to broaden their thinking

Mrs Catherine Frances Delves-Yates
School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of East Anglia
June 24, 2016

I enjoyed reading the first edition, and it provided some interesting insights into the processes involved with visual methods in social research. This book provides a great commentary, which will aid students in facilitating visual method research.

Dr Michael Richards
Applied Health and Social Care , Edge Hill University
May 22, 2016

This is a particularly useful text as it is interdisciplinary. More important than that is the fact that it addresses a gap in visual analysis/research design by including indigenous examples. As we are based in Africa this is very useful for our students and often an oversight of other, similar books. Also, considering the glocal emphasis on postcolonialism and the decolonisation of curricula, it is indeed most relevant.

Professor Beschara Karam
Department of Communicatin Science, University of South Africa
November 22, 2015

Exceptional book. Great support to students and interesting dissertations as a result.

Dr Claudia Sima
Dept of Tourism & Leisure Management, University of Central Lancashire
December 9, 2015

It is an accessible text that provides intriguing and well-balanced knowledge of the social and cultural significance of media representations. Students in media studies, sociology and cultural studies will find it highly helpful.

Dr Miyoung Oh
Department of Sport, Sheffield Hallam University
June 30, 2015

This is an interesting research methods text which offers students with alternative methods of data collection. It provides some very good examples for students to understand how to collect visual methods of data collection, as well as, how to work with these.

Mrs Kathryn Nethercott
Department of Education, Bedfordshire University
June 17, 2015

Useful as a guide for those who choose this form of research. Not ror everyone

Dr Sean McCusker
School of Education, Durham University
June 8, 2015

As this text is very specific in its title and outlook, it will be relevant to specific to specific researchers. However, it is an excellent guide to those researchers who need to engage children and older adults in the research process around data collection. It gives the reader a step-by-step guide to the use and importance of visual methods in research. It will be an extremely useful book for me to recommend should any students undertake research with specific participant groups and I will direct students to this text accordingly.

Mr Thomas Beary
School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, University of Hertfordshire
June 4, 2015

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