Participatory Visual Methods and Applied Ethics

The Scottish Graduate School of Social Science welcomes postgraduate research students to the following advanced training event:

Participatory Visual Methods and Applied Ethics

3 December 2014

University of Edinburgh

Over the past 20 years visual methods have become increasingly popular as a social and political science research tool. This is because researchers have realized that images are all around us in society and the use of image-based methods can enhance our knowledge of everyday social worlds (Prosser & Loxley 2008). Over this period there has also been a shift away from the more traditional researcher-researched dichotomy to a more nuanced understanding of participant's agency and power relations within the research process. This has led to the development of more participatory and collaborative methods including for example the use of photography, drawing, film-making and art to produce data.

The first part of the workshop will provide an introduction to using visual methods in participatory research. Through a range of group activities it will facilitate an exploration of using participant created photographs in research (often called ‘photovoice’). Through these activities workshop participants will be able to consider the benefits and risks of using photovoice; assess their equipment and project requirements; consider participant responses and reflect on issues common to participatory visual projects.

The second part of the workshop will use a series of activities to facilitate discussions on the ethics of image-based research. This will give participants an overview of the key ethical issues including ethics boards; negotiating consent and anonymity; data management, storage and archiving; ownership, copyright; and publication.

The full day workshop is designed as a taster session and will be delivered with this in mind. It would suit post-graduate students and researchers with no or limited prior knowledge of undertaking research using visual methods.

Dr EJ Milne is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. Her expertise is on developing visual and sensory methods to facilitate participant inclusion in research and issues of applied ethics. EJ is lead editor of The Handbook of Participatory Video; Guest Editor of Critical Perspectives on Participatory Video (AREA forthcoming 2014) and Vice President of the Visual Sociology Group (WG03) of the International Sociological Association.

The organiser of this event is Angus Bancroft and further questions can be directed to him at Angus.Bancroft@ed.ac.uk.