Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

Giving Voice to Images: Visual Data as a Means of Promoting Youth
Participation
Dino Sossi,
Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120 th Street, New York, NY, 10027,
Email: dds2130@columbia.edu
Abstract: This exploratory work-in-progress focuses on photo elicitation (PE) as a
methodology to facilitate intellectual and affective student responses with respect to
immigration, national identity, and related issues. In the role of researcher/classroom
instructor and with the assistance of the regular classroom teacher, we screened a
variety of personally produced visual media regarding my family’s immigration experience
with the purposes of eliciting deeper, thicker responses than normal curricular materials.
Objectives/purposes
This work-in-progress focuses on photo elicitation as a methodology to facilitate student interview
responses with respect to national identity. The researcher utilized a personal photo gallery to elicit
intellectual and affective responses to these images in terms of student conceptions of their own national
identities.
Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
Identifying Key Issues from Existing Sources
Photo elicitation has been defined as “a method of using photographs to guide interviews and ask
questions about social, cultural, and behavioral realities” (Suchar, 1997, p. 34). Photo elicitation is “based
on the simple idea of inserting a photograph into a research interview” (Harper, 2002, p. 13) and makes a
case for its utility, specifically in the fields of anthropology and sociology. Cameras have been utilized
tools to conduct research from as far back as the 1940’s (Mead and Bateson, 1942). Photo elicitation as a
specific methodological technique started in the work of John Collier. Collier believed that photography
afforded the researcher the ability to more efficiently analyze social settings such as the workplace and
dwellings that surpassed discussions with subjects that were focused solely on written or verbal
interviews (1967). Collier initially used photo elicitation to understand how families were able to adapt
when it came living in residence among ethnically diverse groups as well as new forms of work in urban
factories (Harper, 2002, p. 14). It also spoke of the modest beginnings of photo elicitation in the field of
anthropology and greater reception in visual sociology (Harper, 2002, p. 15).
Since its inception, photo elicitation has been implemented in fields as diverse as social class/social
organization/family (Harper, 2002, p. 16), community and historical ethnography (Harper, 2002, pp. 16-
18), identity/biography/autobiography (Harper, 2002, pp. 18-19), and culture/cultural studies (Harper,
2002, pp. 19-20).
Photo elicitation consists mainly of two types. Photos can originate from either the researcher or
interviewee (Clark-Ibánez, 2004, p. 1509). The second type, photos taken by interviewees is called photoelicitation
“autodriven” interviews (Clark-Ibánez, 2004, p. 1509). For example, researchers can use
photographs to expand on questions. At the same time, participants can use photographs to share
different parts of their lives (Clark-Ibánez, 2004).
Positives and Negatives of Photo Elicitation
A number of studies apply photo elicitation techniques in many settings which helps bring the positive and
negatives of using this technique into sharp relief.
Positives
Clark-Ibánez (2004), in the context of school ethnographies and inner-city childhood studies, found that
conducting group interviews using photo elicitation was useful for at least two reasons. First, it revealed
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