Doing Visual Research
- Claudia Mitchell - McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Doing Visual Research offers an innovative introduction to the use of photography, collaborative video, drawing, objects, multi-media production and installation in research. Claudia Mitchell explains how visual methods can be used as modes of inquiry as well as modes of representation for social research.
The book looks at a range of conceptual and practical approaches to a range of tools and methods, while also highlighting the interpretive and ethical issues that arise when engaging in visual research. She draws on her own work in the field of visual research throughout to offer extensive examples from a variety of settings and with a variety of populations. Topics covered include:
- Photographs and memory work studies
- Drawing as a participatory visual methodology
- Working with images/Writing about images
- Can visual methods make a difference? From practice to policy
Doing Visual Research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of visual research, producing a practical introduction to the subject that will be of great use to students and researchers across the social sciences, and in particular in education, communication, sociology, gender, development, social work and public health.
An excellent introducton to the practice of doing visual research.
I was mislead by the title, which is actually too broad. This book needs a subtitle on the cover to specify its scope. I thought it was about visual research in general, more like a methodology book. But it focuses mostly on ethnographic methods, which are reminiscient of visual anthropology, and focuses on a specific geography (sub-Saharan Africa). It is also too much policy oriented. Due to its narrow focus (according to my expectations) it is not suitable for my Theory and Method in Media Visual and Cultural Studies course. Thank you for sending the copy.
