Abstract
Educational research has focused heavily on first-person observation and, more recently, on researcher-produced photographs and videos of schools and educational settings (Costello 2001; Prosser 2007; Prosser & Loxley 2002; Sekula 1980; Tobin, Wu & Davidson 1989). Another approach, ‘photovoice’, includes the analysis of subject-produced photographs and drawings to investigate children’s lives in school. Photovoice is also used to gain subjective insight into student and teacher experiences (Mitchell & Weber 1999a; Burke & Grosvenor 2003; O’Donoghue 2007; Ganesh 2007; Shohel & Howes 2007; Mitchell 2008). However, as privacy and liability issues increasingly influence decisions about research access, particularly in the United States, this type of visual research has become increasingly cumbersome, difficult and, in some cases, virtually impossible. Schools held to high-stakes performance standards are less willing to allow access since they feel that researcher presence might ‘take away’ from lesson time. Parents and teachers are less willing to sign informed consent forms — much less modelling-performing-narration releases — due to concerns of distraction and privacy. In addition, even when access is possible, oversight by ‘institutional review boards’ (IRBs), administrators, or ethics panels often place restrictions on photographs that may infringe on the anonymity or confidentiality of informants, especially protected populations like children. These restrictions make visual research in educational settings challenging, if not impossible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bassett, R. (2011). Visual Conceptualization Opportunities with Qualitative Data Analysis Software. In E. Margolis & L. Pauwels (Eds), The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods (pp. 530–547). London: Sage.
Burke, C., & Grosvenor, I. (2003). The School I’d Like: Children and Young People’s Reflections on an Education for the 21st Century. London: Routledge.
Burke, C., & Grosvenor, I. (2008). School. London: Reaktion Books.
Burke C., Howard, J. Cunningham P. (2013). The Decorated School: Essays on Visual Culture of Schooling. London: Black Dog Publishing.
Chappell, A., Chappell, S., & Margolis, E. (2011). School as Ceremony and Ritual: Photography Illuminates Moments of Ideological Transfer. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(1), 56–73.
Charmaz, K., & Mitchell, R. (2001). Grounded Theory in Ethnography. In P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland, & L. Lofland (Eds), Handbook of Ethnography (pp. 160–174). London: Sage.
Costello, C. Y. (2001). Schooled by the Classroom: The Reproduction of Social Stratification in Professional School Settings. In E. Margolis (Ed.), The Hidden Curriculum in Higher Education (pp. 43–60). New York and London: Routledge.
Doyle, S. A. C. (1894). Silver Blaze. In S. A. C. Doyle (Ed.), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes.
Fram, S., & Margolis, E. (2011). Architectural and Built Environment Discourses in an Educational Context: The Gottscho and Schleisner Collection. Visual Studies, 26(3), 229–243.
Ganesh, T. G. (2007). Commentary through Visual Data: A Critique of the United States School Accountability Movement. Visual Studies, 22(1), 41–47.
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture. In C. Geertz (Ed.), The Interpretation of Cultures; Selected Essays (pp. 3–30). New York: Basic Books.
Goodenough, F. L. (1926). Measurement of Intelligence by Drawings. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Howe, H. E. (1940, April 1). You Have Seen Their Pictures. Survey Graphic, 29, 236.
Kuhn, A. (1985). Power of the Image. Routledge.
Lawn, M., & Grosvenor, I. (Eds) (2005). Materialities of Schooling: Design, Technology, Objects, Routines. United Kingdom: Symposium Books.
Margolis, E. (1999). Class Pictures: Representations of Race, Gender and Ability in a Century of School Photography. Visual Sociology, 14(1–2), 7–38.
Margolis, E. (2004). Looking at Discipline, Looking at Labour: Photographic Representations of Indian Boarding Schools. Visual Studies, 19(1), 54–78.
Margolis, E. (2005). Liberal Documentary Goes to School: Farm Security Administration Photographs of Students, Teachers and Schools. In D. Holloway & J. Beck (Eds), American Visual Cultures. London and New York: Continuum.
Mitchell, C. (2008). Taking the Picture, Changing the Picture. Visual Methodologies in Educational Research in South Africa. South African Journal of Educational Research, 28(3), 365–383.
Mitchell, C., & Weber, S. (1999a). Picture This: Using School Photographs to Study Ourselves. In Reinventing Ourselves as Teachers: Beyond Nostalgia (pp. 74–123). London: Taylor & Francis.
Mitchell, C., & Weber, S. (1999b). Undressing and Redressing the Teacher’s Body. In Reinventing Ourselves as Teachers: Beyond Nostalgia (pp. 124–163). London: Taylor & Francis.
Morris, E. (2007a). Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (Part One). New York Times, September 25. Retrieved from http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg-part-one/?scp=1&sq=errol%20morris%20cannonballs&st=cse
Morris, E. (2007b). Which Came First? (Part Two). New York Times, October 4. Retrieved from http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/which-came-first-part-two/
O’Donoghue, D. (2007). ‘James Always Hangs Out Here’: Making Space for Place in Studying Masculinities at School. Visual Studies, 22(1), 62–73.
Prosser, J. (2007). Visual Methods and the Visual Culture of Schools. Visual Studies, 22(1), 13–30.
Prosser, J., & Loxley, A. (2002). Playgrounds of Inclusion? Rituals, Rhetoric and Rubbish Bins: The Micro-Processes of Playground Life in England and Ireland. Paper presented at British Sociological Association Annual Conference.
Rowe, J. (1997). Photographers in Arizona 1850–1920: A History and Directory. Nevada City, CA: Carl Mauts Publishing.
Rowe, J. (2002). Evidence, Interpretation, and Speculation: Thoughts on Kaloma, the Purported Photograph of Josie Earp. Retrieved March 2, 2003. http://www.vintagephoto.com/reference/kaloma/1-02JosieKaloma%20article.htm
Rowe, J. (2007). Arizona Real Photographic Postcards: A History and Portfolio. Nevada City, CA: Carl Mautz Publishing.
Rowe, J. (2011). Legal Issues of Using Images in Research. In E. Margolis & L. Pauwels (Eds), Sage Handbook of Visual Research (pp. 707–722). Los Angeles, London: Sage.
Rowe, J. (2014). Arizona Stereographs 1865–1930. Nevada City, CA: Carl Mautz Publishing.
Sekula, A. (1980). School Is a Factory. Exposure, 18(3/4), 77–91.
Sekula, A. (1981). The Traffic in Photographs. Art Journal, 41(1), 15–25.
Sekula, A. (1983). Photography Between Labor and Capital. In B. H. D. Buchloh & R. Wilkie (Eds), Mining Photographs and Other Pictures, 1848–1968. Halifax: Nova Scotia Press.
Shohel, M. M. C., & Howes, A. J. (2007). Transition from Nonformal Schools: Learning through Photoelicitation in Educational Fieldwork in Bangladesh. Visual Studies, 22(1), 53–61.
Solomon-Godeau, A. (1991). Who Is Speaking Thus? Some Questions about Documentary Photography. In A. Solomon-Godeau (Ed.), Photography at the Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions, and Practices. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (2nd edition). London: Sage.
Tobin, J. J., Wu, D. Y. H., & Davidson, D. H. (1989). Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Vinao, A. (2005). The School Head’s Office as Territory and Place: Location and Physical Layout in the First Spanish Graded Schools. In M. Lawn & I. Grosvenor (Eds), Materialities of Schooling: Design, Technology, Objects, Routines (pp. 47–70). United Kingdom: Symposium Books.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 Jeremy Rowe and Eric Margolis
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rowe, J., Margolis, E. (2016). On Using Found Object Photographs in School Research. In: Moss, J., Pini, B. (eds) Visual Research Methods in Educational Research. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137447357_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137447357_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-68602-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-44735-7
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)