Overview
Visual research can be used to help reveal different types of information about a workplace and working conditions.
Purpose
Objects, images and artefacts related to workers' jobs can all be used creatively to help reveal and reflect upon the work process and workplace relationships. Some of these approaches have distinctly radical potential and cross over into creative and artistic methods of inquiry.
Advantages
- Provide richer, and more representative data than text-only research.
- Methods such as Model Making and Very Advanced Technology allow the exploration of workplace practices and dynamics through analogy and metaphor.
In Practice
Research can take different forms, either focusing on the significance of 'everyday' items within a workplace, asking workers to represent their roles visually, or imagining how objects might be transformed to improve their jobs.
Many of these methods are also useful in combination with other approaches such as Diary Keeping or Interviews.
Further Reading
Many of these visual research methods are from a social anthropology background but have found applications in workplace sociology, critical social science approaches and also in more specialised areas like human-computer interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW).
For more information, see:
Prosser, J. ‘Visual methods and the visual culture of schools’, in Visual Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, April 2007