Three Examples of Engagement through Photovoice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15402/esj.v8i2.70754Keywords:
Photovoice, Organizational Engagement, Participation, Creative LeadershipAbstract
Addressing the complex challenges of today’s world requires our collective creative capacity. As such, arts-based methods which promote creativity are increasingly important means of engaging people in the issues that matter most to them. This article focuses on one arts-based method, Photovoice, which is a “process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique” (Wang & Burris, 1997, p. 369) where participants take photos in response to a question or topic of inquiry. To explore this engagement method, we draw from the methodological insights gleaned from three Master’s Arts in Leadership capstone projects that employed Photovoice (or variations thereof) as one method of inquiry.
The article is organized as follows: We begin by reviewing Photovoice as a research and engagement method and then summarize the three projects, which occurred in two nonprofit organizations and one public sector institution. In the discussion, we then compare and contrast the methodological insights emerging from these projects, including the extent to which each project: (a) enabled workers at various levels of organizational hierarchies to share their voices; (b) required careful attention to ethics; and (c) generated relationships among participants. As this is a methodological paper, our emphasis here is to highlight the process and impact of using Photovoice as a method rather than sharing each of the study findings and conclusions. In each example, Photovoice as both a research and engagement method enabled participants to play a leadership role in participatory engagement, thus deemphasizing top-down decision-making and promoting more integrated approaches to research and leadership as engagement.
References
Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context. Westview.
Amabile, T. M. (1988). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations. Research in Organizational Behaviour, 10, 123-167. http://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Group_Performance/Amabile_A_Model_of_CreativityOrg.Beh_v10_pp123-167.pdf
Bade, N., & Etmanski, C. (2016). Engaging adult learners in the workplace: Using Photovoice to promote learning, leadership, inclusion, and meaningful participation. In Proceedings for the Canadian Society for the Study of Adult Education. Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.
Brannick, T., & Coghlan, D. (2007). In defense of being “native”: The case for insider academic research. Organizational Research Methods, 10(1), 59-74.
Castleden, H., & Garvin, T. (2008). Modifying Photovoice for community-based participatory Indigenous research. Social Science & Medicine 66, 1393-1405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.11.030
Cho, J., & Trent, A. (2006). Validity in qualitative research revisited. Qualitative Research, 6(3), 319-340. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794106065006
Chonody, J., Ferman, B., Amitrani-Welsh, J., & Martin, T. (2012). Violence through the eyes of youth: A Photovoice exploration. Journal of Community Psychology 41(1), 84-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21515
Clerkin, C. (2015). Creative leadership and social intelligence: The key to leading in the digital age. In M. Sowcik, A. C. Andenoro, M. McNutt, S. E. Murphy (Eds.), Leadership 2050: Critical challenges, key contexts, and emerging trends (pp. 175-187). Emerald Group Publishing (International Leadership Association).
Clover, D. (2014). Facilitating and teaching feminist visual arts-based research. In C. Etmanski, B. Hall, & T. Dawson (Eds.), Learning and teaching community-based research (pp. 135-149). University of Toronto Press.
Clover, D. E. (2006). Out of the dark room: Participatory photography as a critical, imaginative, and public aesthetic practice of transformative education. Journal of Transformative Education, 4(3), 275-290. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344606287782
Coghlan, D., & Brannick, T. (2005). Doing AR in your own organization (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Dixon, M., & Hadjialexiou, M. (2005). Photovoice: Promising practice in engaging young people who are homeless. Youth Studies Australia, 24(2), 52-56.
Duffield, C., Roche, M., Blay, N., Thoms, D., & Stasa, H. (2011). The consequences of executive turnover. Journal of Research in Nursing, 16(6), 503-514. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987111422419
Etmanski, C. (2014). Creating the learning space: Teaching arts-based research. In C. Etmanski, B. Hall, & T. Dawson (Eds.), Learning and teaching community-based research: Linking pedagogy to practice (pp. 265-284). University of Toronto Press.
Etmanski, C., Clover, D. E., & Hall, B. L. (2014). Learning and teaching community-based research: Three examples of teaching CBR through the arts. In D. Plumb (Ed), Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (pp. 82-86). Brock University
Falconer, J. (2014). Photovoice participatory-action research design and adaptations for adverse fieldwork conditions. SAGE research methods cases, 1-15. SAGE. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013519223
Gallo, M. (2001). Immigrant workers’ journeys through a new culture: Exploring the transformative learning possibilities of photography. Studies in the Education of Adults, 33, 109-117.
Garoian, C. R. (2011). The exquisite corpse of arts-based research. In N. K. Denzin & M. D. Giardina (Eds.), Qualitative inquiry and global crises (pp. 155-177). Left Coast Press.
Glesne, C. (2011). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (4th ed.). Pearson.
Goldman Schuyler, K., Baugher, J. E., & Jironet, K. (2016). Creative social change: Leadership for a healthy world. Emerald Group.
Henry, J., & Mayle, D. (Eds.). (2002). Managing innovation and change (2nd ed). SAGE.
Holtby, A., Klein, K., Cook, K., & Travers, R. (2015). To be seen or not to be seen: Photovoice, queer and trans youth, and the dilemma of representation. Action Research, 13(4), 317-335.
Kelly, K. J. (2016). Photovoice: Capturing American Indian youths’ dietary perceptions and sharing behavior-changing implications. Social Marketing Quarterly, 23(1), 64-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524500416672188
Langdon, J. L., Walker, A., Colquitt, G., & Pritchard, T. (2014). Using Photovoice to determine preservice teachers’ preparedness to teach. The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(1), 22-27.
Massengale, K. E. C., Strack, R. W., Orsini, M. M., & Herget, J. (2016). Photovoice as pedagogy for authentic Learning: Empowering undergraduate students to increase community awareness about issues related to the impact of low income on health. Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(2), 117-126.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. MIT Press.
Nelson, J. (2001). The art of Focused Conversations for schools. New Society Publishers.
Rickards, T. (1999). Creativity and the management of change. Blackwell.
Sahlberg, P. (2014). Pasi Sahlberg on Finland’s recent Pisa results [Web log post]. http://pasisahlberg. com/pasi-sahlberg-on-finlands-recent-pisa-results/
Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art & practice of the learning organization. Doubleday/Currency.
Stringer, E. T. (2014). Action research: A handbook for practitioners (4th ed.). SAGE.
Sutton-Brown, C. A. (2014). Photovoice: A methodological guide. Photography and Culture, 7(2), 169-185. https://doi.org/10.2752/175145214X13999922103165
Wang, C. (1999). Photovoice: A participatory action research strategy applied to women’s health. Journal of Women’s Health, 8(2), 185-192.
Wang, C. C., & Burris, M. A. (1997). Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for participatory needs assessment. Health, Education and Behavior, 24(3), 369-387. doi:10.1177/109019819702400309
Wang, C. C., & Redwood-Jones, Y. A. (2001). Health Education & Behavior, 28(5), 560-572.
World Vision (2010). “See it our way” Photoproject 2010. http://www.Photovoice.org/html/pvmethodology
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in an institutional repository or on their website) after the publication of their work in the Engaged Scholar Journal.
- Please note that while every opportunity will be taken to ensure author participation in the editing process, due to time constraints final copyediting changes may be made before publication to ensure APA adherence throughout all submissions.
