VISUAL DATA IN ETHNOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
When it comes to the words Ethnographical Research, it means a qualitative method where researchers observe and/or interact with the subject which they studies in their real-life environment. Ethnography was popularised by anthropology, but is used across a wide range of social sciences. It is the main sources of getting the information about the culture of specific society. Ethnographical Research tends to find out the required answer of the subjects in every possible way.
A field of visual ethnography
Visual data is important in ethnographical research and is often known as Two-dimensional visual data. It includes photographs, pictures, newspaper, diaries, maps, drawing, statistical data, letters, film or video etc.
In Karen O’ Reilly book’s ‘Ethnographic method’, it is mentioned that Visual data is one of the important sources to describe or explain the research more specifically and clearly. Bronislaw Malinowski advised that ethnographical research is not only a simple mere collection of words or observation, but it is also a collections of other forms of data. For Malinowski, it includes collection of our own statistical data, artefacts, photographs, drawing maps etc. But such sources must have evidence and facts.
Ethnographic research is based on observation. Words and text are often commonly used as a methods of explanation and description. Images seems to be more complicated than words. Visual ethnography is evolving and is included as a branch of ethnography, it gives importance to visual as an important area. Sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and journals features the visual as a topic. Ethnography uses visual images as a part research writings. Even in sociology, there is an International Visual Sociology Association an also Society for visual Anthropology.
PROBLEMS ON VISUAL DATA IN ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
The main problem with visual ethnography is that, the publisher will charge more than that compared to words. If the writer includes some visual images than it will be more expensive than that of only words. Also there are legal, ethical and economic issues of taking photographs or films. Sometimes permission was needed to reproduce images otherwise publisher may refused to do so. While doing research in ethnography, some people may refused to take photographs and thus using of visual images in research may somehow be challenging. Some researcher construct images with the research participant as a research method.
Images are used separately, images as ‘writing’, ‘found’ images, creative use of ‘images’.
1.Images as ‘writing’ : The practice of using photographs in ethnographical data and presenting them with written text as evidence dated back to the time of Malinowski. Photographs was extensively collected to make a documentary evidences. Malinowski provided a unique visual records of the Trobriand life. Anthropologist uses photographs to gibes short cut to the reader and a feel for exotic and strange. The tradition of using images to convey messages had still been in use till the present day. Images speaks a lots of thing on the subject in more detailed information. Karen O’ Reilly in his book , Ethnographic Methods’, he mentioned that his words will be more understanding and attractive if he could includes images. He also mentioned that images are being used to make an argument. Even in seminar, the seminar paper is more clear by including images than just a mere words. Pictures and film are used to support written data, to make an argument more forcefully or more profoundly. One usually cited example is Balinese character by Gregory Bateson. Here photographs do not play the supportive role to written data but it play the main role. Between 1936 and 1939, Mead and Bateson work among the Balinese, Bateson took over 25,000 photographs while mead took notes and asked question. The book displayed 759 photographs with supportive text. Yet, Ball and Smith in 2001argued that it is a commonplace for ethnographer to film and photographed staged events. Quantitative researchers always used visual images to convey messages and there is no reason why ethnographer cannot use similar or more techniques in their presentation and writing.
2. ‘Found’ images : Uses of Visual images in ethnographic research is the analysis and interpretation of visual data produced by research participants. Poster that had been produced, advertisement, drawing, diagram produced by the participant can be considered as data and can be use to make sense to the world. In 1980 Worth call these found data as to distinguish the data found in the field and those that constructed by the participants. Photo analysis is important for the research in his work. Visual media can therefore enable us to challenge what the research interpret to others. How images are interpret or analyse will depends on ethnographer’s theoretical, methodological and philosophical agenda.
3. Creative use of images : Anthropologist have taken photographs and collected other visual artefacts since the dawn of the discipline. Malinowski also took many photographs and suggest his reader to collect as many facets of life as possible. Photographs were thus useful and contributed to truthful verifiable representation of reality. By the end of 1960s there had been a debate on the objectivity and representative (of reality) and systematic value regarding the visual images. They were seen as too problematic to take seriously by some author. In 2001 Pink argues that ethnographies might be a worst fictional representation but is more favourable by employment of visual in ethnographies. Creative use of images works really well with combination with other methods. In 2003 Samantha Punch in her research with children in poor farming communities in Bolivia combined semi-structured interviews, informal interviews, participant observation, classroom based task and interpretation of sources provided by the children including diaries, photographs and drawings. In 2001, Ball and Smith said that ethnographic film is a subset of documentary film though it is difficult to determine how its differ. Ethnographic film has quiet a bit of long tradition.
Some important methods and sources in ethnographic research are:
Diaries : Ethnographer may keep intellectual diary of the subject of his research. A diary can enable reflexive approach encourage by contemporary philosophical approaches to social science.
Statistics : We can collect and present various reason. To summarise, income distribution, age ranges and so on. An existing statistical data might also be used to compare distribution of our attributes with a wider population.
Letters : Letters might be also known as found data. Letters might be use creatively to form an argument on a research project. Letters are private things, they have prestigious history.
Visual and other form of data are collected by ethnographer doing participant observation. In deed a whole field of ethnography is being developed, with books written on the topic, journal devoted to or drawing on visual media and conference debating the use of visual. Ethnography and visual methods will produce richer and more contextualized data They present additional problems for maintaining anonymity and confidentiality for the participants, when you use examples in publications. They also demand new and appropriate ways of presenting research and findings. Meanwhile, the use of visual data in ethnography will be more expensive than the mere text. There other disadvantages is that they do not give a direct access to processes and practices but provide account, report or narratives. The other limitation is that they will not focus on the visual part of social reality.
References:
Karen O’reilly, Ethnographic Method, New York, Routledge, 2005
https://methods.sagepub.com/book/designing-qualitative-research/n9.xml
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