Thinking outside of the black box: esoteric visual data analysis in qualitative educational research

Grant, Will

Abstract

In this presentation I discuss a recently undertaken case study pilot to illustrate a problematic lack of methodological theory addressing qualitative visual research analysis. In particular:

• Why does there appear to be a lack of methodological literature exploring the discrete activity of analysis of qualitative visual data?
• How might artistic research data be defended for the value of its inimitable qualities, while simultaneously textually transcribed for analytical or reporting purpose?
• Is it possible to conceptualise an analytical approach to qualitative visual research data that can be defended as methodologically trustworthy?

In the case study pilot, gender inequity in secondary art education was in part explored through the collection of participant-generated artworks. As participants were practicing secondary school art teachers it was considered pertinent to exploit a non-verbal means of communication wherein, unusually, participants might be exceptionally confident in expressing themselves. Not only was lack of artistic experience among participants (often cited as a weakness in visual research methods (Allan & Tinkler: 2015, 800, Eisner: 2019, 9, Rose: 2016)) therefore mitigated, but it was hoped the process might empower participants, who would have ‘direct control over the artefacts that are used to represent themselves’ (Barley & Russell: 2019, 224). The outcome was a series of idiosyncratic artworks as research data.

Visual research methods have seen substantial growth in the last two decades (Pink 2013), but some remain cautious with regards their validity (Cahnmann-Taylor 2018; Banks 2014). Artistic data was elicited from participants in this particular pilot study, as I believed visual data might have had the potential to provide distinct illumination on participants’ experiences and perceptions. The first challenge, particularly with consideration of cynicism surrounding visual data, lay in designing a transcriptive and analytical process to unlock this potential in a manner that might be considered academically trustworthy. While there is much literature associated with visual research methods, disappointingly, theoretical texts and many previous visual research reports offer ‘little in the way of analytical models’ (Chalfen 2012,14). There are many studies (Beltman et al. 2015; Freer & Bennett 2012) that are celebrated in theoretical texts for their inclusion of visual data, but typically ‘reports never describe how the pictures are actually looked at’ (Chalfen 2012, 10), and ‘detailed discussion of…coding process in the literature are rare’ (Rose 2016, 325). It is the first contention of this presentation that this suggests either an institutionally protectionist attitude to analytical processes, and/or a lack of consensus on this methodological concern.

The second foci of this presentation is the problematic contradiction embodied by much of the existing literature – that visual data provides something distinctive (Eisner 2019; Harper 2002), something that textual data cannot, while simultaneously advocating academic analysis and reporting conventions that rely on the transcription of an image into descriptive words (Rose 2016). Ekphrastically transmuting artwork into analysable research data while minimising corruption appears an unresolved and under-discussed issue for visual methods researchers.

Considering the above, the third and final contention of this presentation is that ‘esoteric methodological devices’ (Gray and Malins 1993, 3) might be the only way to conceive a defendable analytical approach for visual research data, given the heterogeneous nature of the image. In the illustrative pilot study I reflected on my own standpoint as an art teacher – looking for a way to produce textual transcriptions of the visual works naturalistically; providing an authentic analysable representation of my interpretation of the works. This particular esoteric process is discussed, and it is suggested that the creation of diverse and well-documented analytics across a multitude of research studies might, in its multiplicity, strengthen the methodological case for the visual in educational research.

References

Allan, A. & Tinkler, P. (2015) ‘Seeing’ into the past and ‘looking’ forward to the future: visual methods and gender and education research, in Gender and Education, vol.27, no.7, pp.791-811.

Banks, M. (2014) Analysing Images, in F. Uwe (Ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, SAGE; London.

Barley, R. & Russell, L. (2019) Participatory visual methods: exploring young people’s identities, in Ethnography and Education, vol.14, no.2, pp.223-241.

Beltman, S., Glass, C., Dinham, J., Chalk, B. & Nguyen, B. (2015) Drawing identity: beginning pre-service teachers’ professional identities, in Issues in Educational Research, vol.25, no.3, pp.225-245.

Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2017) Arts-based research, in M. Cahnmann-Taylor & R. Siegesmund (eds.) Arts-based Research in Education. Routledge; New York.

Chalfen, R. (2012) Differentiating practice of participatory visual media production, in E. Margolis & L. Pauwels (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods. SAGE: Newcastle.

Eisner, E. (2019) Art and knowledge, in J. Knowles & A. Cole (eds.) Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues, Thousand Oaks: SAGE. pp.3-13.

Freer, P. & Bennett, D. (2012) Developing musical and educational identities in university music students, in Music Education Research, vol.14, no.3, pp.265-284.

Gray, C. & Malins, J. (1993) Research procedures/methodology for artists & designers. The Centre for Research in Art & Design; Aberdeen.

Harper, D. (2002) Talking about pictures, in Visual Studies, vol.17, no.1, pp.13-26.

Pink, S. (2013) Advances in visual methodology: an introduction, in S. Pink (ed.) Advances in Visual Methodology. SAGE; Newcastle.

Rose, G. (2016) Visual Methodologies, London: SAGE.

Citation

Grant, W. (2021, September). Thinking outside of the black box: esoteric visual data analysis in qualitative educational research. Paper presented at British Educational Research Association Conference 2021, Online

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: British Educational Research Association Conference 2021
• Conference Location: Online
• Start Date: Sep 13, 2021
• End Date: Sep 16, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 10, 2021
• Keywords: visual data analysis transcription education
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7775783