Abstracts
Abstract
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.
Keywords:
- Photovoice,
- Organizational Engagement,
- Participation,
- Creative Leadership
Appendices
Bibliography
- 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