Summary

Doing Visual Research offers an innovative introduction to the use of photography, collaborative video, drawing, objects, multi-media production and installation in research. Claudia Mitchell explains how visual methods can be used as modes of inquiry as well as modes of representation for social research.

The book looks at a range of conceptual and practical approaches to a range of tools and methods, whilst also highlighting the interpretive and ethical issues that arise when engaging in visual research. Claudia Mitchell draws on her own work in the field of visual research throughout to offer extensive examples from a variety of settings and with a variety of populations.

Topics covered include:

* Photographs and memory work studies

* Video and social change

* Participatory archiving with drawings and photos

* Working with images/Writing about images

* Can visual methods make a difference? From practice to policy

Doing Visual Research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of visual research, producing a practical introduction to the subject that will be of great use to students and researchers across the social sciences, and in particular in education, communication, sociology, gender, development, social work and public health.

Choice Review

Increased interest in visual research methods is evident is works such as Marcus Banks's Visual Methods in Social Research (2001), Gillian Rose's Visual Methodologies (CH, Mar'02, 39-3763), Sarah Pink's Doing Visual Ethnography (2nd ed., 2007), and Eric Margolis and Luc Pauwels' The SAGE Handbook of Visual Research Methods (in press). Doing Visual Research addresses the methodological, interpretive, and ethical issues of using photography, drawing, and object analysis in qualitative research. Part 1 reviews the application of visual research methods in social science research and, with specific examples, highlights the underlying process. The second chapter helpfully explores ethical issues, including how to address potential ethical dilemmas associated with using online digital images. Part 2 features chapters that examine three types of visual methods. Chapter 3 focuses on the value of understanding and studying material culture as evidence in visual research. Chapter 4 draws on research projects that involve Mitchell (McGill Univ.) to give a general "how-to" description of doing community-based photography--wherein people whose perspectives are seldom recognized (because they are from socially marginalized groups) visually document their lives and the world around them.Chapter 5 provides a similar how-to description of community-based video-making, using cameras, mobile devices, and Web-based production techniques. Part 3 consists of chapters that focus on the collection, measurement, interpretation, and analysis of visual data. The last chapter locates the value of visual research as persuasive, evocative, and action-oriented within the public policy-making arena. Numerous figures supplement the text. This work distinguishes itself by exploring the various ways that visual research can inform and guide the crafting of public policy. Although the underlying purpose is not explicitly action-oriented, the examples used and the general focus on confronting critical social justice issues strongly support such an orientation. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. R. V. Labaree University of Southern California