Evaluation

Evaluation

The visual methodology worked well from the visual image-based research. It has been a great learning curve creating a blog as I have had no previous experience and limited knowledge about blogs prior to this and in addition I have had no experience with visual image –based research. As a result of this It was a bit of a challenge at first setting up a blog and getting used to the site. It also took a while to decide which subject to explore as I had to take into consideration any ethnical issues that may arise within the image-based research and consider the sampling condition that will be used within the image-based research.

By taking these two aspects into consideration I had to choose a topic to investigate that was appropriate and less likely to be disturbed by external factors. As the topic I chose to investigate did not involve any participants there was no major ethical issues to consider which made my research straight forward to conduct (Prosser 1998). It is important to consider the knowledge of methodology and theory, according to Prosser 'we will focus attention on methodology and the ways in which theory informs and legitimates practice,’ thus the critical link is being made here between knowledge of theory and practice (Prosser 1999: 117).

The two aspects of reliability and validity also had to be considered within this image-based research. As validity usually refers to the questions whether the ethnographer has accurately stated what they have perceived from the photograph. I had to consider whether my topic would be appropriate to conducted as the element investigates whether the research has truly measured what it intended to measure (Prosser 1998: 28). I also had to consider whether my topic was reliable to conduct as an outcome of my image-based research would my data yield the same results if the study was replicated using similar methods (Simco 1997).

It was rather difficult using a qualitative method implementing a grounded theory as I had to explore if the grounded theory was relevant to apply to this image-based research. In order to implement a grounded theory using a qualitative method I had to examine and understand the background information on cultural industry and make sure the data collection of photographs of tourist cultural attractions was fairly distributed within the United Kingdom. I had to make sure the theory was accurate as the theory merges the comparison between the United States and the United Kingdom. I had to make sure it was applied correctly as Glaser and Strauss (1967) suggest prior knowledge of the researcher can possibly influence the outcome of the study (Dey 1999).

I have learned that there is a lot more to a photograph than just taking one, for instance, photographers apply compositional techniques to their photographs to make them look more effective and also highlight the important objects within the photograph. I have also learned that visual research methods use images produced by society and of society to better comprehend the social situation (Dunlop 2010: 210). In relation to visual sociology there is a lot more to a photograph as Harper suggestions that “images allow us to make statements which cannot be made by words, and the world we see is saturated with sociological meaning” (Prosser 1998:38).

As Howard Becker (1974) discovered that both sociology and photography emerged around the same time and both explored society. Becker suggests both terms should reunite to work together in order to discover different aspects of social life. This image-based research enabled me to use photography and sociology in order to investigate whether cultural industry exists within cultural tourist attractions within the United States and the United Kingdom. Elizabeth Chaplin suggests photographs and captions can be treated as factual information, which demonstrates how significant image-based research can be (Chaplin 2002: 26).

According to Howard S. Becker “Photographs by their nature are ambiguous.” (Prosser 1998: 84). I have learned it is important for photographs captured by a visual sociologist to create the importance and legitimization of a specific photograph in the response that it generates to those who actually perceive it rather than attaching a specific catch-all term to it. I have considered this issue whilst conducting my image-based research (Prosser 1998).

The pictures were relatively straight forward to analyse as the grounded theory provided a generality of culture industry. The generality of culture industry and the information examined from journals and booked helped significantly in analysing the photographs as it was very easy to identify whilst examining a photograph whether it is a hereditary sighting or based upon cultural industry such as entertainment.

Despite of the difficult things to implement such as the grounded theory using a qualitative research method, the easiest part of the images-based research was taking the photographs and deciding which aspect to explore after investigating the ethical issues and sampling consideration that may arise. The visual-image based research contained both theoretical and practical aspects, from setting up a blog it made the research more enjoyable.

In conclusion the visual methodology worked well from the image-based research. The visual-image based research has been very interesting and it has also been a great learning curve because it has enabled me to learn a new skill of capturing photographs and applying techniques to these photographs to make them more effective for instance applying  the rule of thirds to a photograph. This image-based research has also demonstrated that photographs go beyond applying compositional techniques for instance sociological meaning can be applied to a photograph, as Harper suggestions that “images allow us to make statements which cannot be made by words, and the world we see is saturated with sociological meaning.” 

References

Prosser, J. (1998) Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers. London: Falmer Press

Simco, N., Warin, J. (1997) ‘Validity in image-based research: an elaborated Illustration of the issues.’ British Educational Research Journal 23, (5) 661-672

Dunlop, S., Richter, P. (2010) "Visual methods." Religion and youth. Farnham: Ashgate

Dey, L. (1999) Grounding grounded theory guidelines for qualitative Inquiry.  San Diego: Academic Press

Chaplin, E. (2002)’Everyday cultures working papers’. Journal of Photographs in Social Research 2, (2) 1-30

Cultural tourism within the United States and United Kingdom

The following slideshow is the result of an image-based research project on cultural tourism within the United States and United Kingdom. The American and British culture can be defined as ‘mass culture’ as it is associated with commercial culture and any commodity available for purchase (Borromore 2002: 84). As both cultures are 'mass cultures' this slideshow will present images on cultural tourist attractions within the United States and the United Kingdom and illustrate whether these culture tourist attractions are based upon cultural industry (mass culture) or hereditary sightings.

References

Bottomore T. (2002) The Frankfurt school and Its critics. London: Routledge

Wiggershaus R. (1995) The Frankfurt school: its history, theories and political significance. Germany: Polity Press

Hutchison, B. (2011) ‘The shadow of resistance: W.G. sebald and the Frankfurt school.’ Journal of European Studies 41, (3) 267-284

Silberberg, T. (1995) ‘Cultural tourism and business opportunities for museums and heritage sites.’ Journal of Tourism Management 16, (5) 361-365 

Task 5a (April 27th)

Critical Essay: Summarize the key points and focus on the idea of Cultural Critique.

Visual research methods use images produced by society and of society to better comprehend the social situation. Since the 1860s, anthropologists have used photography to supply visual information about their subjects. Historically, photography was regarded to be a recording tool for surface data, as opposed to qualitative data, which needed to be discovered by other approaches (Dunlop 2010: 210). Anthropologists still use photos as a recording tool, but some have moved beyond this to investigate it as method itself (Mitchell 2002: 167).

Visual data was used as a form of cultural critique in the 1920s. A demonstration of this was exemplified by photographers such as Alexander Rodchenko and El lissitzky who sought to inform understanding of social revolution in the early days of the Soviet Union using a photomontage approach. In addition photojournalists such as Erich Salomon and Alfred Eisenstaedt used photo-reportage to communicate social situations (Gibal 1973). As a result from work published from Picture Post England and Time, Life and Fortune in the United States a sociologist Howard Becker (1974) identified that both sociology and photography emerged around the same time and both explored society. Becker (1974) believed that photography had come to be perceived like an art form, and that sociology was acknowledged as a science. Becker purposed that both the terms should be reunited to work together in order to discover different aspects of social life.  Some sociologists investigated this and visual research methods were increasingly used in a variety of sociological studies (Becker 1978: 5).

Within the past thirty years,  an increasing amount of social researchers within the United Kingdom have acknowledged that the visual is a growth point in cultural studies and social sciences, linking together researchers from a wide range of fields such as: anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, photography, photojournalism, media studies. Visual sociology and anthropology overlap in many aspects and usually are indistinguishable from one another. Sarah Pink (2007) has provided a descriptive account of the development of visual ethnographic research within sociology and anthropology (Mitchell 2002: 168).

Photography originally played an important role in early anthropology it subsequently declined in importance as a tool for gathering data. Harper suggests that is a tradition which persists to offer a model for contemporary sociologists focus on the visualization of social life in the field work research. In the notion of cultural critique there are three areas of critique within social scientific discourse, such as methodological critique linked with new ethnography and in particular the differences in systems of classification (Prosser 1998: 38).

According to Harper the notion of the visual sociologist as a cultural critique and the methods adopted by particular sociologists allow the viewer to see social phenomena in new and provocative ways. Leo Frankenberger’s (1991) photomontages from documentary photographs, of neighbourhood and its residents soon to be demolished. From these photographs, Harper claims, work through a metaphor and are empathetic, suggestive and descriptive in their nature. Harper concludes that “Images allow us to make statements which cannot be made by words, and the world we see is saturated with sociological meaning” (Prosser 1998: 38).

References

Dunlop, S., Richter, P. (2010) "Visual methods." Religion and youth. Farnham: Ashgate

Mitchell, W.J.T. (2002) ‘Showing seeing: a critique of visual culture.' Journal of Visual Culture 1, (2) 165-181

Becker, Howard S. (1974) "Photography and sociology." Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 1, (1) 3-26

Prosser, J. (1998) Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers. London: Falmer Press

Validity and Reliability/The journalist Image as Visual Sociology

A comment on validity and reliability in visual methods

Visual research incorporates images from a variety of visual sources for instance from photographs, film, drawings and graffiti (Pyett 2003: 1170). Visual methods are essential in qualitative image-based research. It is important to acknowledge the ethics when using image-based research. The issue of validity and reliability which are two common research concepts used in order to establish the truth behind conducted research have to be addressed when making a case for image-based research. According to Cresswell (2000) both of the concepts validity and reliability function together in order to increase the researcher’s truthfulness of a proposition about some social phenomenon and to eliminate bias (Golafshani 2003: 597).

The concept validity usually refers to the question whether the ethnographer has accurately stated what they have perceived from the photograph. In element it investigates whether the research has truly measured what it intended to measure (Prosser 1998: 28). With reference to the concept of reliability, it refers to the extent in which a given process is used to in order to gather data for the purposes of measurement that would tend to yield the same results if the study was replicated using similar methods (Simco 1997).

The level of validity and reliability in image-based research can be increased by using a large number of methods which will guarantee a multi-level interpretation of the topic in debate and multiple visual data. As society is not balanced and culture develops over time, likewise with ideologies, relationships and customs reliability will always remain a problem within qualitative research (Winston 1998: 66).

References:
Pyett, P.M. (2003) ‘Validation of qualitative research in the “real world”.’ Qualitative Health Research 13,(8)1170-1179

Golafshani, N. (2003) ‘Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research.’ The Qualitative Report 8,(4)597-606

Prosser, J. (1998) Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. London: RoutledgeFalmer

Simco, N., Warin, J. (1997) ‘Validity in image-based research: An elaborated Illustration of the issues.’ British Educational Research Journal 23,(5)661-672

Winston, B. (1998) “'The camera never lies.': The partiality of photographic evidence, image-based research: A sourcebook for qualitative researchers.” London: RoutledgeFalmer





A comment on journalism image as visual sociology

The media has become an influential economic force throughout the world. The media has made journal images instantly readable and interpretable (Prosser 1998). Journal image can be described as an image which traditionally accompanies a story intended for magazine readers or for the newspaper (Harper 1998: 24).

According to Howard S. Becker “Photographs by their very nature are ambiguous” (Prosser 2008: 84). This issue, Becker explains, is further combined for a social scientist with a camera by a world that is replete with visual sociological purposes. Photographs captured by a visual sociologist, photojournalist a documentary photographer may be very alike however, the importance and legitimization of a specific photograph is not to be discovered in attaching a specific catch-all term to it, but instead in the response that it generates in those who actually perceive it (Prosser 2008).

Becker explains that photographs receive meaning from how people use them, understand them and therefore attribute meaning to them.  These photographs are fundamental social constructions, in which point they are what they have come to mean (Prosser 2008).

Validity and reliability as journal images as visual sociology is an important aspect. Photography is used as a tool for communication, with regards to this, it is important to acknowledge that ideological prejudices may exist within the world of image-journalism that may not be driven by image-journalism. Becker exemplifies that a piece of journalism is usually driven by specific editorial preference and because of this may not illustrate the true nature of what is captured (Prosser 2008).

References:

Harper, D. (1998) 'An Argument for Visual Sociology.' In Prosser, J. (ed.) Image-based Research: A sourcebook for qualitative researchers.  London:  RoutledgeFalmer

Prosser, J. (1998) Image-Based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. London: RoutledgeFalmer

Project Plan

Title: Culture tourism on culture Industries or hereditary sightings

The Brief:

The focus of this project will be on the culture industry within the United Kingdom and within the United States. In order to examine and compare the culture industry within both of these countries pictures have to be captured of culture tourist attractions. My aim is to take images of tourist attractions within the United Kingdom, and to use photographs that have already been captured of tourist attractions within the United States of America. The images from both the United Kingdom and the United States will be used in order to conclude whether their attractions are based upon the culture industry or hereditary sightings. The pictures will be analysed and sociological perspectives will be applied to conclude and compare whether the United Kingdom and the United States are based upon a culture industry or hereditary sightings.

Methodological Considerations:


The methodology used for this investigation is a qualitative method using the grounded theory. The grounded theory will help explain the generality of culture industry. In addition, a variety of journals and books will be used in order to examine the culture industry and hereditary sightings, and will be applied as methods of analysing the pictures captured within the United kingdom and the United States. The photographs captured will be examined with sociological perspectives.

Equipment needs:

A digital camera will be needed in order to capture photographs within the United Kingdom.

Sampling Consideration:

Stratified sampling technique shall be employed as there are a variety of tourist attractions distributed over the United Kingdom. In order to capture a variety of photographs distributed in different places a stratified sampling technique shall be employed to comprehend and to analyse the photographs.

Ethical Issues:

There will be no major ethical issues to be considered as there are no participants used within this project. However, it is significant to make sure that the photographs that will be captured within the United Kingdom are captured from a variety of places that are distributed over the United Kingdom.


Restraints and issues expected:

There are no major restraints or issues to be expected as there are no participants used within this project.

Assessment 1

Compositional Task 1  
This compositional task consists of capturing a series of photographs and applying different photography techniques. There will be a series of 'before' pictures that will have no intentional compositional techniques applied. On the other hand, there will be a series of 'after' photographs that will have desired compositional techniques applied. The most common compositional tehnique applied is the 'rule of thirds'.

Assessment 1: Table 'After'

This is the 'after' photograph of the table with the demonstration of the compostitional rule 'rule of thirds'. The table edge sits at the horizontal line dividing the lower third of the upper thirds. The pink ornament sits at the intersection of the two lines. There is the candle ornament on the leftmost third, however the pink ornament is most the dominant feature in this photograph as it is situated at the intersection of the two lines.  There are points of interest in this photograph, such as the colourful curtains, the light effect coming off the television on the left where the candle is situated.