Chapter 2: Visual Elicitation Methodologies for Studying Teachers’ Thinking

Elicitation techniques refer to a collection of strategies that use visual or written materials as generative sources of information (Barton, 2015). In contrast to the use of images as data sources for research, which is more common in anthropology and sociology, visual elicitation employs images to encourage individuals to discuss their thinking. These sources may complement direct questioning or even take the place of questions entirely. The visuals provide a focal point relevant to the topic to stimulate participants to talk about their beliefs and subjective experiences. Some topics may involve more abstract issues that the participant has tacit knowledge about but may not have ever expressed their ideas. Other topics relevant for visual elicitation that educational researchers may be interested in are either controversial, such as teaching taboo topics (Ho et al., 2014), or more abstract and therefore difficult to articulate, such as children’s spatial understandings of post-conflict urban geographies (Leonard, 2017). In these cases, images are particularly effective as stimuli because they provide rich sources of information with layers of meaning that are quickly conveyed to the reader. Harper (2002) explained that photographs can uncover richer shades of meaning than can be posed when words alone are used to interview: