Picture this: the use of participatory photographic research methods with people with learning disabilities

Abstract

It has been argued that research that employs qualitative methods among vulnerable groups, such as people with learning disabilities, must reconcile the conflict between meeting recognized academic criteria, or measures of research ‘strength’, while at the same time appropriately and effectively representing the experiences and needs of vulnerable respondents. This article explores some of the tensions that lie within these objectives and looks at the use of more appropriate, participatory research methods, in this case photographic participation and elicitation techniques, as a way of including vulnerable respondents more effectively in social research studies.

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks are due to Joe Sempik for his contribution to the research and to all those who participated in the study.

Notes

1. These respondent groups were drawn from the study’s charity partner’s database of projects. The partner in this case was Thrive, one of the UK’s largest horticultural charities. Twenty four horticultural projects were finally selected. These included gardening projects based on allotment sites, nurseries, community garden sites, etc. All of them offered gardening and social activities for a range of vulnerable groups, such as people with mental and physical health problems, learning disabilities and victims of torture.

2. In the final report we present photographs taken by respondents with learning disabilities, as well as photographs taken by respondents who did not wish to, or who were unable to, comment on their photographs in ways that have meaning to them and without accompanying interpretive analysis (see Sempik et al., 2005).