An impressionistic orientation towards visual inquiry into the conduct of everyday life

ABSTRACT

Increasingly qualitative research in psychology encompasses various visual materials. These are often analysed using existing qualitative approaches associated with analysing linguistic materials. In this reflexive article, we raise concerns regarding this proceduralized practice and present the conceptual groundwork for a flexible approach to visual inquiry that draws concepts and insights from the visual arts. The primary focus is on engaging with insights from Impressionism as a source of insight for a dynamic and subjective orientation towards visual inquiry and comprehension. To ground this orientation, we argue for the relevance of concepts (e.g., memesis, the flâneur, aesthetics) for efforts to extend visual inquiries into social psychology of everyday homelessness.

KEYWORDS:

• Visual inquiry
• qualitative analysis
• impressionism
• memesis
• everyday

Acknowledgements

This article was supported by a Sao Paulo Research Foundation (Project 2018/23585-8) visiting scholar award to the first two authors, which resulted in a keynote address to the Institute of Psychology at the University of Sao Paulo. Aspects of the keynote have been reworked by all authors as the first in a collaborative series of articles. We would like to thank Thomas Teo and Wade Pickering for commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ We have italicized with in relation to our collaborations with research participants that contrast with dominant and more distant approaches to quantitative and qualitative research that involve doing research on people with little or even no direct interaction with them.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation [Project 2018/23585-8].

Notes on contributors

Darrin Hodgetts

Darrin Hodgetts is Professor of Societal Psychology at Massey University.

Arley Andriolo

Arley Andriolo is Professor of Psychology at the University of Sao Paulo.

Ottilie Stolte

Ottilie Stolte is a Senior Lecturer in psychology at the University of Waikato.

Pita King

Pita Kinga is a Lecturer in psychology at Massey University.