Seeing the world of physical culture: the potential of visual methods for qualitative research in sport and exercise

Abstract

Readers should also refer to the journal’s website at http://www.informaworld.com/rqrs and check volume 2, issue 2 to view the visual material in colour.

Adopting visual methods can enhance our understanding of the social world. By encompassing a multitude of forms including photographs, videos, maps, diagrams, symbols and so forth, images can provide specific information about our existence. They can also act as powerful indicators regarding the multiple meanings embedded within our culture. One domain where the use of visual methods has been less well documented is that of physical culture. Physical culture is taken here to mean human physical movement occurring within recognised cultural domains such as sport, dance and, more broadly, outdoor and indoor recreational activities involving expression through physicality. Opening this special edition of Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise on ‘Visual Methods in Physical Culture’s’, I provide some broad responses to the following questions: What are visual methods? Why might they be useful? How can they be utilised? I then outline some ongoing debates within the field surrounding issues of interpretation, representation and ethics. I conclude by positioning this special edition as a resource to assist with the continued use of visual methods in physical culture.

Keywords:

• visual methods
• sport and exercise sciences
• physical culture
• researcher‐created
• respondent‐created

Notes

1. This photograph of a lion statue was produced by a mature natural bodybuilder (male) as part of an auto‐photography task. He had been asked to show what ‘a month in his life’ was like through photography. Amongst the many images he produced during this time, a significant proportion depicted the lion; cuddly toys, fridge magnets, paintings, a statue in his garden (as shown), and a bronze sculpture in his house. During the follow up interview, I asked what the significance of the lion was to his life. He replied:

 I’m a Leo I was born in August so therefore I use the symbol of my birthday as a style just to show of my activity, my identity really and that’s where the lion comes … Even in my garden there’s a lion statue. I’ve got a lot of soft toys that are lions. A lot of people actually give me gifts of lions because that’s what they look at me as being. They say I look like a lion, you know what I mean, I growl like one sometimes as well (laughs) and then there’s the hair … But it’s a good sign because a lion is strength, power, and a king of the other animals, and respect, so therefore if you come to that, all the good qualities of that like you carry out your Leo birthright, fight power with power.

This further elaboration brings, in my opinion, far richer meaning to what the symbol of the lion signifies in the participants life, than the image does alone.

2. I would also direct readers towards the statement of ethical practice for The British Sociological Association’s Visual Sociology Group: http://www.visualsociology.org.uk/about/ethical_statement.php).