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The purpose of this paper was to examine and reflect on the visual social research method of photovoice, which is a qualitative research process increasingly being used by government and nongovernment organizations to enable participants who are often from disadvantaged groups, to capture their lives, experiences, and issues through photos and associated written stories. Visual methods such as photovoice provide both opportunities and risks with ethical considerations and concerns that are both ethical in nature for those taking the photographs, and for those in the photographs. There are also associated ethical challenges for researchers to conform to ethical guidelines, while conveying stories that are in the public interest. Ascertaining why visual information should be considered in relation to ethics can be argued as important, as the receiver processing the visual information will process, perceive, and respond in a variety of ways, and possibly in different ways to what the sender aimed to convey. It was argued here that due to the strong ethical guidelines for photovoice projects, it is more of a deontological-based research approach. A key ethical concern associated with photovoice is that it is touted to participants as a vehicle to achieve social change, yet there is no guarantee that this change will occur, as ultimate power rests in the hands of decision makers. Photovoice ethical processes were discussed, with reflections by the author on ethical issues that have occurred in her own research, and suggestions to organizations on what to consider to ensure a photovoice project proceeds with ethical consideration to ensure an empowering experience as an influencer for social change.

This chapter brings to the forefront various challenges of engaging in both critical and participatory forms of knowledge building, in particular with queer and trans migrants with precarious status. Two scholars trace their previous experiences of engaging in participatory and critical research as well as their shift toward reflexive ways of knowing. This shift elicits the ways in which Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) may be used to build reflexive knowledge with and about queer and trans migrant communities, and in particular, LGBTQ refugees and MSM Latino migrants.

This paper, and the corresponding project, is motivated by the lack of qualitative research elucidating the voices of young Black women in Canada when it comes to their sexual health.

This paper draws from data produced in the Let’s Talk About Sex (LTAS) project – a Photovoice process held once a week for nine consecutive weeks in the Jane-Finch community, a low-income community in Toronto, Canada. This workshop was completed by 15 young African Caribbean and Black (ACB) women in the age group 14–18. These young women used photography and creative writing to express their opinions on the barriers and facilitators to making healthy sexual decisions.

A central finding was the existence of a subculture among youth in Toronto, where the exchange of sex for material resources was commonplace. Herein, we unpack the various forms of economically motivated relationships reported, which ranged from romantic relationships to sugar daddies and brothel-like sex dens. We also reflect on the discussions at community forums where the research findings were presented. From shock and outrage to a sly smile of knowing, the responses were often gendered, generational and reflective of a trend occurring across Toronto, not just in the Jane-Finch community, and not merely among the Black youth.

Effective interventions and youth programs should focus on the sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV risks that may result from transactional relationships, economic empowerment, and youth employment.

This is a novel arts-based study on youth engaged inthe exchange of sex for money, which has nuanced differences from survival sex.

Participatory research approaches often involve visual methods. However, when it comes to data analysis, the opportunities and challenges of participatory visual methods remain underexplored. A focus on the process of data collection, rather than the data itself, may lead to the omission of a formal analysis stage. In action-orientated research, analysis is often discussion-based and undocumented. As a result, the intended ‘meaning’ behind visual data may not be explicitly communicated to audiences. This chapter explores the ethical considerations of sharing raw visual data. It considers the significance of inter-textual meanings in the digital age, where pathways to accessing that data are highly individualised, and consequently constructed meanings may radically diverge from intended meanings. It also suggests how participatory research facilitators can minimise radical divergence between intention and interpretation.

This chapter seeks to provide an overview of current directions in the areas of methodology, with a focus on examining the ways in which ontology and epistemology are being reframed within the context of international comparative education by established as well as new and emerging scholars. We highlight recent efforts to contest larger epistemological/paradigmatic issues including the importance of reflexivity and interrogating the role of the researcher (i.e., subjectivity and positionality), draw attention to epistemological issues of what can be known and how, and underline research that challenges dominant and hegemonic discourses and presents alternative perspectives/knowledge. The second half of the chapter documents scholarship that over the past five years has attempted to do what we highlight as contested in the first half. Finally, we will work to contextualize the intersections between theory and practice with a goal toward anticipating some potential directions for research methodologies in international comparative education and ways professional and academic centers might foster deeper and more nuanced dialogue on the topic in the future.

As academics, quantitative and/or qualitative methods are at the heart of the research we conduct and the insights we seek to share with the world. However, this does not always translate into impactful engagement for the stakeholders and communities we engage with, despite the evidence that indicates the potential to do so. One of the critical ways that academics can generate impact is through community and stakeholder engagement – developing networks and external partnerships that work collaboratively to generate change. Research indicates that more participatory methods of engagement where stakeholders can co-create solutions have the greatest transformational potential for impact. The key to differentiating meaningful and impactful stakeholder engagement from distinct concepts such as communication or consultation is understanding the level of influence the stakeholder will have on the decision. This chapter provides a practical guide for academics to build their practice in impactful engagement throughout their career through eight simple steps. Using the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) spectrum of public participation, an example of how engagement methods can be selected to build impactful engagement skills throughout the academic career is illustrated. Impactful engagement has the capacity to bring diverse voices and perspectives together to shape decisions and change, and in so doing, create greater impact.

Purpose – This chapter critically reflects on the author’s failed attempt to incorporate visual methods in follow-up research on immigration detention and deportation in Britain. In particular, it considers the uses and limits of participant-generated visuals, and the specific method of photovoice, which were originally conceived as a means to explore themes of home, identity, and belonging in and through practices of detention and release or expulsion.

Methodology/approach – This chapter discusses the visual method of photovoice to consider the uses and limits of participant-generated visuals.

Findings – Drawing on the notion of research “failure,” this chapter highlights the challenges and limitations of photovoice in follow-up research with individuals who were detained and/or deported, pointing to various methodological, logistical, ethical, and political issues pertaining to the method itself and the use of the visual in criminological research.

Originality/value – Criminologists are increasingly considering the visual and the power of photographic images within criminological research, both as objects of study and through the use of visual methodologies. This shift toward the examination, as well as integration, of images raises a number of important methodological, ethical, and political questions worthy of consideration, including instances where visual methods like photovoice are unsuccessful in a research project.

In the city setting in which this chapter's photographic investigation took place, high school dropout rates have remained at or above 50% for better than three decades. The research on which this chapter reports began with a photographic inquiry into urban youths' foundational perceptions of school itself, as well as their insights into the impediments to and supports for their school success. This examination revealed some of the reasons behind the multi-generational community disengagement that have lead to the strained relationship to schools represented by these graduation rate statistics. Grounded in critical pedagogy, “new literacy” and visual sociology traditions, this study looked to visually based mechanisms for research tools with which city students are already proficient. The findings presented here suggest that these tools can not only provide previously inaccessible data on school detachment but also supply perspectives on what these youth want to learn in school – lessons that might support their re-engagement with these institutions.

Photography is used in research because of its appeal for communicating, expressing feelings, sharing experiences, raising new awareness of participants and potential audiences, clarifying social issues, and framing plans for action. Taking and sharing photos has become easier particularly because of ready access to devices with cameras. Yet, using photographs in research can undermine anonymity and confidentiality (Noland, 2006), and unanticipated unauthorised dissemination of digital images raises ethical concerns for researchers using photography in their research methods (Brigham, Baillie Abidi, & Calatayud, 2018). In this chapter, the authors discuss the participatory photography method and provide practical suggestions for carrying out ethical research using participatory photography. The authors highlight the cultural, social, and contextual situatedness of ethics by drawing on our own research project with youth with refugee experience.

A focus on how visual cultures in domestic spaces influence older migrants' identification with the homeland has been noted in previous research, ¹ yet migrant youth have not typically been the sole subjects of investigation in this regard. This chapter seeks to fill this gap by offering insight into the practices of young Indian women in domestic spaces and how these practices influence their sense of belonging to India. This chapter highlights the practices of young Indian women living in Brisbane, Australia, through an exploration into how the young women recreate their histories and cultural attachments in domestic spaces. The research presented in this chapter illustrates the processes of emotional attachment for young migrants and how these processes demonstrate new ways of practising diaspora, including the use of the internet to learn about their cultural histories. With the use of PhotoVoice, where photographs were retrieved from mobile phones and the internet, the participants discussed their everyday lives relating to their emotional attachments to material objects in domestic spaces and the connection to their identities. This chapter's main argument is to highlight the need for researchers to avoid the tendency to place young migrants into the same diasporic categories as their parents and to recognise the diverse ways in which young migrants actively shape their own cultural attachments.