More reading….
The making of a physical model to represent thoughts, feelings and understanding is summed up by Miller (2008) cited in Eaves (2014, p. 149) when he considered the benefits of creating a visual representation to ‘increase voice and reflexivity, and expand the possibilities of multiple, diverse realities and understandings’. The topic under discussion was abstract and complex, and therefore, the models were suitable vehicles to phenomenologically capture the views of the participants. This drew on the work of Abrahams and Ingram (2013) who used plasticine models made by students to represent their home selves and their student selves to capture the lived experience of students who lived at home whilst at university. Brookfield (2014) suggests that using more than one of your senses during an activity leads to ‘depth’ and ‘complexity’ which is not the case if using only one format. He terms this as ‘multi modal’.
Julie Dalton (2020) Model making as a research method, Studies in the Education of Adults, 52:1, 35-48, DOI: 10.1080/02660830.2019.1598605
This seems like a good argument for the use of drawing and writing. Also the use of metaphors is useful when the topic being explored involves mental health.
Hamilton (2016) claims that, ‘multimodality offered varied and nuanced ways for participants to represent and share metaphor’ (p. 33). In the research reported on here the models were the main vehicle for sharing metaphors but the speech that accompanied the creation and the response of the group increased the richness of the data. Saban (2004) agreed that metaphors are useful to describe ideas which are might be difficult to deal with using just language. She claims that ‘metaphors facilitate the communication of concepts and ideas that are complex’ (p. 617). Mental health issues affecting teaching and learning was a complex and difficult topic for discussion and trainee teachers all created metaphors through their models that allowed them to share their experiences whilst simultaneously achieving an element of safety and distance because they were describing the model rather than directly discussing their thoughts and feelings.
Julie Dalton (2020) Model making as a research method, Studies in the Education of Adults, 52:1, 35-48, DOI: 10.1080/02660830.2019.1598605
The study with the comparison of plasticine models brought to mind something else I’d read…. Patricia Dunn, (2021) Drawing Conclusions: using visual thinking to understand complex concepts in the classroom, New York NY, teachers College press
In this paper she talks about a technique called JVRs – juxtaposed visual representations, which I found really interesting. With one drawing we are only seeing a simple definition of a concept but with a JVR you see a concept in relation to another which forces more “nuanced thinking”. Dunn explains that the comparison stimulates more mental processing. I would love to try this out in my research project but I think it will complicate things – especially as I won’t be in the room to give instructions. I will definitely keep this in mind as a learning/teaching tool though.
Analysing visual data
I have also been doing a lot of reading about analysing visual data.
In Gillian Rose’s book Visual Methodologies, she refers to the “Good Eye” which gives a framework for analysing images – composition, colour, spacial organisation, focus and expressive content.
Separate consideration of expressive content is necessary because breaking an image into its component parts – spatial organization, colour, content, light – does not necessarily capture the look of an image. Instead, what may be needed is some imaginative writing that tries to evoke its affective characteristics.
The expressive content of an image is always crucial to consider. However, it is important that your reaction to it does not obscure other issues concerning the meaning of the image.
Bland in Analysing children’s drawings: applied imagination considers
the features given the most emphasis by the artist. From the myriad elements portrayed, analysis was initially limited to the three most visually prominent features of each drawing, whether environmental properties such as colour and location or physical features
Derek Bland (2012) Analysing children’s drawings: applied imagination, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 35:3, 235-242, DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2012.717432
There are various visual devices for sorting and structuring data, for example a matrix, mind maps, network diagrams, and so on; for a text – marking, highlighting/colour coding (relating to criteria), adding notes and comments, graphical representations, note cards/’Post its’. (Some of these are described in Section 5.3.) Try out different devices. This process is tentative and preliminary at the beginning and must remain flexible. Be prepared to modify. Do not get locked into conclusions too early.
Gray, Carole, and Julian Malins. Visualizing Research : A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design, Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4406199.
Created from ual on 2021-11-29 17:28:54.
Gray, Carole and Malins also suggest a keeping reflective journal which I wish I could have started at the beginning of this project as I feel it would have helped me organise my thoughts, something I have found incredibly difficult through this whole process as I have been jumping between so many things.
