Visual Research Methods

The use of visual evidence in social and cultural research is an exciting and stimulating area of growing interest bridging the social sciences and humanities. The burgeoning use of the Internet has given a massive boost to the use of, and interest in, varieties of visual information for research purposes. At the same time, these visual technologies themselves raise all sorts of methodological questions.

This collection brings together the contributions of key writers within both the symbolic and empirical research traditions, presenting the most influential statements on visual research methods and the central debates about visual culture in a diversity of fields. These range from art history, to history of photography, film studies, and aesthetics to media and communications studies, sociology and cultural studies, and social anthropology, social psychology and educational research.

Part I: Classical Historical Statements

Part II: The Objectivity of the Visual

Part III: Visual Technologies

Part IV: The Visual as Method