Validity in image-based research : a Delphi study

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The area of study is the notion of validity in image-based research, i.e. researchapproaches where visual images such as photographs or video recordings form anintegral part of one or more of the methods used. In the literature investigationchapters of the study, (1) the notion of validity is reviewed with special reference tocontributions by Cook and Campbell, Guba and Lincoln, Kvale, Lather and Morse;(2) the inherent properties of visual images are discussed from a semiotic perspective,and (3) following a discussion of reflexivity in image-based research, the variousdomains of image-based research practice are demarcated according to the unit ofanalysis, the data format, the researcher role (outsider, insider, participant) and theproduction of the visual material (ex ante or ex post with weak or strong researchercontrol). The literature investigation chapters were taken as the point of departurefor the development of a conceptual framework for assessing validity in image-basedresearch, the mechanics of which are illustrated with reference to selected aspects ofimage-based research projects by Lomax and Casey, Clark and Zimmer, Rich andChalfen, DuFon and Chaplin. The conceptual framework was refined on thestrength of a Delphi study. The Delphi procedure involved canvassing and poolingthe opinions of experts in the field of image-based research about issues of validitywith a view to ensure that the assumptions made during the development of theconceptual framework fit sufficiently with image-based research practice. Flowingfrom the literature investigation chapters as well as the Delphi procedure, the centralthesis of the study is that the notion of validity is in the first instance contextdependentand that this is compounded in the case of image-based research by therelative instability of iconic codes and the strong drift towards 'unlimited' semiosisinherent in the visual communication process.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University