Image and word on the street: a reflexive, phased approach to combining participatory visual methods and qualitative interviews to explore resilience with street connected young people in Guatemala City

Stevenson, Andrew, Oldfield, Jeremy and Ortiz, Emily (2022) Image and word on the street: a reflexive, phased approach to combining participatory visual methods and qualitative interviews to explore resilience with street connected young people in Guatemala City. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19 (1). pp. 176-203. ISSN 1478-0887

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Abstract

We present an argument for reflexively combining participatory visual methods with each other, alongside qualitative ethnographic interviewing, in exploring resilience with street-connected young people who attend two voluntary educational outreach projects in Guatemala City. We present primary research in the form of three case studies selected from a wider, mixed-methods study. The case studies adopt an approach that is rooted in phenomenology, incorporating participatory photography, participatory drawing, and image-elicited interviewing. We discuss the advantages of combining visual methods with qualitative interviewing in ways that respond to the developing phases of research and to the sensory and technological preferences of participants. We also outline the potential benefits of this approach for psychological research into resilience, place, and community, and for benefitting voluntary outreach organisations with whom we collaborated.