A Review of Using Photo-Elicitation Interviews in Qualitative Education Research

Abstract

Educational research has sometimes been criticized for its seeming lack of relevance to classroom reality and its subsequent inability to inform pedagogical practices. Such criticism has prompted researchers to consider research methods that may better approximate reality. Among these methods, photo-elicitation interviews (PEI) offer a visual dimension to elicit lived experiences, feelings, and thoughts in real educational contexts, and to enhance researchers’ understanding of educational practitioners’ and students’ experiences in real classrooms and school communities. This review examines the application of PEI to explore educational practitioners’ and students’ lived experiences and perceptions in educational contexts. Specifically, this paper examines the existing educational studies adopting PEI in order to identify the affordances of the method, the challenges it has presented for researchers in the education field, and critical considerations for researchers who may be planning to use the method. Specifically, this review addresses the following three questions: 1. What has PEI contributed to previous investigations of participants’ lived experiences and perceptions in educational contexts? 2. What methodological challenges have previous researchers encountered when utilizing PEI? and 3. How can methodological concerns be addressed when designing and implementing PEI to understand participants’ lived experiences and perceptions? We provide an up-to-date critical examination and discussion of PEI to better inform researchers seeking to develop the use of the method in future investigations in the education field.