It’s been fascinating running the training workshops for my research project. I have a lot of experience teaching and engaging different groups of people, but setting up, planning and delivering the photovoice training workshops has been interesting. Fundamental to my planning was my attempt to remove all barriers to attending and engaging with the research project.
Plan
First, I had to make sure that the training workshop was designed to deliver key information and underpin the activity I wanted the co-researchers to engage with. Planning with the end goal in mind, I wanted through the following questions:
- What did I want attendees to know by the end of the workshop?
- What are the ethical principles and ground rules that they need to follow?
- What activities could I use to help them understand the project?
- What did I want attendees to know by the end of the workshop?
They had to understand the principles of the project – what I was trying to achieve, the method I’m using and what I’m asking them to do. The literature offered some vague guidance, normally a sentence or two about ‘participants were trained in the principles of photovoice’. That’s where the experience of attending the Photovoice workshop was useful as I could reflect on the ideas we discussed and consider their activities.
- What are the ethical principles and ground rules that they need to follow?
The ethical principles and ground rules are key. This was set out by the University’s ethical principles and my ethics application before I started the project. I’ve made all the information available on my blog, so it’s readily available to anyone. However, I wanted to be clear and concise about key principles.
-
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay They only need to share what they are comfortable sharing, and they shouldn’t put themselves at any risk when taking photographs.
- They were specifically asked not to take photographs of people.
I was going to be very clear that any individuals who were photographed would need to sign explicit consent forms before the photographs were taken, so it’s much easier to focus on things and ideas, rather than people.
- What activities could I use to help them understand the project?
With images dominating the world around us, I wanted to take the time to talk with my co-researchers about the fundamental principles of visual literacy. Taking the time to discuss images to demonstrate how individuals can ‘see’ and ‘read’ images differently depending on their background, history and experience has been valuable. I used two activities with photographs. First – to discuss the content, ideas and perceptions of a photograph. The second, to classify, organise and sort a selection of photographs. I chose the photographs that were relevant to my context, and that modelled what I wanted, in the sense that they didn’t include people.
I also needed to consider any potential barriers that might prevent individuals from getting involved in the research. I reviewed their timetable, their assessment dates and any additional events the programme team were planning for the cohort. Therefore, all the data collection (training workshops, photography and focus groups) would have to be completed by the week before Easter. Taking that as my end point, I then broke down the research activities into chunks so that I could deliver the training workshops in enough time for them to take the photographs and engage with the focus groups before the Easter break.
Planning the content of the workshop, there are key elements that must take place. The co-researchers needed to know exactly what I’m asking them to do, and they needed to complete it within the ethical boundaries of the project. Although some photovoice projects can last a year or longer, the time restrictions mean that mine has had to be focused and succinct. The research project ran along the lines of an assignment: they have prompts or a brief for the photographs, a deadline to upload them by, and a focus group to discuss them in.
Delivery
Delivering the workshops has been interesting. I delivered one workshop online (to account for potential co-researchers who weren’t in the country yet) and all the others have been face to face. The potential co-researchers were able to choose a date and time to suit them and I was as flexible as I could be around their timetabled session and availability of rooms. This meant that often the workshops were delivered on a one-to-one basis. I was concerned that this could be intimidating, but it was interesting for me to work with these students on an individual basis. Working through the activities they have all looked at them differently and brought different ideas and perspectives to the discussion. There is no right or wrong with the images, and it’s been so lovely to see the photographs from completely different perspectives. I couldn’t have predicted what they have highlighted from their observations. I haven’t recorded what they have said as they were training workshops, but I’m really excited to see what they bring to the photographs and focus group discussions.
Reflection
After each workshop, they left with a physical handout (explaining the project, what I’d like them to do and with guidance on how to do it safely). They were also given a consent form for the photographs. This is separate from the research project – as it asks them how they would like their images to be credited (their name or a pseudonym) and asserts their role as the copyright holder of the photographs, giving me licence to use them for the research project. After the workshop I also then emailed them copies of the documents, along with a link to their personal padlet site for them to upload their photographs to. Again, this follows my idea of trying to make it as easy as possible for them to engage with the project and remove any potential barriers I could foresee.
Lessons learnt:
- Take time to plan (this investment will make everything go smoother).
- Focus on your co-researchers: what do they need to know, how can you remove barriers so it’s easier to engage with the project?
