Critical issues in visual methodology

This is a call for papers for a journal special issues. I doubt if I will be submitting, but this is an opportunity for a few first thoughts.
Methodology is the process of conceptualising and producing evidence to support an investigation being carried out. Much of this evidence is in words, written or spoken. The emphasis on visual methodology is instead on evidence which can be seen. Ethnography is an old methodology based around observing societies and communities. Anthropologists focused on distant traditional societies (Africa, Melanesia, India) until social change gave them different agendas. Sociologists studied groups closer to home, in our own society. Observation had a number of drawbacks. Notes kept in field diaries were filtered through the assumptions of the ethnographers, who recorded what they decided, in the way the decided, and may well not have recorded much that was important. Men were in particular unable to obtain much data on women's lives. They wrote up their notes, often years later, in accordance with existing theories such as functionalism or structuralism. We wonder today how much credence to give their accounts.
This introduces us to issues of research on education. Much research has been based on interviews, recording what teachers in the main think about teaching. Their views need not tie closely up with what actually happens, or with what they actually do. Observation, or perhaps video recordings, can help to fill in this important gap.
The following are some fairly random thoughts on how visual methods might apply to educational research in order to broaden the perspective.
• Observation of schools and classes. The ethnographer, notebook in hand, becomes a commentator on what he or she sees. We know however that people see what they look for, and experience of Ofsted confirms the vision of some observers is very limited. Quality observations require highly trained and intelligent minds.
• Use of video to record events and participants is currently very simple, requiring little more than mobile phones. Pupils can make their own videos. The researcher is advised to encourage wider discussions of the visual material by interpreting it with a representative group of interested parties.
• Video (reflexive) diaries are now easily possible. Computers have inbuilt cameras which can record users. A reflexive diary might record regular thoughts when having to type these thoughts might discourage regularity. Better still, the research could link with a critical friend for regular online conversations which prompt reflexivity through questioning and prompting. A devil’s advocate technique could also be helpful.
• Drama and roleplay are very effective pupil activities which can be caught on video. An educational point is likely to be remembered if part of an enjoyable event, and problem-solving role-play can be part of co-constructivism of knowledge.
• Photographs can represent outdoor work/Forest School activities, displays, school and classroom environments. They can be used as stimulus for discussions.
• Wall of comments: pupils and students can explore, discuss, and make suggestions about a wide range of topics putting their ideas on pop-it notes which are then stuck onto a ‘wall of comments’. These can be sifted, sorted, ranked and reordered to form an argument. Again, this emphasises co-constructivist knowledge-building.
• Creative artifacts (pictures, sculptures) can also become stimulus for discussion..

Any further ideas, please add to Comments. How to incorporate visual data into theses is very easy in electronic academic writing, but tests the limits of the traditional paper thesis. This might encourage Universities to experiment with new forms of thesis using digital technology, thereby encouraging hyperlinks to visual and auditory material..