Photo Elicitation and Photovoice: How Visual Research Enables Empowerment, Articulation and Dis-Articulation

Photo elicitation and photovoice are valuable tools for researchers of churches and congregations. Photo elicitation and photovoice empower participants, turning them from passive objects of study into emancipated co-creators of research and empowered co-creators of data. We used photo elicitation and photovoice in our separate studies of understandings of communion among young Baptists and understandings of culture among church leaders in Hull. Although our research areas were very different, we found similarities in the way that images can empower participants and in doing so, enable them to be both articulate and dis-articulate, arguing that this dis-articulation is valuable in discussions of belief and experience.