Photo elicitation and drawing methods in research with people with physical disabilities

Abstract

Researching people with disabilities and a sensitive topic can be a great challenge for any researcher. An Nguyen, the first author, lives with a physical disability. She is also a social researcher. She has been researching this issue for more than a decade. She found it very difficult to collect data from this group. For her Master by Research under the supervision of the second author, it was decided to apply the photo elicitation and drawing methods to collect the data. These methods provide a strong tool supporting the data collection process to be more meaningful to the participants. They became an active participant whose lived experience can be narrated visually and verbally. This chapter starts with An Nguyen’s story as a marginalized voice from people with disabilities in Vietnam. The literature of photo elicitation and drawing methods is then provided. The description of people with disabilities in Vietnam and study participants is summarized in the next section. Some examples of what people with disabilities in this research used photo and drawing are provided. The chapter is concluded with the implication for further research in the future.