The Story Behind the Picture
A picture is worth a thousand words. Photovoice may be worth more.
by Sherry Woosley and Hilary Lichterman
Images can cut through the noise, convey a message, stir emotion, and spur action. They bring stories to life as they cross language barriers. Given the power of a picture, it is not surprising that qualitative researchers are increasingly using photovoice to collect and convey information about the world around them. While the process originated approximately 30 years ago and was primarily utilized in public health, it has since spread to many other fields, including higher education.
The photovoice technique – also called photo elicitation or reflexive photography – is a research method that combines photography with narrative storytelling and may be incorporated in other projects as photo activities. The process itself is relatively straightforward. In the simplest terms, a researcher or facilitator identifies a topic and crafts an appropriate prompt. The prompt is then given to a team of participants who are directed to take photos inspired by the subject. The results may be straightforward (say, a picture of a pet or friend), or they may allow participants to display their creative impulses (a moody self-portrait). Later, in individual interviews or focus groups, the participants share their photos and describe what they represent. As with other qualitative methods, during this process, the facilitators work with participants to dig into the results and further identify themes. Along with images, stories, and insights, the discussion may also explore underlying issues and possible solutions.
Researchers recognize photovoice within a qualitative framework that draws on the traditions of grounded theory, phenomenological studies, and action research. It also provides qualitative benefits, such as participant involvement and engagement, insights into participant perspectives, and methods for capturing and validating the results. Most everyone, regardless of their research background, recognizes this as a practice that centers participants' voices and employs a storytelling approach that captures experiences more effectively than do surveys and spreadsheets.
Photovoice in Action
Amanda Latz, a professor of higher education and community college leadership at Ball State University, has written extensively on the use of photovoice as a research tool. A number of higher education scholars and practitioners, like her, are actively working to promote the strategy due to the “richness of the data and accessibility to students” and because “It seems like a snowball, picking up mass and momentum through time and travel,” Latz explains. “The literature is becoming more and more dense with exemplary work. Examples and guideposts are certainly out there like never before.”
A powerful example of this is a project conducted across multiple campuses in 2021. Known as Fat On Campus, the project was designed “to explore and understand the experiences of fat students on college and university campuses. Specifically, the research team was interested in how participants experienced navigating campus places, spaces, and structures (for example, campus buildings, chairs/beds/furniture in classrooms, dining halls, residence halls, athletic facilities, and other campus buildings). In short, we wanted to know what it is like for participants on campus in their body and the places and spaces they feel at home/comfortable in their body, where they feel uncomfortable on campus in their body, and how they navigate those feelings.” The images and participant feedback – which were published on a website and later a book – are moving. They illustrate narrow hallways or small office chairs that participants felt were extremely uncomfortable, as well as the more welcoming niches on campus where they appreciate being able to gather with friends or peacefully enjoy a scenic setting.
At the University of Minnesota, the photovoice technique has been integrated into its orientation and transition program to create an art gallery, both physical and online. The theme for 2025 was What Belonging Means to U, “moments of connection and belonging, whether through personal relationships, shared experiences, or academic journeys.”
Considering the vested interest that campus housing professionals have in understanding their students’ lived experience, one can see how photovoice serves as a powerful tool for gaining insight. Morgan Murray, director of residence life at Georgia State University, used it as part of her dissertation study about the experiences of Black resident assistants at historically White institutions. Murray chose photovoice because “it centered participant voice and allowed the study participants to control how their realities were represented.”
Telling their own stories by using their own images facilitates shared understanding for students. In Murray’s study, respondents were given two prompts: “Take a picture that reflects your experience being a Black student and RA on your campus” and “Take a picture of how or where you experience belonging and support as an RA – and then submit three to 10 images.” During the follow-up interviews, many participants described feeling “on the outside looking in.” One shared a photo of herself sitting outside her RA class, taken by a White peer from inside the room. Another shared contrasting images of her all-White RA staff and her close-knit group of Black women friends, which visually represented the tension between isolation and counterspace. The images communicated feelings of connection and exclusion in deep ways. As Murray expressed it, “Traditional interviews alone felt insufficient to fully capture the nuance of their experiences as marginalized students. Photovoice offered participants a way to represent their experiences visually and narratively, which aligned with the phenomenological focus on meaning-making.”
Photovoice can also be used to assess outcomes. At the MSC Freshman Leadership International (a leadership organization for first-year students at Texas A&M University that coordinates an international service learning program in Costa Rica held during spring break), organizers asked students to take photos in response to a reflection question and then provide a brief written explanation of why they chose that specific photo. The results not only highlighted the activities but also contrasted the Costa Rican experiences with other students’ typical lived experiences.
By centering participant perspectives, photovoice invites audiences into spaces of deep listening, often referred to as third-level listening, where they might consider more than the words.
The post-trip assessment report included quantitative data for some survey questions, such as how prepared the students felt for the experience. Through their photos, though, students demonstrated learning about a variety of outcomes related to well-being, connections to nature, food and health, and education. Reflecting on the contrasts and similarities between the United States and Costa Rica, students shared photos of themselves playing in a waterfall (“such a connection to nature”) or interacting with local residents (“here the girls were playing games outside, while in the U.S. high school kids don’t really play games outside in their free time”).
Photovoice is a useful resource for assessment, but it can also be an advocacy resource. Daniel Becton, the associate director for assessment and planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with student assessment analysts Laura Keovorapheth and Ellie-Kay Bahr, engaged the campus’s residence life advisory board to make their case for ways to improve the student living experience. The team saw photovoice as a natural fit to elicit authentic student feedback. “We wanted them to identify problems,” Becton notes. “We wanted students to feel empowered; we wanted higher-ups to take students seriously when they were talking about their experiences. We wanted students to be creative. It was a very large and all-encompassing project about what it means to be a student and share your voice on campus.”
To conduct the survey, 12 advisory board ambassadors documented their residence hall lives during a six-week period. In the end, 44 photographs were submitted, showing a range of experiences that included facilities in need of repair and awkward social dynamics, but also moments of positive community experiences. One example showed a student's view of unruly roommates and their friends while he tried to participate in a virtual meeting on his computer. Another showed, with their consent, inebriated students sitting on the floor of an elevator. When the group came together to discuss the images, the resulting dialogue was lively, filled with subversive ideas and amazing conversations.
Making the Most of Results
Even as photovoice creates opportunities for campus housing professionals to learn from students, there are still complications. Facilitators need to think carefully about both physical and psychological privacy. This means asking participants to be respectful of their peers, while also acknowledging that depicting an honest interpretation of campus life may bring sensitive issues and incidents to the surface. For instance, housing professionals would need to consider how they might handle images depicting policy violations. Photovoice can also evoke emotional triggers and trauma, and so facilitators need to be prepared to offer support in terms of counseling or resources, and potential issues need to be communicated to students in advance so they can make informed decisions about participating.
Professionals also need to understand study implications or complications that may arise. Murray, for example, talked about the challenge of getting students to follow through on the assignment. “The primary challenge I faced was getting student participants in the study to follow through with completing and submitting photos and doing the follow-up interview. I did not retain all the students I initially contacted and had to do some additional recruiting of participants.” One way to attract respondents is to invite them to help create the prompts. “Keep things simple and straightforward,” Latz advises. “Consider brainstorming a menu of questions and prompts, but then let the students take the lead. Some simple yet powerful examples might include ‘What is the best part of living on campus?’ or ‘What is the most challenging part of living on campus?’”
For Becton and the team at Wisconsin, the challenge was less about logistics and more about the final deliverables. While the initial feedback sessions were free-flowing and candid, when the time came for ambassadors to present their material to professional housing staff, they (perhaps subconsciously) adopted a more problem-solution format and tempered some of their responses. In the end, the final result did not capture the vibrancy of the overall project.
The common saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” takes on new meaning in the context of photovoice. By centering participant perspectives, photovoice invites audiences into spaces of deep listening, often referred to as third-level listening, where they might consider more than the words. It turns images into dialogues and insights and can generate a richer understanding of lived experiences, engage students in the process, promote learning all around, and provide a generative process that allows new insights to surface.
Additionally, photovoice can be a valuable learning opportunity for students. Depending on the level of their involvement, they may be practicing personal reflection, visual imagery, creativity, writing, analysis, and sense-making, as well as public speaking. They may be involved in group or team work. They may even be crafting advocacy messages and sharing content with conviction. “Photovoice is meant to be participatory,” Latz concludes. “Invite the students to partner with you on the assessment. Give them space to learn about the process and to showcase themselves as experts on their own residential experiences.” 