ABSTRACT
Communities of all sorts, although especially non-dominant communities (e.g. Indigenous communities, communities of colour, LGBTTQTS+ communities and stigmatized communities, such as those who are housing the insecure and homeless, who are living with HIV/AIDS, living with addictions, sex workers, etc.), have said time and time again to academics in the health and social sciences: ‘Not another interview! We’ve been researched to death’ (Schnarch, 2004; Jacklin and Kinoshameg, 2008; Brant Castellano and Reading, 2010). Indeed, the interview is probably the most frequently used tool in the qualitative health researcher’s toolbox. But there is very good reason; interviews, especially semi-structured and unstructured interviews, create space for interviewers and interviewees to explore a particular topic in great depth, exponentially more than can be achieved through standardized quantitative tools such as survey research. At the same time, interviews can have a ‘clinical’ feel to them, since they remain under the purview of an interviewer’s prerogative as to the direction that they go in. Thus, as many of these non-dominant communities are now focusing on ‘researching back to life’, especially among Indigenous populations (LaFrance and Crazy Bull, 2009; Castellano, 2014), putting prospective participants at ease and creating more space for autonomy and control over the research process have become important considerations in community-driven participatory health research. We are now seeing more frequent use of ‘props’ (research tools that act as documentary aids and creative prompts) that can be used to inject a more engaged and reflexive approach which increases the creative and intellectual control of participants in research processes. In this chapter, we illuminate the utility of using innovative props, specifically photovoice and digital storytelling, as methodological tools for engaging in research, especially community-based participatory research (CBPR) in health geography; we also mine our own experiences to offer some suggested dos and don’ts.
