ABSTRACT
Despite the heterogeneity and growing appeal of visual research methodology in social sciences, it is still at the margins of mainstream social science research methods repertoire. In this chapter, we provide an empirical study on the use of drawings to study the lived experiences of bullied children. More specifically, this chapter describes the use of the ‘draw followed by talk’ technique to study the organisational phenomenon of workplace bullying. The findings of the study reveal the utility of drawings in enabling children to share their lifeworld, which was otherwise difficult for us to investigate. The use of participants’ own drawings enabled a participative research experience, where the children felt at ease in sharing their experiences at work. Furthermore, this technique enabled us to give voice to these children and place them at the centre of our research instead of being passive respondents to questionnaires prepared by researchers. The study also highlights the practical issues as well as ethical issues involved in employing drawings in research on children.
