ABSTRACT
The empirical value of photographic research requires the images to be obtained through a methodological process indexed to recognizable objects and spatial variables. Theory in photographic research explains why visual variables are important. The planner uses research-framed photographic images like a physicist uses mathematical calculations—to provide the visual evidence of systematic knowledge in relation to a particular planning problem. Planners use photographic research to document cultural inventories and social processes infrequently, mainly because of the amount of time it takes to develop a relationship with the research subjects necessary to be able to capture this type of image. Internal validity is by far the most difficult test for photographic investigations to pass. Photographic research has the ability to be exploitative, presenting another substantive challenge to internal validity. Photographic investigations can have a powerful synergistic relationship with ethnographic research. Photographic research would help people from outside the county to see and better understand living conditions there.
