Engaging CIES members in visual research methods

Jackie Kirk, IRC & McGill UniversityCathryn Magno, Southern CT State University

CIES Gender Symposium ~ February 2007

Introduction From Gender Symposium 2006 to today

Traditional methodological approaches to gender and education quantitative measurements (e.g., gender

disaggregated enrollment data) policy analysis qualitative narratives (girls’ experience in

school)

Visual methodology

Research Questions (How) do agencies and organizations use

images of girls to further particular ideologies with regard to girls’ education?

What are the messages conveyed and received through such images?

What are the relationships between the images of girls and different discourses related to girls’ education and agency?

Literature Base Studies of the visual culture of childhood Studies of the visual culture and history of

schooling

Studies of images of ‘third world’ children

Studies of the images of ‘other adults’ living in far away countries and exotic cultures

Engaging CIES members Rapid response technique

Maps on to analysis tool

Approximately 1 minute/photograph

Informal contribution to research process

Image reading toolDocument Title:Document Type:Year of Publication:Organization: Summary of the Content:

Surface message: Narrative:Intended Message:Ideological Message:Oppositional Reading:Coherence:

Conclusions Theoretical implications

Ongoing research process Relevance of visual methods/analysis to field of

comparative and international education Especially for feminist scholars

Practical implications Agencies using images