Picturing the Group: Combining Photo-elicitation and Focus Group Methods

The aim of this paper is to address the potential of combining the focus group method with photo-elicitation in ethnographic research. The paper is based on my own experience with a photo-elicitation focus group (PEFG) consisting of five community gardeners in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In the first part, I discuss which considerations to make concerning 1) the visual materials, 2) creating a focus group setting, 3) group dynamics between participants and with the researcher, and 4) collecting data when setting up a PEFG. Thereafter, I use Webb Keane’s (2018) concept of “semiotic ideology” to describe how the photographs mediate thematic discussions around the interpretation of signs. For this analysis, photo and video materials are included in the text. The paper concludes by arguing that the PEFG method helps to understand nuanced diversities and/or consensus of perspectives within existing groups.