Evaluation on Visual Research Project

 Does society’s control influence and direct us for better or for worse?

Word Count: 1467

 

This project will attempt to investigate how law and order through road signs controls and enables society to function. Within society road signs are a part of how we live and from an early age we learn to interpret their meaning. When conducting the research, it became apparent that power and instructions within society shape the way in which we live. In order to look into this in more depth I decided to set my research question to; Does society’s control influence and direct us for better or for worse?  This project set out to answer this question through the use of visual research. Recording data through a blog aimed to cover issues such as; methods used, arising themes and codes that were brought to the researcher’s attention through the analysis of the use of images as data. Using imagery as a source of data has been a point of discussion for researchers in that it can be problematic for the researcher in creating a bias that may project the researchers own aim or angle. However, this has been debated throughout the reasoning of the camera never lies. In other words, visual research can be argued to be the most beneficial piece of research in which no manipulation will be present (Prosser 2005). It can therefore be argued that the researcher has picked a strong form of research to undertake the task.

 

When first selecting the angle I was going to set out with in regards to road signs I chose to see what the definition was, by the U.K. Department of Transport, (1991, p. 4) as an integral part of the road environment that can include not only upright signs giving warnings and instruction to traffic, speed limits, directions and other information, but also road markings, traffic light signals, motorway matrix signals, zebra and pelican crossing and cones and cylinders used at road works. For the instance of this project signs would be defined as observable substances. The idea of the image we generate in our minds that associates the desired learnt meaning (Guiraud 1975).  Interestingly Wales 2001 states that signs have no connotation unless people can see the connection to the signs.

Whilst thinking of how best to tackle this project it became clear that it would be most useful to be in the chosen facility in which I would be gathering my data. This enabled me to see how people live within their living space. I chose initially to stick to Perth city centre where I photographed road signs and the locations that they were set in. Here I was able to observe how society acted towards the rules and regulations set out with each sign. Taking parking restriction signs for example, during peak times these allow for many people to access business and shops for a short period of time (Dunwoody 2006). If there were no restrictions what would the implications be? Will people stay for longer if there are no restrictions? If so, then there are obviously less chances for other people to park. Within some parking bays there are parking regulations set in place to stop people from parking too long. Gathering the images of the road signs had no issues due to the large number of signs located throughout cities. The use of visual research is one that is very new to me and I did find it really challenging as you are limited to what can be interpreted through only visual information rather than writing which can be more informative. I did however enjoy using a camera as my main source for data gathering. It taught me how important it was to get a clear and a good angle for my chosen subject.

When looking at the images that I have taken it can be argued that they look just like road signs. With this in mind I undertook more research in regard to the signs and how they are applied to society in regards to my research area. Through this I began to question how important the road signs were in our day to day lives and what aspect of the sign had greater importance. One question that struck, is the sign or the content portrayed on the sign more important? With these questions it lead me to examine theories from Freud’s sense of identity, discourse and symbolic interactionism.

When trying to pin point key themes for this piece of research I came across this quote which gave me inspiration, “Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought” (Derval 2010). This made me question how I could approach this research differently from how I would normally carry it out. From being in the midst of the data it allowed me to achieve a different approach to my mind map. Through being in the location at the time it gave me the idea to use the photograph as the background to my mind-map which gave more power and memory recall which made me feel more engaged with my research. Through my mind map it allowed me to arrive at two main theorists; firstly Freud’s sense of identity and symbolic interactionalism. Freud believed that the human personality was a complex piece with multi-layers which consist of the id, the ego and the superego (Freud 2018) These three layers form our personalities which make us very complex and influence how we interact as individuals this is where the theory for the research stems from. It can be argued that from the foundations in which we are socialised to can form our understanding of the world around us. Therefore how we are programmed to interpret information shapes the society we live. The ego specifically is the area in which I was mainly interested in with regards to how we follow certain rules within society and how this affects how we interact. Freud believed that this is learnt behaviours in which our parents and authority figures set out behaviours that are acceptable to us Freud 2018. This links perfectly with that of symbolic interactionalism where it focuses on the relationships between individuals within society.

Once I had gathered my locations and sign images I chose to do thematic analysis as it is one of the most commonly used techniques in qualitative research. (Guest et al 2011).Thematic analysis is used to simply analyse the data. It has been found that both words and images are more influential than statistics (Prosser 1998). Thematic analysis consists of pinpointing out themes that are present in the data, in this instance the images of road signs. This process is used to identify patterns of data. I found using this method made it easier to distinguish themes that arose from the images I had taken. From the themes that were established I decided to use coloured text to make the themes more visually digestible. I chose to do this process manually as it was more efficient. Due to the nature of my topic being so narrow it made perfect sense for me to do this. Through colour coding it made the process of building upon themes more manageable.

I found that using visual methods strengthened the abundance of data which I had unveiled with further layers of meaning which combined more validity and intensity to my results. I found that it added more effectively to the traditional methods in which grabbing further details in a more distinctive way than that of written and verbal methods. Visual images can also be used to understand the way in which people live their lives and visual influences they have had throughout their life course (Bekkers 2014). This was a great way for myself to investigate the question of Does society’s controls influence and direct us for better or for worse? I was able to visually observe my subjects in their own environment without causing any rigour in my results. There was no bias due to the images speaking for themselves. I feel that by using visual methodology you can use it for any age and language as it is all visual. It could be seen as a universal way of communicating data effectively. Images are representations of how subjects interpret their contexts, relationships, decisions and realities (Spencer 2010). I feel that it can be argued that signs do influence how we interact. I feel that it comes down to your social upbringing and how you are socialised whether or not you chose to follow the restrictions or not. Perhaps future research could go into social background to see if this influences how we react towards signs in society. My research only touched the surface of this topic and I feel that further research would be required in order to gain the bigger picture.

 

 

References

BEKKERS,V., 2014. Visual Culture and Public Policy: Towards a visual polity?. 2^nd ed. London: Routledge.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT., 1991. Specification for drawing and marking: warning signs. London: Department of Transport.

DERVAL,D., 2010. The Right Sensory Mix: Targeting Consumer Product Development Scientifically. 2^nd ed. Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.

DUNWOODY,G., 2006. Parking Policy and Enforcement: Seventh Report of Session 2005-06. London: The Stationery Office.

FREUD,S., 2018. The Ego and the Id. 1^st ed. United States of America:Courier Dover Publications.

GUEST,G. et al., 2011. Applied Thematic Analysis. 2^nd ed. United Kingdom: SAGE.

GUIRAUD,P., 1975. Semiology. 2^nd ed. London: Routledge.

PROSSER, J., 2005. Image-based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. 2^nd ed. London:Routledge.

SPENCER,S., 2010. Visual Research Methods in the Social Sciences: Awakening Visions. 1^st ed. London: Routledge.

WALES,K., 2001. A dictionary of stylistics. 2^nd ed. Harlow: Longman.

Visual Composition

Having arrived at my recent reflection of my blog to date, I felt it necessary to explore a different avenue. I wanted to break away from the trend of written opinions and thoughts and add more depth. The use of a collage can frequently reveal new ideas, links and meaning that beforehand were unidentified (Butler-Kisber 2008).

The above collage helped me reflect on my research and themes, whilst leading me towards possible discourses. I also have uncovered new connections in my research that I previously didn’t pick up fully. I began to question society’s controls in more depth; What is important to the bearer of these controls? Are importance and enforcement directly related? Some controls are enforced by CCTV or wardens, other’s have little to no management or indeed maintenance. Perhaps, this could be unintentionally sending the wrong message to society.

 

Butler-Kisber, L. (2008). Collage as inquiry. In J. G. Knowles & A. L. Cole (Eds.), Handbook of the arts in qualitative research (pp. 260-274). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Location 8 – Countryside

In one of my previous posts I decided that I required to explore an additional location away from the city to potentially uncover new observations and codes. Prior to sourcing a new location I set some limitations to what I could include. For example, picking a countryside location with signs is not difficult. However, I felt that certain restraints would help guide me to a suitable location that was both different but related in a way to the other locations in the city. I wanted something that had a certain degree of public interaction but also in a different setting, whilst still relating back to the purpose of this blog.

At first impressions the image above does appear to be a typical countryside location. This was also my first thinking too. At the bottom of the road, however, there is a road junction and a cemetery all with signage. What stood out to me was the difference in maintenance between the countryside and city centre. The road markings were tired and fading, this was the same for many of the road signs.

 

With the cemetery sign being damaged it gives the impression that the council isn’t too attentive to keep order and control on its property. On the other hand the lack of maintenance could be due to financial constraints. The bottom line is though that there is missing information regarding what people should and shouldn’t do. I certainly didn’t find anywhere in the cities with these issues. The vegetation here also appeared to be poorly managed, making driving conditions more difficult for road users.

The location for this post is outlined in the map above and the derived coding can be observed below.

Thematic Analysis Coding

I have taken the codes that I derived from the various location images and displayed them in the table below. I intend to explore these codes as a group and display them in mind maps to highlight any relationships that exist between them.

Thematic Analysis Coding (Initial)

Prior to posting the additional locations that I have captured I decided to post my initial thematic analysis coding.

In the above image it is possible to see the codes that I generated for the three locations. They are particularly similar in nature with the odd outlier. The fourth location in Perth didn’t generate any different codes.

I then coded the images for Dundee, some of which can be seen above. These did generate some new codes in addition to the ones I populated for Perth.

Location Summary

Today I thought about capturing all of the locations that I have featured on my blog to date in Dundee and Perth. I have numbered them in the order that I have posted them.

 

What I have noticed is that most of my locations in Perth were nearby one another and in the case of both Dundee and Perth they are in the city centre. Plotting these locations has made me think about expanding my search. For example, I may uncover new themes if I broaden the setting of each location. I intend to look into this in my next post.

Arising Themes

Whilst out conducting some further research I noticed arising themes, both at locations that I had already been to and new locations that I decided to visit. I’ve observed that for each sign with an instruction or law displayed, people have a choice to obey or disobey it. Failing to obey the rules or instructions often come with a form of punishment.

For example in the image below, the person has received a parking fine for failing to obey the rules posted in accordance with parking their car at the location.

What became apparent when observing people’s behaviours in the locations was that people were open to taking varying levels of risk. From what I could tell it was partly due to the consequence associated with failing to obey the rule. For example, whilst observing the parking habits at the location people would often chance staying for longer than the permitted time possibly down to the relatively small consequences.

The level of enforcement also seems to play a big part in people’s willingness to disobey the rules. I stood at the location in the image below for an hour and was surprised to see a number of cars disobey the rules posted on the signs.

Looking back over the images whilst at home and using my own personal experiences from driving I began to think about why for example the driver of the car in the image above failed to comply with the signposted rules. To me the themes of time, consequence and enforcement are present here. The section of road that is banned to all vehicles apart from buses and bicycles is relatively short in length, a few hundred metres. The driver has good vision of the road ahead and therefore can see if any Police officers are present. Furthermore, the alternative route will likely add at least five minutes on to the journey. With this in mind, perhaps this is a reasonable explanation for the behaviours captured in the image. Had there been a traffic enforcement camera at this location I believe the observed behaviours would be much different.

Position Statement

The pictures that I have captured and posted to date can easily be thought of as ‘just road signs’. Having studied these extensively, I began to think about the signs and their application in more depth with relation to my research plan. It led me to question the importance of the signs and more so which aspect of the sign had the greater importance. Specifically, is the sign or the content conveyed on the sign more important? When arriving at these questions my thought process included both symbolic interactionism, Freud’s sense of identity and discourse.

Initially, I thought about what life in the situations I had photographed may be like without the signs present. Would people interact with the environment differently? In my opinion, I believe they would most definitely so. There would not be anything to direct or control them. Introduce a sign and an element of control is brought into the equation. When studying the signs in depth I began to think about removing another element familiar in society, namely punishment or consequence. That is, if there was no consequence for disobeying the instruction would people be less likely to follow it? Again, in my opinion I could see that society would enter into a disfunctional state. People are inclined to not follow rules where no punishment exists (Jones et al. 2000).

What this review taught me was that whilst I have began to review the images I have captured in more depth, utilising my plan I require more data to progress further.

 

 

Great Design is a Lot Like Clear Thinking Made Visual

Initially I was trying to think of themes related to signs in society at home but felt that perhaps I wasn’t coming up with great ideas. When thinking about how to derive the key themes in my chosen field I came across the following quote, “Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought” (Szent-Gyorgyi 1986). This got me thinking about how I could derive my themes differently from what I would normally do. How could I step outside the box? I decided to go out into society and put myself at the heart of my research subject. I would see everyone living in the moment and my mind-map would take a different course from what I had planned.

I scribbled the themes that I observed down at the time and drafted up a mind-map in my notepad. The image used as a background to my mind-map is the exact location that I made my observations. By including the image below I feel that this adds power and memory recall to my mind-map. The themes captured in the mind-map relate back to my thought process and allows for greater connection with a wider audience.

The below is my rough copy of the mind-map I produced whilst observing society at the location in the background to the above mind-map. I think by taking the item of work to the setting in which I was trying to picture it in really helped me produce the various themes and thoughts in more detail. You can see the changes that have taken place in my thought process from draft to final copy.