Study to examine whether research gives participants “a voice”

An OU academic has received a research grant to investigate whether visual expression gives research participants a voice, particularly in the case of already marginalised groups.

Dr Daniel McCulloch, OU Lecturer in Criminology and Social Policy, has been awarded 61,533.90 from the Economic and Social Research Council National Centre for Research Methods to explore whether participatory visual methods (co-created visual forms of communication and expression) ‘give voice’ to participants in research projects.

Over the 18-month timescale of the project, Dr McCulloch will analyse researcher understandings of what it means to ‘give voice’ and whether it is a meaningful representation, particularly among marginalised groups.

Dr McCulloch will lead training and capacity building focused on what has been learned from evaluation of the method.

Increasing knowledge about participatory visual methods in this way will help us to understand how different groups understand ‘voice’ and whether they perceive methods such as participatory mapping to successfully ‘give voice’. Such knowledge is useful not only for researchers using these methods, but also for advocacy groups and practitioners, who may be interested in ensuring that they have evidenced assessments of whether ‘voice’ is provided through such methods.

Dr Daniel McCulloch

Read more about Dr McCulloch’s OU research.