In this chapter author Jeffrey Samuels (2007) offers fundamental ethnographic insight by reflecting on his fieldwork experience in Sri Lanka while studying novice Buddhist monks. There were two primary research questions Samuels needed to answer; “What constitutes an emotionally satisfying experience of Buddhism? How are the young novices taught to bring about those experiences for Buddhist laypeople?” (p.198, 2007). Samuel's choice to use auto photo elicitation as one of his methods for data collection was appropriate for the age group of young monks cooperating in his study. Autodriven was the style of photo elicitation used, where the interviewee is shown photographs, they took themselves instead of ones chosen by the interviewer. Samuels believes that Autodriven photo elicitation provides a more realistic account of the participants life and is helpful bridging the cultural gaps evident when explaining personal meanings and experiences given by the novice monks. A schedule was created and given to the monks along with a disposable camera asking for specific pictures such as, “what makes you happy as a monastic?”, “what is difficult about being a monastic?”, and “anything you like” (Samuels 2007). A total of eleven questions were given to the 52 novices in the study population, however due to various technical issues, only 16 novices completed the assignment. Using the autodriven photo elicitation, Samuels approaches his method of data collection from an interactionist perspective to learn what the life of a monastic child is like.
During the interviews the children were asked to describe their photos and after slight hesitation the responses given were very detailed with little prompting. It was interesting to hear comparisons by Samuels of a previous spoken interview as opposed to the autodriven responses. To the authors surprise his own view of Buddhism had influenced the outcome of the earlier spoken interviews. Through photo elicitation with the monastics own photographs and descriptions it was shown what activities they held as important. There was a theme of sweeping the temple grounds that was present in multiple cases and when asked the responses were insightful. It seemed that sweeping was an important temple task due to it housing Buddha and because many visitors came to observe the Buddhist tradition and create messes that need to be cleaned. The literal cleanliness of the temple was necessary in producing the right image to patrons and the donors financially supporting the monks and temple. Some children when interviewed used sweeping as a metaphor for meditation, saying that cleaning the temple was like removing trash from their heart and minds, like the sweeping of the temple. In response to the photo prompt of, “how would you describe a good/ideal monk”, the results were more personally important and offered more relevance than the spoken interviews. When asked the same question in spoken interviews from an earlier session Dhirananda responded, “one who protects his morality and serves the laity” (Samuels p.215, 2007). The drastic improvement in depth and content attainable with photo elicitation Is clear when Deborah had Hursley and Sidney Levy describe it, “… enriched qualitative information concerning events, as informants perceive them” (Samuels p.215, 2007). The meaningful explanation of an excellent monk was one of many in the study and Samuel's noticed a new dimension in the emotional aspect of Buddhist monasticism.
The primary advantages of the autodriven photo elicitation method are clearly meaningful detailed accounts and longer more descriptive responses. Contributing to this, Samuel noted how when he conducted spoken interviews, he was able to keep the children's attention no longer than 45 minutes, however, when he used photos the interview lasted for more than 90 minutes (2007). The difference in timing of attention is due to the novices ability to provide elaboration on the topics in their photos. This enhanced descriptive ability which is credited to the visual stimulus sparking a memory that is isolated or even forgotten completely, is the magic of photo elicited interviews. Images can trigger people and conjure emotions, stories, and feelings not otherwise accessible. The monastic novice participants discussed using the research method with the researcher and agreed they felt more meaning attached to their own pictures because they had to be mindful in choosing what pictures to take. This method of data collection to me relieves the pressure of a structured interview by allowing a central focus, the image, to guide both participants the and the researcher. Children love receiving attention and when people listen to them like they are adults, however, they can be shy with new people. This research method seems to be perfect for young participants by giving them control and a distraction from the serious matter they are engaging in.
In a subsequent interview Samuels decided to ditch the script and have the novices take pictures of what attracted their heart/mind. Disappointed by the lack of meaning, this assignment produced Samuel's tried to understand where things went wrong. One child response about how the photos were something he wanted to send to his mom Help Samuel to realize that he failed in not giving the novices direction and by doing that they were taking pictures at random as kids away from home for the first time. When you compare the photos from the prompted assignment aligned with the Buddhist monastic topic, the inspiration was planted by asking them to think about and make their own decision about each photograph and consequently this created more meaning. Samuel's mentions the script free idea was inspiration he received from the Inner City Kids study Maribel Ibanez-Clark When she asked kids to take pictures of things they felt were important in their lives. The difference between these two studies is a lack of knowledge and Cultural gap relating to Buddhist monasticism on Samuel’s part. It is interesting to see what a difference one decision can have on your research and the data collected, like deciding to use a script or autodriven elicitation. I cannot think of how this method would provide concrete fact or enhance my interviews with participants. I am thinking of how prompts and the construction of research questions is such an important aspect of data collection and realize I need to really think critically about the relativity and formatting of my questions along with predetermined. Overall, this was helpful in considering the roadblocks that may potentially produce poor data when conducting interviews.
Gregory C. Stanczak (2007) Visual Research Methods: Image, Society, and Representation (VRMISR), Sage Publications
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