Drawing out emotions: the use of participant-produced drawings in qualitative inquiry

Abstract

In this article we outline the use of participant-produced drawings as part of a larger study that examined the emotional impact of change on individuals in an educational institution (Kearney, 2002; Kearney and Hyle, 2003). Both the participants’and the researchers’perspectives on the drawing methodology, as used in this study, provide the foundation for our findings that drawings: 1) create a path toward feelings and emotions, 2) lead to a more succinct presentation of participant experiences, 3) require additional verbal interpretation by the participant for accuracy, 4) are unpredictable as a tool for encouraging participation in the research, 5) combat researcher biases when left unstructured, 6) are affected by the amount of researcher-imposed structure in the scope of how they could be interpreted, and 7) help to create triangulation of study data.