Participatory action research with ex-prisoners: Using Photovoice and one woman’s story told through poetry

Abstract

This paper provides an unexpected and extraordinary example of research data from a Photovoice project conducted with ex-prisoners in South Australia. It focusses on the contribution made by one of the participants who chose the pseudonym ‘Deer’. Deer joins me as a co-author, her voice shines in this paper, albeit through a pseudonym she chose for the project. Photovoice, a qualitative research method, uses a feminist framework and typically produces rich thick accounts of lives and experiences that cannot be adequately captured by quantitative research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of research data collection each have merits, but qualitative approaches tend to engage the researcher, participant and later the reader on a more personal level. Moreover, unexpected findings are more likely to arise when researchers ask participants to express what they believe is important to their experience. This paper provides such an example, where the unexpected gift of poetry adds a deeper dimension to research findings.