The puzzle of metaphor and voice in arts‐based social research

Abstract

This paper provides a discussion on the utilisation of metaphor and dialogics as conceptual frameworks which can be applied to visual and literary forms of data as analytical tools and as an approach to reflection on professional practice. Drawing upon the work of writers such as Max Black, Charles Forceville, Paul Ricouer and Mikhail Bakhtin to construct an approach to this process, an example of visual and literary data is used to explore how these ideas can be illustrated in their use. The author argues that whilst metaphor and dialogics are essentially opposed conceptually, they can be used separately, alongside one another, or synthesised as a method for deepening and multiplying the possibilities for knowledge and understanding within visual and literary forms of data.