Critical essay task B

Comment on Validity and Reliability in visual methods and on the Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology.


Validity and reliability in visual methods can be a cause for concern as the possibility of manipulation exists. Manipulation can be seen in the choice of images gathered which may be deliberately selected in order to give a preconceived view of the subject matter. In addition, images can also be photographed deliberately in a way that puts the subject within the image in either a positive or negative light, depending on whether the photographer wishes to depict one aspect or the other. This would mean that both the validity of the images and the reliability of their authenticity would be brought into question. If the selection of images within a visually-based study were selected for their merit and context then this would, by default, bring into question the validity of the study because it would no longer be an accurate measure of the item it was initially intended to measure, which would also bring into question the reliability of the study as well because reliability concerns the extent to which any form of study is valid. By deliberately choosing to frame a chosen aspect, as in the example above, this excludes all other possibilities which may well exist within the subject matter being studied and does not therefore allow for an overall accurate reflection of the subject as depicted within the visual data gathered, which would make it both invalid and certainly unreliable. Validity of a visual image is also affected by the process of external validity whereby the viewer is able to interpret the image correctly and not via a preconceived view which then also allows for misinterpretation which will diminish the validity of the image. (Prosser 1998).

Journalistic images need to be seen in context by the viewer in order to be interpreted correctly. Very often the image that the journalist presents to the viewer is surrounded by text which gives some context to the image. Where the image stands alone and there is no text to allow for its correct interpretation, it then falls to the reader/viewer of the image to be able to place the image within its correct social context by means of the use of prior learned knowledge of the subject matter. An image can only be interpreted correctly if prior knowledge of the subject is already known to the viewer, and therefore that is the only way in which any image can function at the level of visual sociology; the reader has to posses a sociological understanding of all the elements which combine to make the image, in order that visual sociology can be considered accurate to any degree, without this sociological understanding the probability of incorrect interpretation of the sociological facts being presented within a journalistic image may well occur. Sociological analysis of the journalistic image comprises of their evidentiary value, and their sociological meaning; both of these elements are more likely to be understood immediately and within their proper context if the viewer’s background knowledge of the subject is both up-to-date and accurate, otherwise the image could be considered not to have accurate sociological value at all. The knowledge of the subject and the correct interpretation and therefore understanding of the journalistic image is what gives a journalistic image its validity in the field of visual sociology. (Becker 1998: 92-94).


List of References:

Becker, H. S. (1998) ‘Visual sociology, documentary photography, and photojournalism: it’s (almost) all a matter of context.’ In Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers. ed. by Prosser, J. London: Routledge: 84-96

Prosser, J. (ed.) (1998) Image-based research: a sourcebook for qualitative researchers. London: Routledge