Engaging with marginalized research methods

Ernesto Noronha, Premilla D’Cruz and Deepak George Jacob

Chapter 25 in Handbook of Critical Work and Organizational Psychology, 2026, pp 443-461 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Throughout the twentieth century, psychologists adopted quantitative research models, which focused on experimentation, measurement, and reductionist thinking. Positivist views, which are driven by quantitative methods, systematically gained dominance while pushing other methods into the realm of the unscientific. This was facilitated by the demand for psychology to become more utilitarian, the idea of a single ‘philosophy of science’, the desire to be regarded as a ‘hard’ science and the globalization of western psychological assumptions as human universals. However, even though qualitative methods were marginalized and obscured, they never completely disappeared. The ‘discursive turn’ allowed qualitative research in psychology to flourish but neglected the visual. In this chapter, we discuss non-mechanical mediated methods like drawing and photo elicitation and mechanical approaches such as photovoice and digital storytelling. These methods not only help to address the logocentric tendencies found in discursive research approaches but also enhance our psychological understanding of everyday work life. However, we need to guard against ‘visual positivism’.

Keywords: Visual Methods; Drawings; Photo Elicitation; Photovoice; Participatory Video; Digital Storytelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035331055
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