In focus: Film,focus groups and working children in Bangladesh |
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| Authors: | Susan Bissell Lenore Manderson Pascale Allotey |
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| Institution: | 1. Ph.D. Candidate in the Key Centre for Women's Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences , University of Melbourne;2. Professor of Women's Health and the Director of the Key Centre for Women's Health and Society , University of Melbourne;3. Lecturer in International Programs, Key Center for Women's Health and Society , University of Melbourne |
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| Abstract: | The use of visuals in anthropological research is an established though much debated practice, both as a research tool and as a means of reporting. Pile sorts, mapping, thematic drawing, photographs, visual scales and pictorial triad testing are all visual methods that have been used in participatory and conventional ethnographic research to encourage discussion among study participants and to clarify detail. Our experience in the use of visual tools in a study conducted in 1997–98, among former child garment workers in Bangladesh, reinforces the value of the use of visuals in research. A documentary film was used in focus groups with children, most aged 10–13. The results suggest that film is a powerfully evocative tool and, combined with focus groups, is an excellent qualitative research technique. The research experience in Bangladesh also suggests that children are able to participate meaningfully in the research not in spite of but because of the use of documentary film. |
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