Stretching the envelope of qualitative research methods to include visual data

Visual research methods involve collecting data in the form of still and moving images, and is traditionally associated with social and anthropological studies. However, it also has a valuable role to play in business research, for example in being one of the techniques of data collection that could be deployed within an ethnographic or naturalistic research approach. This paper argues that the collection of visual images along with qualitative information can help provide richer insights into most phenomena, providing rich descriptions of both phenomenon and context. Visual data seems particularly relevant for the study of socio-economic patterns in emerging markets, where data available may be particularly sketchy, biased or inaccurate.