Picture this: Researching child workers

Visual methods such as photography are under-used in the active process of sociological research. As rare as;visual methods are, it is even rarer for the resultant images to be made by rather than of research participants. Pr imarily, the paper explores the challenges and contradictions of using phot ography within a multi-method approach. We consider processes for analysing visual data, different ways of utilising visual methods in sociological re search, and the use of primary and secondary data, or, simple illustration versus active visual exploration of the social. The question of triangulati on of visual data against text and testimony versus a stand-alone approach is; explored in depth.