SESSION: Using Visual Methods in Unstructured Data Collection for Hard to Study Populations

This session focusses on research that explores, develops or tests visual methods applied in unstructured data collection efforts for hard to study populations. These are populations like low literate people, people with cognitive limitations, (mental) health challenges, or subgroups with physical restraints like in hearing or speaking, whose voices may be under- or misrepresented in research. They all have in common to be at greater risk of communicative, cognitive and/or motivational restraints. As a result, these limitations may pose a threat to data quality and research findings may be hampered. In this session, we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that address the use of visual methods in unstructured data collection for hard to study populations. The visual methods may be applied to address: cognitive and communicative processes; verbal and non-verbal behavior; power differences in research; sensitive topics and emotional burden; or other interactive aspects of data collection. They may also be applied in the development of tools and instruments, as aided recall tool, or to map data visually. While the use of visual methods for unstructured qualitative data collection should be in the center of the focus, the aim of the research may be directed towards theoretical, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research. Hence, this session invites papers dealing with innovative visual approaches to collect unstructured data from special populations. Keywords: unstructured data; visual methods; data collection