Using pictures to analyse and construct knowledge

Visual research in education poses significant questions about what it means to 'analyse'. When and where should analysis be embedded or in replaced by holistic methods of construction? The underlying premise of this chapter is that there are different forms of knowledge, not all of which are reducible to linear written texts in any economical way. The ubiquity of visual communication in online social networking has challenged education and research institutions, and the acceptance of verbal reasoning as the prime form of academic communication (Krier and Woodman, 2008). Not all cultures know and understand life in so verbal a way as in the academic culture of the last few hundred years, so it is timely to begin a closer look at how pictures can be better used in educational research.