Visual Research Methods in Arts Administration

This book explores the benefits of incorporating the photo-elicitation method into interviews within arts and cultural administration, leadership, and management research.

For the qualitative researcher, photographs open pathways to richer understandings of experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions of study participants. This book explored the benefits of incorporating the photo-elicitation method into interviews within arts and cultural administration, leadership, and management research. Within the arts and culture, researchers often use terminology that doesn’t resonate with arts and creative practitioners. It shows how photo-elicitation serves to bridge these gaps, opening research participants up to opportunities for deeper reflection. Providing in-depth, multidisciplinary guidance on photo elicitation as a significant visual research method is valuable reading for arts administration researchers to create inclusive and collaborative research environments with research participants.

Visual Research Methods in Arts Administration will be a useful guide for scholars interested in incorporating photo elicitation into their social science research. It is also valuable for educators and students within the qualitative research space.

Elise Lael Kieffer, PhD, currently serves as Program Director and Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership Studies at Murray State University. She also serves as Executive Director of the Nonprofit Resource Center, providing technical support and professional development for nonprofit organizations across West Kentucky. She is Vice President of Conferences for Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts. She serves on the strategic planning committee for NACC (Nonprofit Academic Centers Council) and on the editorial boards of JNEL (Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership), International Journal of Regional Issues in the Arts (IJRIA), and OIKOS-Cuadernos de Economía de la Cultura. She holds a PhD in arts administration from Florida State University, an MPA from Tennessee State University and a BFA from Jacksonville University (FL). Her research focuses include developing capacity at nonprofit arts organizations serving rural communities and improving communication between rural arts organizations and public funding agencies. Recently released, Rural Arts Management (Routledge, 2024, co-authored with Dr. Jerome Socolof). She is published in Business Issues in the Arts, Local Government in Small-town America, Journal of Nonprofit Innovation, American Journal of Arts Management, International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education, and the International Journal of Social, Political, and Community Agendas in the Arts. She currently lives with her family in Murray, Kentucky.