Abstract

Despite growing interest in the use of visual methods as a way to engage with issues of representation, meaning, and power relations in qualitative research, only limited literature is available on the use of participant-generated imagery in guiding or supplementing semi-structured or open-ended interviewing methods in the health and social science disciplines, or in navigating issues of interviewing vulnerable persons who have experienced trauma. We draw from a study exploring resilience among street-involved youth to investigate how participant-created visual timelines inform verbal semi-structured interviewing with persons who have experienced personal victimization in the form of violence, as well as structural marginalization. To guide future research efforts, the process of timeline implementation is discussed in depth. Analysis of timelines was conducted through a critical emancipatory research lens. Three overarching themes developed through analysis of timelines are explored here: rapport building, participants as navigators, and therapeutic moments and positive closure. In the discussion, we engage with the potential of visual timelines to supplement and situate semi-structured interviewing and illustrate how the framing of research is central to whether that research facilitates increased participant authority in the research process, enhances trust, and ensures meaningful, accountable engagement.