Participant-produced photography

Participant-produced photography, where participants are asked to take photographs of particular objects or experiences, has become an increasingly popular method in marketing and consumer research (Belk, 2013; Brace-Govan, 2007; Tian & Belk, 2005). Having participants take the photographs enables participants’ to become involved in the

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generation of research data (Belk, 2013; Brace-Govan, 2007; Pink, 2007), which empowers the participant and leads to rich sources of information (Rose, 2012). Brace- Govan (2007) argues that not only can participant produced photos offer a greater level of

depth during interviews, but they can also provide a check on the researcher’s findings and “act as a simple and efficient memory-prompting device” (p. 738) for the participants. Zaltman and Coulter (1995) understood the power of photo-elicitation and participant- produced photography in their research on metaphor-based brand and advertising research, arguing that these techniques help uncover important stories that are often latent or hidden. Coulter and Zaltman (1994) argue that one of the core benefits of participant-produced photos is control:

Customer control has a number of benefits. First, customer-generated pictures are especially meaningful because what the eye perceives when it is encoding a sequence of information over time, including the viewing of a static image such as a magazine ad or a point-of-purchase promotion, is guided by existing customer knowledge, beliefs, or expectations. Second, requiring customers to collect the stimuli increases the likelihood of uncovering important, but previously unconsidered customer issues (Coulter and Zaltman, 1994, p. 503).

Since Zaltman and Coulter (1995) introduced the ZMET method, a number of consumer researchers have used the entire ZMET method or parts thereof, specifically participant-

produced photography and depth interviews as their key method to gather data. Zaltman’s

(1997) article ‘Rethinking market research: putting people back in’, which advocates the use of participant-produced photos, has alone been cited in over 450 articles. The original ZMET method includes the following ten steps 1) Storytelling 2) Missed Issues and Images 3) Sorting task 4) Construct Elicitation 5) Most Representative Image 6) Opposite Image, 7) Sensory Image 8) The Mental Map, 9) The Summary Image and 10) The Vignette (see Zaltman and Coulter, 1995). Many of the studies using the ZMET technique specifically and other visual methods have focused primarily on consumers’ perceptions and the meanings they attach to products and brands.

A number of studies have used participant-produced photography to explore consumer experiences. In an earlier study Holbrook and Kuwahara (1998) used photography, the photo essay and sterography as a collective approach to understanding consumption

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experiences of the topic “What New York Means to Me”. Advocates of participant-

produced photography, Holbrook and Kuwahara argue that photos taken by the participants (as opposed to the researcher) are more powerful in terms of uncovering thoughts, feelings and meanings of consumption experiences. More recently, Cheetham and McEachern (2013) used photo-elicitation, participant-produced photography and autodriving interviews to study consumption experiences and consumption practices among fifteen pet owners. Participants were asked to take photos of their pets in whatever way they wished. The photos were then used in a phenomenological interview to enable the participants to tell stories about themselves, their families and their pets. Cheetham and McEachern found the photo-elicitation technique played a key role in stimulating participants to tell their stories. Johnstone and Todd (2012) studied mothers’ experiences of the retail environment using participant-produced photography and photo-elicitation interview techniques. Five stay-at-home mothers with young children were asked to photograph servicescapes they visited frequently. Use of photos was found to be invaluable because it encouraged participants to think about the places before the interview and were used as a memory tool. Tian and Belk (2005) used participant-produced photo elicitation to study the meanings of

possessions displayed in people’s offices. They asked 20 participants to think about the

personal objects or material goods they have in the workplace and to take photographs of 12 objects or possessions that are important to them or that they value. These photos were

then used in ‘photo-elicited interviews’ where the participants were asked to talk about the photos. Brace-Govan (2007) asked 10 household shoppers to take photos of anything interesting connected to their shopping and were subsequently interviewed about the photos. Kent and Kirby (2009) used photo-elicitation and an adaption of ZMET to explore store design and retail image.

Very few studies have used visual techniques such as ZMET to study services and service experiences. Lee, McGoldrick, Keeling and Doherty (2003) used a shortened version of the

ZMET procedure to understand customers’ behaviour and motivation towards 3G mobile

technology in the mobile banking service. Eight participants were recruited, provided information on the 3G mobile phone service and asked to collect at least ten images that indicated what the topic meant to them. Depth interviews were conducted using ZMET procedures including story-telling, missed images, sorting task, construct elicitation, most

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representative image, opposite image, sensory images, and summary image. Chen (2008)

adopted ZMET to study consumers’ family vacation experiences. Twenty participants who

had been on a family vacation in the past 12 months were recruited and asked to bring in photos or images that depicted their thoughts and feeling about family vacations. To this authors knowledge no research could be found that used visual techniques to study

consumers’ experiences of health services.