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ABSTRACT
This article discusses photo-elicitation interviews (PEI), a qualitative methodology, by
addressing its fundamentals, providing examples of how to use it, and arguing its benefits
and potential challenges. PEI is when researchers introduce photographs into the
interview context. The photographs used in PEI can originate from the interviewee or the
researcher. Researchers can use photographs as a tool to expand on questions and,
simultaneously, subjects can use photographs to provide a unique way to communicate
dimensions of their lives. Featured, in detail, are studies of school ethnography and inner-
city childhood which utilized PEI.
BIOGRAPHY
Marisol Clark-Ibáñez, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. from University of California, Davis in
June 2003. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at
California State University San Marcos. Her primary research area is sociology of
education and inequality. Her most recent work is on social relationships, urban
schooling, classroom micro-interactions, urban childhoods, and qualitative methodology.