Impact Potential
Recognising the potential impacts of Photovoice can help researchers anticipate how the method contributes to knowledge generation, community engagement, and wider governance debates. Impacts can occur at multiple levels, from shifts in individual awareness to transformations in collective practice or institutional response.
Intrapersonal change takes place within an individual, shaping knowledge, confidence, or values.
- Self-reflection and awareness: Taking and interpreting photographs encourages participants to reconsider how they perceive their environment, what species or places matter to them, and how biodiversity connects to everyday practices.
- Confidence and motivation: The process can increase participants’ sense of voice and agency, prompting more open contributions in research settings and fostering willingness to experiment with new ecological practices.
In this video Geraldine Brown reflects on how the visual nature of Photovoice provides participants with a lasting, tangible outcome from their engagement:
Interpersonal change occurs between people, as they exchange experiences and insights.
- Collaboration and shared purpose: Collective discussion of photographs can build trust, strengthen group cohesion, and encourage participants to see themselves as part of a shared inquiry.
- Exchange of perspectives: Photovoice enables participants to learn from one another’s experiences and framings, generating diverse insights into biodiversity and sustainability that enrich research analysis.
Community-level change involves shifts in the practices, norms, or structures of a group, organisation, or place-based network.
- Strengthening networks and identity: Exhibitions or research workshops can reinforce a sense of shared values and priorities, helping communities articulate their role in biodiversity governance.
- Catalysing action: Discussions and relationships built through Photovoice may stimulate further initiatives, such as collaborative projects, environmental campaigns, or educational events that researchers can document as part of impact evaluation.
Wider societal and policy change happens when Photovoice outputs extend beyond the immediate research group.
- Raising visibility and challenging narratives: Public exhibitions, reports, or digital outputs can insert community perspectives into wider debates, challenging dominant framings of biodiversity and sustainability.
- Informing decision-making: Photovoice findings, when shared with policymakers, NGOs, or advocacy groups, can draw attention to overlooked concerns and contribute to planning, policy, or advocacy strategies.
- Building lasting connections: Photovoice can establish ongoing relationships between participants, researchers, and external stakeholders, sustaining dialogue and collaboration beyond the project timeline.
Measuring Impact:
For more detailed guidance on measuring change, see the Impact Module. Three useful techniques include:
- Participant reflection tools – Encourage participants to keep process journals, video diaries, or sketchbooks while taking photos to track shifts in confidence, awareness, or advocacy skills.
- Post-project co-reflection workshops – Facilitate group sessions where participants review their collective photo stories, discuss changes in relationships, and identify any shared actions or initiatives sparked by the project.
- Audience feedback – Use comment walls, digital surveys, or quick interviews at exhibitions or community forums to capture how viewers respond to the photo stories and whether the images influence their attitudes or intentions.
In this video Geraldine Brown explains how Photovoice creates space for reflection and greater understanding of people’s lives and perspectives:
Adaptions
Photovoice can been adapted in many ways to suit different research aims, group dynamics, and thematic contexts. These adaptations extend the core method while retaining its emphasis on participation, reflection, and visual expression. Possible adaptions to the method include:
1. Photo-dialogue
Participants take photographs individually, then come together in small groups to discuss common themes or tensions emerging across their images. The emphasis is placed on collective interpretation and conversation, rather than individual storytelling.
2. Participatory photo-elicitation
Instead of participants generating new images, they select existing photographs (from personal collections, or from a publicly available archive) that resonate with the project themes. These images then become prompts for storytelling, reflection, or discussion.
3. Storyboard Photovoice
Participants create series or sequences of images that tell a story, encouraging photographers to think about narrative arcs, cause and effect, and a potential action.
4. Collaborative Photovoice
Rather than working individually, participants work in small teams to plan, take, and select photographs together.
5. Environmental or place-based Photovoice
Focus specifically on documenting landscapes, ecosystems, or changes in the local environment, rather than personal experiences. This variation fits well with biodiversity, climate, and land justice projects.
6. Multimodal Photovoice
Combine photographs with other media such as audio recordings, mapping exercises, or video clips.
