The area of study is the notion of validity in image-based research, i.e. research approaches where visual images such as photographs or video recordings form an integral part of one or more of the methods used. In the literature investigation chapters of the study, (1) the notion of validity is reviewed with special reference to contributions by Cook and Campbell, Guba and Lincoln, Kvale, Lather and Morse; (2) the inherent properties of visual images are discussed from a semiotic perspective, and (3) following a discussion of reflexivity in image-based research, the various domains of image-based research practice are demarcated according to the unit of analysis, the data format, the researcher role (outsider, insider, participant) and the production of the visual material (ex ante or ex post with weak or strong researcher control). The literature investigation chapters were taken as the point of departure for the development of a conceptual framework for assessing validity in image-based research, the mechanics of which are illustrated with reference to selected aspects of image-based research projects by Lomax and Casey, Clark and Zimmer, Rich and Chalfen, DuFon and Chaplin. The conceptual framework was refined on the strength of a Delphi study. The Delphi procedure involved canvassing and pooling the opinions of experts in the field of image-based research about issues of validity with a view to ensure that the assumptions made during the development of the conceptual framework fit sufficiently with image-based research practice. Flowing from the literature investigation chapters as well as the Delphi procedure, the central thesis of the study is that the notion of validity is in the first instance context-dependent and that this is compounded in the case of image-based research by the relative instability of iconic codes and the strong drift towards 'unlimited' semiosis inherent in the visual communication process.

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