Understanding illness: using drawings as a research method

Visual methodologies are becoming more evident in social research. These methodologies encompass media such as film, video, still photography, electronic visual media, and material artifacts. In this article, the author examines the use of drawings as a research tool used as an adjunct to other social research methods. Using examples from two studies, she illustrates how drawings can be used to explore the ways in which people understand illness conditions. She argues that the act of drawing necessitates knowledge production, with a visual product as its outcome. Although the examples presented in this article are limited to illness conditions, she argues that drawings offer a rich and insightful research method to explore how people make sense of their world.