Using Instagram images in research

Although social media data can form the sole data source for many projects, they may also be used in conjunction with other data sources. For example, in Chapter 5 in the book, Andrew McNeill and Shani Burke cite the work of Yi-Frazier et al. (2015) where adolescents with diabetes shared photos on Instagram to document aspects of living with diabetes. Participants were then interviewed individually about the content of their photos and a follow-up focus group interview was conducted, centred around a discussion of the images.

In the video below, Danielle Paddock reflects on her PhD research where she has used images from Instagram in conjunction with individual interviews. Her reflections are also relevant to Chapter 6 in the book which deals with visual data and Chapter 3 which addresses ethical considerations in qualitative research. For other examples of visual data being used alongside verbal data, see the video interviews with Agata Wezyk in Chapter 6 and Laura Moreno-Galindo in Chapters 9 and 10.

Danielle Paddock is a postgraduate researcher and graduate teaching assistant in Psychology at York St John University in the UK. Before this, she completed her MSc in the Psychology of Child and Adolescent Development and her BSc in Psychology, both at York St John University. Her main research interests are in developmental, social and cyberpsychology.