Photo by Eloise*
Part I: Introduction to Research Methods
College campuses are not experienced the same way by every student. Not every student feels welcomed and safe walking onto and learning on campus. A resounding cry from equity leaders is that “we can no longer do business as usual (T. Brown McNair, Professional Development Workshop, 2023). Higher education researchers have designed thousands of studies that demonstrate the equity gap in college success rates. Students of color, first generation students and Pell grant eligible students do not graduate, transfer, or complete their degrees at the same rate their white, continuing generation, economically stable peers do (Edenfield & McBrayer, 2021).
With the well-established connection between student wellbeing and sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2019), the purpose of this study is to understand how students use campus space and if there are spaces where they feel as though they belong and if there are spaces they avoid or do not want to spend time in. To understand this, the conceptual framework for my research design uses Strayhorn’s (2019) Sense of Belonging Framework and Samura’s (2016) spatial lens. The Sense of Belonging Framework emphasizes the importance of having a sense of belonging on campus for historically marginalized or under-represented students. In using a spatial lens, I examine the role campus space plays in students’ sense of belonging. An interpretivist/constructivist framework (Tracy, 2013) will be used to analyze the data. I will be using an arts-based visual methodology to accomplish this.
Arts-based educational research supports a “creative way of seeing and knowing” (Mulvihill, 2020, p.2). A core value of mine as a higher education educator is to help students understand and discover their own creativity and how to spark it and use it in their own lives. By using an arts-based educational research methodology, I am able to use a research design that aligns with my worldview and epistemology, allowing me to bring my whole self to the research process.
My hope for my research project is to understand how community college students engage with and use college spaces to boost their own wellbeing and sense of belonging. In this highly technological world, where students are able to choose their own educational paths and platforms, the way college students learn and interact with their college campus is shifting. In order to understand this from students’ own authentic perspectives, I will use a qualitative research design (Tracy, 2013). When gaining new understanding is a goal of research, using a qualitative design is ideal (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). To understand this changing educational landscape, “qualitative data can be systematically gathered, organized, interpreted, analyzed and communicated,” adding new knowledge to the field of educational research (Tracy, 2013, p.4).
Research Questions and Design
My study is guided by the following research question: How is a sense of belonging created in a community college in a Midwest (sub)urban setting? From this question, I ask two sub questions:
1a. How does the campus environment impact students' sense of belonging?
1b. In what ways do physical campus spaces impact student sense of belonging?
To answer these questions, I take a socially constructed and context-dependent approach (Tracy, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Within qualitative research, multiple data-gathering strategies are taken. Conducting interviews, analyzing documents, and doing field work are standard methods (Tracy, 2013). For my own qualitative research, my data will be collected through a visual methodology–the photo-elicitation process–which includes photography as well as semi-structured interviews.
In my research, I seek to understand how the use of physical spaces on community college campuses can boost student wellbeing and a sense of belonging. I am specifically interested in how welcoming or unwelcoming these college spaces feel to students who have not historically felt welcomed on college campuses: BIPOC students, first generation students, and students from economically challenged households. A qualitative research methodology well suited for equity focused research studies is photo-elicitation (Walls, 2019). Not a new methodology, it has gained recent popularity because of the prevalence of digital cameras and cell phone cameras. In contemporary uses of photo-elicitation, research participants are prompted by the researcher to take their own photographs and then, in conversation with the researcher, reflect on the meaning of their images (Walls, 2019). This “joint theorizing” helps to build trust and a rapport between the researcher and participant (Glaw, 2017, p.7).
The benefits of using this qualitative visual method are many fold. Photo-elicitation allows research participants to communicate concepts that go beyond verbal expression (Glaw, et al., 2017). In doing so, the hope is for the participants to share a deeper understanding of their intended meanings (Chodock, 2021). The process of using photo-elicitation also has a possibility of ensuring meaningful, authentic contributions by the participants (Chodock, 2021). Additionally, as Harper (2002) discovered, “When two or more people discuss the meaning of photographs they try to figure something out together. This is, I believe, an ideal model for research” (p.23). As I build my research design, I intend for participants’ experience of their community college space to be at the center of the image interpretations.
Part II: Data Collection Steps
Sampling and Recruitment
In order to understand how students use space on campus, the participants were students who came to the physical campus for a majority of their classes. Recruitment was accomplished in two ways: through a class assignment and through personal invitation. Students who were currently enrolled in my Photo 1 and Intro to Art courses were instructed to take photographs through an ungraded, class engagement activity. My prior experience with community college students informs me that they are very busy and have many responsibilities outside of the classroom. Transportation to campus can also be limited or challenging – many students take the bus or are dropped off and picked up. By embedding the photo project during class time there will be a greater chance of participant completion. Every student enrolled in the class will be able to complete the assignment, however only students 18 years or older will be included in the formal research project. Students received credit for the activity through participation - no letter grade will be given.
The second way students were recruited for the research study was through a purposive invitational sampling (Tracy, 2013). Students from my previous semester’s Intro to Art classes were invited to participate, in an attempt to achieve representative sampling of students who may be particularly at-risk for not feeling as though they are welcomed, fit in, or belong on campus. Upon invitation and show of interest, participants received a packet of information explaining the entire research process, as a way to be as transparent as possible (Herbert, et al., 2018).
Consent Process
The packet of information contained a welcome letter, a consent form, photo release forms and explanation, the photo elicitation prompts, and information explaining the interview process – the interview protocol and information about the future exhibition on campus of their photographs, discussed below (Herbert, et al., 2018). Assurances of participant anonymity, and the process of wiping metadata from participant photographs was communicated. Participants were informed that they have control over the images they make/take. This control included choosing which images to email to my graduate student email address and they were able to pull an image at any time throughout the research timeline (Mulvihill, 2020). Finally, I promised participants that they may bow out of the research project at any time, even up until the very end (Maxwell, 2013).
Data Collection Processes
Photo-elicitation has been a visual methodology used in qualitative studies since the 1950s. In its earliest decades, researchers selected the photographs themselves (Harper 2002; Walls & Holquist, 2019). As photography became more accessible – with the popularity of disposable cameras during the 1990’s and then the ease of digital cameras during the 2000’s, photo-elicitation became participant driven with the participants being prompted to make their own images (Walls & Holquist 2019). Today, with the prevalence of smartphones in the pockets, purses or backpacks of most college students, this participant-driven photo-elicitation research method pairs well with students’ lives, allowing them to share their own personal insights about their everyday lives at school (Cleland & MacLeod, 2021; Walls & Holquist 2019).
In participant-driven photo-elicitation, also called reflexive photo-elicitation (Walls & Holquist, 2019), participants respond to researcher-created prompts by taking photographs that respond to the prompts in whichever way they connect (Cleland & MacLeod, 2021). The photo prompts have been generated from the research questions and the literature review (Tracy, 2013). This participant-driven photo-elicitation method creates a “critically reflective space” (Cleland, & MacLeod, 2021, p.232) allowing participants a chance to discuss their own photographs, clarifying or reflecting on what they tried to capture in their images.
Once the photographs were e-mailed or texted to me, I scrubbed the images’ metadata and renamed them using the participant’s pseudonym. These images were placed in each participant’s folder and then were looked at and discussed with the participant in order to further understand the images during individual Zoom interviews. I desired to conduct Zoom interviews for multiple reasons: convenience, to focus specifically on each image through the program’s sharing capability and for its recording capability. Students would not be bound to the physical campus during the interview phase. During the individual interviews, the participant’s photographs would be used to “anchor” the interview conversation (Cleland, & MacLeod, 2021), generating the individual interview questions (Glaw, et al., 2017; Walls & Louis, 2023).
A challenge with using photography to communicate meaning is that photographs are inherently ambiguous and can have multiple meanings. Photographic meaning is subjective, context dependent and can be interpreted in multiple ways (Berger, 1972). However, within an interpretivist study, this only strengthens the use of photography (Cleland, 2020). Meaning is co-created between researcher and participant through further conversation (Walls & Holquist, 2019). The photographs will act as a catalyst for participant conversation, encouraging a comfortable way for students to talk about what is important to them and to discuss issues that cannot be photographed (Clark-Ibenez, 2004).
Following a narrative style, the interview questions were open-ended and semi-structured, giving participants freedom to tell their own stories (Tracy, 2013). In qualitative studies, interview questions are meant to both “strengthen and complicate” meaning (Tracy, 2013, p. 133). Interviews inspired by the prompted photographs gave student participants the opportunity to support, question, and deepen their responses, filling in the gaps of their photographs. Through this process, co-creation of meaning between myself and the participant was made. When the research focus is seeking to understand issues around equity and social justice, photo-elicitation is an effective process because of this partnership (Walls & Holquist, 2019).
Part III: Data Analysis Steps
Data Analysis Processes and Procedures
During the photo-elicitation process, data are collected through two means: participant created photographs and participant interviews. I then coded the data using a two step process where both photographs and words are analyzed and themed (Clark-Ibenez, 2004). Coding is a step along the way of meaning construction as is looking for emerging patterns. As data is analyzed, the first step is to look for emerging patterns (Saldaña, 2011). Data analysis is an ongoing, iterative process and can begin as soon as the data (photographs) are emailed. As data came in, I began to build themed categories. During the photo-elicitation process or the interviews, participants can name or title their photographs if they choose. Loose categories and themes can emerge from these titles, however, during participant interviews and member reflection, where participants have the opportunity to ask questions, critique the process, provide feedback and examine the findings (Tracy, 2013), new categories and themes can emerge.
Member Reflection
As an alternative to member checking, which is the process, through correspondence, of asking participants for comments and corrections after an interview has been analyzed (Tracy, 2013), I gave my participants the opportunity to engage in member reflections. Space was made for member reflections throughout the interview process. During this time, participants are able to ask questions, critique the process, provide feedback, examine the findings and “react, agree, or point out problems with the analysis” (Tracy, 2013, p. 238). This process allowed my participants to collaborate with me as we understood the data - their photographs and answers to the interview questions. Unlike member checking, participants are able to co-create during data gathering, rather than clearing up misunderstandings after the interview transcript has been created (Tracy, 2013). Member reflections pair well with the photo-elicitation interview process. The process itself already allows for collaboration between participants and researchers, promoting “joint theorizing” (Glaw, et al., 2017, p. 3). During joint theorizing, participants are also able to participate in the data analysis process. Member reflection and joint theorizing has the potential to deepen the conversation between myself and my student participants.
Quality Research Criteria
A goal of qualitative research is to bring awareness of a specific issue within a single context (Tracy, 2013). Interpretivist researchers do not believe a single truth can be told about an objective reality, but rather they seek to understand from multiple perspectives, including their own (Merriam, 2016). This is in contrast with research designs that have a positivist epistemology where an objective truth is sought (Merriam, 2016). Within positivist studies, the term validity is used when describing how accurate a research study is. A study that can be reproduced has internal validity and rigor (Maxwell, 2013). Interpretivist researchers are not looking for an objective or ultimate truth, yet they need a way to establish credibility (Maxwell, 2013). It is also not the intention of interpretivist researchers to reproduce their studies. They tend to try to capture knowledge that is “culturally situated” and is “ephemeral and always in transformation” and tends to be specific to a single context (Tracy, 2013, p. 229). Thus, the accuracy of the work of interpretivist researchers is often questioned (Merriam, 2016). Interpretivist researchers need strategies to build trust (Creswell & Poth, 2018). In the end, their results must “make sense” to their readers (Merriam, 2016, p. 251).
Evaluative Criteria
Embedded within the purpose of my research study is the intention to understand how students use the physical spaces on campus to boost their own wellbeing and sense of belonging, from their own perspective. As I designed my research project, I needed to make sure that what I mean to measure, will actually be measured (Wolcott, 1990). Additionally, the data that is gathered must be relevant to the research project (Mason, 2004). Care must be taken to align the research question and literature review with the photo prompts and interview questions. The interview questions, while pre-determined, were open-ended, allowing engagement with the photograph itself to prompt the conversation (Walls & Louis, 2023). Using a semi-structured interview process, the interview questions were inspired by the participant's prompted photographs, and the participants were free to tell their own stories, in their own words, from their own perspectives, allowing for an “organic” and “adaptive” path (Tracy, 2013, p. 132).
Limitations
The study participants were all students enrolled at Midwestern Community College during the 2022-2023 academic year, enrolled in my Intro to Art classes. This course is part of the general education curriculum, capturing a wide variety of students. Commonly enrolled in by PSEO (Post Secondary Educational Opportunity) high school students, no student under 18 years old was included in the study. Focusing on campus space, no fully online students were included in the study.
Even though I teach my classes in a face-to-face setting, my classes are still hybrid, meaning students are in the classroom only one day a week. My courses scheduled for next fall are still hybrid - we may be living into the educational future Marcus (2022) predicts, where a hybrid college education becomes the norm. This means that students' own experience of the physical campus may be limited, due to the limited time they have actually spent on campus.
The photographs in the study were taken specifically for the study, and taken in response to the prompts. Students were given the photo prompts but were allowed to take as many photographs as they needed to. No limitations were put on how many they could e-mail or text me.
Conclusion
Twice as many course offerings at Midwestern Community College are currently offered online. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one third of the courses were taught online at Midwestern. Students are not fully back on campus, many faculty teach remotely and office staff still work from home a couple days a week. Dining services have not returned and there is only one coffee shop on campus. The way campus space is being used is shifting.
Demonstrated in the autoethnographic literature review, for me, campus and college space has formed much of my identity. Sharing space with others has boosted my wellbeing and has helped me to develop a sense of belonging when I need it for my own emotional and academic health. There is a strong correlation between student wellbeing, sense of belonging and student learning. We are poised on the edge of the three year pivot, caused by the pandemic. It altered how we experience being in community with each other. Looking forward to working with my student participants, discovering from their own photographs and their own words how and where they spend their time on campus, I wondered where they find their sense of belonging. Finding meaning in their photographs and in their words is the work of the next chapter.
*Eloise is a pseudonym for a student who took photos but did not participate in the interview process.