Abstract:

In social sciences, image-based research (image-based research) is the research in which visual materials such as photography, film, video are considered and studied as the main sources. Visual studies (visual studies) under the general title, research formed by macro concepts such as society, culture, social relationships, is fed from the interdisciplinary environment. Anthropology, sociology, media and communication studies benefit from the conceptual framework of disciplines such as cultural studies. The visual sociology research focuses on the visual dimensions of social life. Sociology builds the ground with the theoretical and methodological approaches of the discipline and opens to discuss the question of how societies will be understood by their visual dimensions. In this text, the general structure of field research conducted by visual sociological approaches will be assessed. The methodological discussions on the use of visual materials in field research will be emphasized. The photographic research methods that are frequently applied to investigate a particular social area will then be examined through the selected samples. In visual studies, photography is, on the one hand, the means of observing the transformations of modern societies, the process of formation of popular culture. On the one hand, sociological field research has its originalities in the assessment of the details of the subjects that are subject to research on their daily lives.

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