Using Photographs to Strengthen Family Planning Research

The long tradition of using photographs in population research appears to be almost completely lost. Widely used in the early decades of the last century population specialists have avoided photographs to appear more scientific. However examining the work of social scientists who used photography to study population-related issues in the 1930s gives a sense of what has been lost as well as what can be gained from greater use of photographs as research tools. It is noted that photographs should be used as data in family planning (FP) and reproductive health research and as illustrations in publications and on Web sites. Reviving the use of photographs would help researchers better understand and more easily explain numerous aspects of health and FP services. Given the availability of a range of modern technologies researchers should begin collecting photographic evidence and journals such as Family Planning Perspectives should publish their findings.