Doubt's Architecture: Reflections on a Research Project Using Photographic Juxtaposition

Abstract

In this article we present and discuss a novel approach to research using photographic juxtaposition. This method uses dual images of subjects (at work and at home), and subject involvement in the process of self-presentation, to create a 'doubting frame' for research. We discuss the issue of doubt in research and suggest researchers take doubt more seriously, and deliberately construct research to allow and encourage re-description by research's final arbiters - its readers and its subjects. We illustrate our argument with some photographic sets, and describe the project, which was a collaborative effort between management researchers and an artist. We show how the simple architecture (or research design) of this project was built from doubt and encourages doubt, and we discuss why this should be viewed as a positive rather than a negative feature of research.