Beyond Boundaries: Leveraging Visual Data for Advancements in Social Science Research

This thesis focuses on visual data collected in the frame of online surveys, examining the main challenges and implications of collecting and analyzing these new data types. Given the relatively unexplored implementation of visual data submission in the field of survey methodology, it was necessary to explore the overall process, from the design of surveys asking for visual data, to data collection and subsequent analysis. This thesis first presents the feasibility of collecting photos and videos from the respondents’ perspective, including their skills, availability of visual data, and willingness to share them through a survey. Second, the collection of visual data is presented from a researcher’s perspective, outlining the challenges and decisions necessary for successful data collection and analysis. Third, an experiment was conducted, asking respondents for information about the books in their homes through conventional questions and photos, which facilitated the assessment and comparison of participation. Finally, the experiment also enabled the evaluation of the quality of the information provided through photos versus conventional methods, allowing for a comparison between the two formats. Thus, this thesis is a novel and valuable contribution for survey methodology, and for researchers interested in collecting visual or other new types of data.