A picture may be worth a thousand words — and for immigrants navigating life in a new country, it can reveal what words alone cannot.

With financial support from the UConn Office of Global Affairs, UConn School of Social Work Professor Rebecca Thomas is leading an international research project that uses photography to explore the lived experiences of recent Russian and Indian immigrants in Armenia.

By using Photo Elicitation Interviewing (PEI), a qualitative research method, Thomas invites participants to document aspects of their lives through photographs and then reflect on those images in interviews. Unlike traditional interviews that rely solely on verbal responses, PEI allows participants to communicate visually, often revealing emotional depth and everyday realities that may be difficult to articulate in words.

“What makes PEI so powerful is that it gives participants another language,” says Jennifer Manuel, professor and associate dean for research at the UConn School of Social Work. “Images can capture emotion, identity, and lived experience in ways that are difficult to express verbally.”

Read the full article from theUConn Today

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