Date/Time
Date(s) - 19/11/2026 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Location
Sheffield Hallam University
Audience:
NARTI Training & Development
Exploring Visual Methods in Business Research: A One‑Day Multi‑Method Workshop
Sheffield Hallam Business School
Strines Building (Room 37.00.01)
Thursday 19h November 2026 (10.00-15.30 UK time)
https://www.shu.ac.uk/visit-us/how-to-find-us/city-campus-map
Summary:
The aim of the workshop is to build research capacity among postgraduate researchers and early‑career researchers in business and management by introducing them to a range of visual and visually mediated research methods. The workshop day is designed for those who are new to visual methods and those with a developing interest in exploring how visual approaches might be incorporated into their own research practice.
Through a series of in‑person, hands‑on workshops, participants will be introduced to multiple visual methods currently used across business and management research. The sessions will provide practical exposure to a range of approaches, including digital and screen‑based methods, metaphor‑elicitation approaches (ZMET) and explore how creative methods such as drawing, collage and photo elicitation can be used as a research method. The workshops will focus on how these methods work in practice, considering research design, data generation and analysis.
Bringing together multiple methods within a single programme, the day encourages methodological curiosity and critical reflection on the strengths, limitations and appropriate application of different visual approaches within business and management research. The event will demystify visual methods, positioning them as rigorous, theoretically informed approaches that are capable of accessing lived experience, meaning‑making, and complex organisational and consumer phenomena.
The workshop will support PGRs and ECRs to develop confidence, skills and methodological awareness, enabling them to make informed decisions about whether and how visual methods might be used in their own projects. The emphasis on practical, transferable learning outcomes will also ensure participants are well equipped to apply these approaches in future empirical research, doctoral studies, teaching activities and/or knowledge‑exchange contexts. Drawing on the expertise of the Academy of Marketing’s Visual Methods Special Interest Group’s leadership team, the workshop will provide participants with practical training in a range of visual approaches.
Schedule:
10.00 – 10.15 Welcome and introductions
10.15 – 11:30 Workshop 1: Practical workshop on the use of drawing, collage and photo elicitation as research methods in business and management research
11.30 – 11.45 Break
11.45 – 13.00 Workshop 2: Introduction to screencast videography and video analysis
13.00 – 13.45 Lunch (informal discussions and networking)
13.45 – 15:00 Workshop 3: Using Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) in business and management research
15.00 – 15.30 Panel discussion and close
Speakers:
Fatema Kawaf (Nottingham Trent University) is a Professor of Digital Marketing and consumer researcher and Director of the Marketing and Consumer Studies Research Centre. Her research focuses on digital experiences, consumer behaviour and visual research methods. She is the founder of Screencast Videography, an innovative visual methodology for studying digital and online experiences, and specialises in qualitative visual approaches to digital marketing, social media and human-computer interaction.
Dr Ashleigh Logan-McFarlane (Edinburgh Napier University) is an experienced qualitative consumer researcher specialising in digital and visual methodologies. Ashleigh works extensively with visual methods and netnography, drawing on approaches such as visual diaries, stagecraft, content analysis, researcher diaries, and the analysis of images, memes, and videos to examine digital cultures and marketplace dynamics.
Dr Charles Hancock (University of Derby) – Charles has extensive industry experience and an award‑winning teaching profile. His research focuses on understanding deep customer value using the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), an innovative visual research methodology. His interests include retail and service experience, the integration of digital and physical retail and marketing strategy, with a particular focus on branding and higher education contexts.
Dr Ellen Bennett (Sheffield Hallam University) – Ellen’s work focuses on voluntary, SME and public service organisations. Her research draws on a wide range of qualitative, participatory and inclusive research approaches, with Ellen having extensive experience using creative methods such as drawing and photo voice to support co‑production and inclusive research practice.
Dr Emily Moorlock (Sheffield Hallam University) – Emily is a qualitative consumer researcher with her research exploring the socio‑cultural dimensions of consumption. She specialises in qualitative, participatory and visually mediated methods, such as collage and storytelling. Emily has a strong interest in reflexivity, researcher positionality and voice, using creative approaches such as collage, drawing, photo elicitation and participant diaries within her research.
If you are able to commit to participating fully in the workshop and would like to register your interest, please do so using the link at the top of this page. Please note, there are limited places available on this workshop so please consider this carefully before registering.