Photoprojection method as a way to study social perceptions about the safety of the educational environment using visual storytelling

The work is aimed at presenting the author’s method of photo projection, which makes it possible to study the social representations of respondents based on the analysis of the corresponding visual narrative. The conceptual basis of the study was the theory of the core and periphery of J.-C. Abric. Based on a comparison of the verbal (core, space of semiotic norms) and non-verbal (periphery, space of semiotic practices) focuses of attention of respondents and the identification of the degree of conflict-consistency of the representations that form them, 3 types of interaction of nuclear and peripheral representations of the semiotic code were identified at the theoretical level: coordination, conjugation, conflict. An empirical justification was built by correlating the data obtained using the photoprojection method, the data of the associative experiment, and data on the strength and specificity of the respondent’s defense mechanisms on the basis of a study on the topic “safety of the educational environment”. The hypothesis was the idea that the conflict type of interaction of verbal and non-verbal representations among respondents should be accompanied by the severity (redundancy) of defense mechanisms. The sample for a qualitative study consisted of 20 students aged 19–23 years (M = 20.7; SD = 1.24). The results of the study demonstrate that researchers can use the method of photoprojection and its theoretical construction, associated with the identification of types of interaction between core and peripheral representations, for the empirical study of social representations.

photoprojection method, visual narrative, semantic code, nuclear representation, peripheral representation, educational environment safety