Eye opener: exploring complexity using rich pictures

Historically, approaches to exploring complexity have mainly focused on the notion that complex problems must be deconstructed into simpler parts if we are to make sense of them; this is the so-called reductionist approach. When dealing with the complexity of human experience, however, deconstructing the experience without diminishing it is a daunting, perhaps impossible task. Researchers wishing to make sense of complex experiences often begin by interviewing the individuals at the centre of those experiences. But interviews can be frustratingly limited. Visual methods, such as drawings, are beginning to show promise for designing research that taps into the complexity of professional practice. The promise of visual methods may relate to a key notion in complexity research: 'disruptions'. In this paper I introduce the notion of 'disruptions' as articulated by complexity approaches from 'systems engineering' and suggest 'rich pictures' as an effective visual method to describe and understand complex problems in medical education research.