There are many highs created by participating in something you are passionate about. Especially when you share that passion with those around you. In this case, it is in dance, learning, and exploration.
I have just completed the second of my field research interviews. Narrative Inquiry in all its splendour. As I attempt to remain an observer and listen as the interview participants tell the stories of their lived experiences, it is clear we have shared passions and it has brought up many feelings within myself as well as in those participating. I am grateful for the requirement to triangulate the data as I reflect on the interviewee's experiences and my own. Witnessing connections, the interpretative phenomenological analysis pieces are unveiling themselves already.
I am reflecting further on the ways in which I want to analyze my gathered qualitative data.
I see how much our non-verbal and subtle/extravagant forms of expressions are part of the data gathering in this case. Although I was originally wanting to explore the data in an ethnomethodological framework, I also want to add the exploration of semiotic analysis. Conversations do include how the skills in dance have moved into the interviewee's life outside of dance and informed the lens by which they view and interact in their own cultures, and within society - expressing ethnomethodological content. Yet within these conversations, the tone, body language, and expression by which the words are delivered are just as important.
Shared passion is a beautiful thing. The data itself is exciting. However, the meaning behind it, the broader context, and the common themes emerging are inspiring action beyond my time in my MA. I see more evidence of my firmly rooted belief that we never stop learning, 'lighting my fire' to continue exploring beyond the walls of the dance studio or classroom. As Albert Einstein said, "wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it".
Happy researching and growing my MA cohort. I look forward to hearing about your discoveries.
Hey Sheahna, super lovely to hear how your are progression along the MA journey, you seem really energised by the field research you are collecting. I wasnt able to join the last couple of seminars due to work. But I stumbled upon this and thought it mihgt be of interest to you. Sending loev and hope to catch you next time
ReplyDeleteNasheeda, A., Abdullah, H. B., Krauss, S. E., & Ahmed, N. B. (2019). Transforming Transcripts Into Stories: A Multimethod Approach to Narrative Analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919856797
The Abstract. Stories are essential realities from our past and present. As the primary sources of data in narrative research, interview transcripts play an essential role in giving meaning to the personal stories of research participants. The pragmatic narratives found in transcripts represent human experience as it unfolds. Analyzing the narratives found in interview transcripts thus moves beyond providing descriptions and thematic developments as found in most qualitative studies. Crafting stories from interview transcripts involves a complex set of analytic processes. Building on the first author's personal experience in working on a doctoral thesis employing narrative inquiry, this article presents a multimethod restorying framework to narrative analysis. A step-by-step progression within the framework includes choosing interview participants, transcribing interviews, familiarizing oneself with the transcripts (elements of holistic-content reading), chronologically plotting (elements of the story), use of follow-up interviews as a way to collaborate (an important procedure in narrative inquiry), and developing the story through structural analysis. It is hoped that this article will encourage other researchers embarking on narrative analysis to become creative in presenting participants’ lived experiences through meaningful, collaborative strategies. This article demonstrates the fluidity of narrative analysis and emphasizes that there is no single procedure to be followed in attempting to create stories from interview transcripts.
Thank you Imogen! After completing my interviews and getting some choreography underway, doing some packing for moving in 3 weeks (eek!), I am just getting around to responding. This journal article is fantastic. I have skimmed it using Peter's technique :) and it appears very valuable in helping me weave what I witnessed in the interviews into the analysis and triangulations. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteHi Sheahan, I've just caught up on the last zoom recording and I wanted to reach out as I believe I had watched the same livestream with Braun and Clarke on Thematic Analysis. I found it super interesting. I must say one of the tips they had which I have found has really helped me in terms of finding topic summaries has been reading the data in the two ways they suggested. Once, per participant, so I could get a real feel for their narrative and then ,per question, with every answer, it's allowed me to do see the data clearer I believe.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlotte, How lovely to chat with you again :) Thank you for the reminder. I am currently doing my first pass of the data from the interviews and will definitely go back for a second one.
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