Voicing Concerns: (Re)Considering Modes of Presentation

Abstract

How do we use empirical data? How do we present it? And, what work does data do? These questions are particularly pertinent for researchers that use voices from participants, such as interview or focus group data. For scholars who explore the spatialities of the social world, we must ask, how can we make such data 'speak' for and about such complexities? The problem of data presentation persists --particularly because the conventional outputs of choice such as the conference paper or the traditional academic journal article still restrict what can be achieved in allowing participant voices to be heard. This paper explores how scholars might use data in more experimental and creative ways, suggesting what work might such presentations methods do in helping our research 'speak'? It considers how one method, which is termed the 'data ensemble', may be used to effectively present qualitative material with breadth and depth to both demonstrate analysis and provoke thought.

Creating stories for impact: Co‐producing knowledge with young people through story mapping

“…Story mapping was therefore employed and to some extent follows Turner's (2016) fictional vignettes where findings could be re-worked by young people in story creation beyond the specifics of the data, but as illustrative of the wider realities of growing up in their contexts. Although not completely resolving the issue of co-produced analysis, this did offer opportunity for co-produced impact.…”

“…Research activism through alternative knowledge production was also explored by Christensen (2012) through storytelling and participatory research, acknowledging the mismatch between participants' emotional stories and less emotive forms of academic dissemination. Dowling et al (2018) note that creative methodologies can open knowledge production to the ‘more‐than‐rational’, responding to concerns by Turner (2016) that traditional qualitative data does not demonstrate the non‐verbal and collective experiences of the situations they emerge from. The combining of stories into vignettes through amalgamations of qualitative findings can purposefully re‐package words and actions into emotive stories, thereby enlivening the research.…”