Audio Essay

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Approach to Truth

Based on the theory I have read which combines audio journalism with qualitative research methods, I have formulated my own approach to truth. This approach shaped the processes involved in the production of the documentary. This first commentary explains how this was done.

Fieldwork

This next part of commentary is a discussion on the actual fieldwork done for the documentary. The process was organic in that I went in without a specific angle in mind which comes through in some of the interviews.

From Fieldwork to Paper Edit

This was the most challenging part of the documentary. Because there was so much material to work with it, was difficult to choose which to use for the final product. The next commentary discusses the challenges during this stage of analysis.

From Paper Edit to Sound

Another challenge of the analysis stage was getting the audio to match with the paper edit because of the difficulty of combining the script and the sound. The issue of sound quality became particularly important in the final decision making during editing. This final commentary is about this stage.

My Philosophy

Qualitative research has regularly been criticised as a non scientific form of research in comparison with quantitative research, but theorists such as Kvale (1996) and Iorio (2004) argue that this type of research has its benefits even within the sciences. Where quantitative research aims to measure the world, qualitative research methods are holistic and interpretative, primarily using words to explain the world (Iorio, 2004).

Important Concepts

Triangulation:

This is the use of a wide variety of sources and methods of interpretation in order to avoid personal bias and superficiality (Christians, 2004). The three perspectives that can be taken during triangulation are historical, synchronic and theoretical views of an issue (Christians, 2004). Denzin and Lincoln (in Christians, 2004) describe triangulation as “the display of multiple, refracted realities simultaneously” (p49).

Interpretive Sufficiency:

This is the aim for truth in journalism which, instead of striving to be objective, aims to serve as “authentic disclosure” (Christians, 2004, p46). This kind of truth incorporates the context, motives and presuppositions of situations into its definition (Bonhoeffer in Christians, 2004).

Validity:

There are two types of validity-external and internal. External validity involves a naturalistic observer who doesn’t generalize but represents the class or social unit to which their subject properly belongs (Christians, 2004). Internal validity involves interpretive accounts which should reflect genuine features of a situation and not the conclusions of the researcher (Christians, 2004).

Deliberative Naïveté:

This is the absence of preconceived ideas or presuppositions about the subject or matter as the interview enters into the process with an open mind (Kvale, 1996).

Narrative:

A narrative is a story that is factual but uses fictional story telling techniques to tell a story about a person or group and how they change over time (Beach in Scanlan, 2003). Winburn (in Scanlan, 2003) describes narrative as storytelling where the narrator makes sense of the action for the reader because they have the authority, based in their reporting, to do the interpretations. (See Scanlan, C. 2003. What is Narrative, Anyway?, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=52&aid=49550)