Useful Tools: Research Methodology and Theory for Social Journalism
Ethnography is a methodology in qualitative research where the researcher embeds themselves in the environment of their subjects and either participates in their activities or observes their behavior which is its main method (participatory and non-participatory ethnography). Other methods include: interviews, collection of artifact, personal journals, informal interviews, and document analysis (Berbary, 2014).
As social journalists who want to be embedded in communities, this aligns well with our objectives. These methods are not new to journalism as they have been used in stories before. The most prominent form that comes to mind is documentary films which use a mixture of all of these methods.
However, to use them in community engagement would be another story. Non-participant and participant observation would allow a social journalist to learn nuanced details about their community which would allow them to connect with that community on a deeper level. It would also help the journalist to identify patterns of behavior or problems which they can raise and address in their work and attempt to serve their community.
In addition, artifact collection can be a communal act. It can be done as a means of community engagement. For example, if I were working with a community of teenage Syrian refugees, I can see this as an extremely productive way get them to express themselves in ways that do not involve words(which can be difficult, specially if they don’t speak the language of the community they have arrived in recently). I can see it as an act where the community comes together and creates a collection that can facilitate a conversation with other communities.
I’m also interested in narrative inquiry as a means of community engagement. In qualitative research, this methodology is defined as “a collection of stories, narratives, counter-narratives” (Berbary, 2014).
As methods, it uses narrative interviews such as life history, life story, oral history, storytelling which contextualizes stories. This allows for a more human interaction where people are able to express their identities and personal histories in a more genuine and authentic way.
Using this method in the previously mentioned example, it would allow for young teenagers to connect with their experiences and identities in a way that does not cancel their existence in a new environment that would impact their perception of their identities.
I also like how this methodology is grounded in theories that are very relevant to contemporary communities such as critical race theory, queer theory, and feminism which value the multiplicity (Berbary, 2014) and intersectionality of individuals which ties into the complexity and multidimensionality of stories that we should seek to represent in our work as journalists.
I can imagine a podcast made of oral history, narrated by young Syrian refugees who had to flee their country. This gives them agency over their stories and helps them recognize the importance of their voices. It would also help make their experiences more accessible to the community they live in.
In addition to learning about methodology, I found the conversation we had with Lisbeth Berbary about how theory drives how we perceive and produce work work in the world eye opening. Berbary explained that a traditional approach to journalism used a post-positivist approach that uses an objectivist epistemological approach. This means that the journalist presents events as they exist outside of human experience, as a certain “capital T truth” that is arrived at because a number of people agree on it.
But with fake news being rampant on the web, Berbary suggested that journalists need to adopt a more constructionist or even subjectivist approach that does not isolate news from human interaction and experience, where truth is not capital but is constructed or even made of many truths (discourses).
I agree with Berbary, that journalists’ cannot provide a godlike view over things and that their work is not an authority in the world of truth. However, I think journalists should also seek to provide a certain level of certainty for their audience. For example, it’s their job to demythicalize certain things, to expose lies, to provide a point of reference in a way, at least in certain areas like how much is the government spending on education this year and what areas of education really need development and are they getting that funding?
References:
2014, Berbary, Lisbeth, A Very Basic Review Packet for Humanist Qualitative Research, University of Waterloo
