Documentary, Data & Research — A New Approach
A guest blog by David Borish, www.inuitvoicesherd.com
Intro — I was very fortunate to meet David at the recent #Jackson Wild Summit and learn about his amazing community-based film and visual-based research project HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou. The following is a summary provided by David of the “video-based qualitative analysis” process they used to co-produce both award-winning documentary films and academic research articles that address environmental, health, and social issues.
The HERD Project
What if video interviews could be used not only for video production, but also as a form of data to be analyzed and gain a more in-depth understanding of the knowledge participants are sharing? This document provides an overview of a video-based qualitative analysis, which is a strategy that blends the strengths of documentary filmmaking and qualitative research in order to examine human experiences and their embedded visual contexts, while also producing a creative storytelling output that can be communicated to various audiences.
This approach was developed as part of a larger community-based film and research project called HERD: Inuit Voices on Caribou. Led by Inuit from across Labrador, Canada, and as part of David Borish’s doctoral work, the goal of this initiative was to create impact-driven documentary films and qualitative research papers about Inuit knowledge and experiences with caribou population declines. Rather than working on the research first and then the documentary film, the HERD team worked on both processes simultaneously. In this way, the video content was not about the research — it was the research! The result was the co-production of both award-winning documentary films and peer-reviewed articles published in high-ranking journals about a range of social, environmental, and health topics, all based on the same video interviews!
What is a Video-Based Qualitative Analysis?
A video-based qualitative analysis allows you to work towards both creative and research outputs by repurposing the coding, searching, and filtering tools within two distinct video editing softwares: the Lumberjack Builder application and Final Cut Pro X.
Starting with Lumberjack Builder, you can connect interview transcripts directly to video interviews, and apply keywords and other metadata to specific sections of both the transcripts and video interviews. We repurposed this text-video-coding feature for creating qualitative codes for themes, characteristics, and other elements of interest within the data. With the ability to watch, listen, and read all at the same time, you can
review not only what participants are saying, but how and in what context they are saying it, which is especially important for place-based, cultural, and health-related knowledge.
All codes and metadata from Lumberjack Builder can be imported directly into Final Cut Pro X®, which can be used not only to edit the video content into a film, but also repurposed for qualitative analysis by leveraging a variety of search, filter, and categorizing tools within this software. Keywords and other metadata can be searched for, which can help identify
relationships and trends across the video interviews based on what people said.
Through these two programs, you can do an in-depth exploration of the oral and visual content shared in video interviews, which can support with the creation of research outputs. But this data isn’t just important for the qualitative analysis — there can be storytelling benefits too! For example, in the HERD project, this process contributed to our understandings of what themes were being discussed most across the interviews, and therefore what to focus on when developing the film’s narrative. In this way, it was possible to create a film that was data-driven, and directed (at least in
part) by the collective knowledge being described by the people in the film.
Outcomes and Benefits
Documentary Film — This technique supported the HERD team in producing short-length, broadcast-length, and full-length documentary films about the links between caribou and Inuit well-being, all in collaboration with community members. Our films have had wide-ranging reach and influence, including: broadcasted on CBC in Canada; screened at more than 15 international film festivals; and screened at various museums and geographic societies.
Qualitative Research: This technique also allowed us to use the same quotes from participants in the films for co-creating qualitative articles published in high-ranking journals, including: 1) “It’s like a connection between all of us”: Inuit social connections and caribou declines in Labrador, Canada (Ecology and Society, 2022); 2) “Caribou was the reason, and everything else happened after”: Effects of caribou declines on Inuit in Labrador, Canada (Global Environmental Change, 2021); and “You can never replace the caribou”: Inuit experiences of ecological grief from caribou declines (American Imago, 2020).
Education — The HERD team is currently working with Indigenous curriculum specialists to develop teaching resources and lesson plans for students in K-12 based on the film and research. The coding done through the video-based qualitative analysis is allowing us to create educational content about specific themes geared towards different classes and age levels.
How you can use a Video-Based Qualitative Analysis!
Based on the success of the HERD project, we’ve developed a variety of resources that can support other researchers, filmmakers, and community-based groups in blending video production with the social, health, and environmental sciences.
Video Summary — We created a short video that describes our community-led and research-based film process, including how a video-based qualitative analysis works (starting at 6:15). Watch it here!
How-To Guide — We developed a step-by-step guide that details (40+ pages) the process of undertaking a video-based qualitative analysis, including tips, lessons learned, and areas for further exploration. Read it here!
Journal Article — Our peer-reviewed article about blending film and qualitative research was published in the International
Journal of Qualitative Methods. Read it here!
Contact Us — We are happy to connect and brainstorm how this approach might be of use for your work, no matter what field you are in or the discipline you are coming from!
www.inuitvoicesherd.com
david@inuitvoicesherd.com
@inuitvoicesherd
For more case studies and information about how to create meaningful impact with your films, go to www.cefimpactmedia.org
