I have spent lots of time today editing video clips. I filmed between one and two hours of wheelchair basketball and I wanted to make a short video to show my class. It may also be used as a demonstration video on a website. I did something similar three years ago when a basic recreation class I taught visited a ropes course. I was able to use the video to 'jump start' an experiential learning session. My expectations of myself are a lot higher this time around; instead of editing out the lousy bits, which was the extent of my processing three year ago, I tried hard to just keep the good bits. I also had ideas about effects (speed up, slow down, b & w) and background music. This was a very tedious process and I did not spend nearly as long as I would have liked. I realized at one point that it would help a lot to be intimately familiar with 'the data.' But I also did not see a great deal of value for what I want to get out of this in watching the video until I developed the familiarity. But I can see a parallel, hence the title of this post, with qualitative analysis. More after the break. The embedded picture above is meant to show a series of parallel lines. I created the graphic using Keynote from iWork '09 and saved the resulting file as a PDF. I developed a whole new level of respect for film editors, although I would like to point out that I have long thought that film editors do not get nearly the credit they deserve. I believe that quality editing makes or breaks a film. I also love soundtrack music and especially like it when it works with (or against, in interesting ways) the visual elements. But while I was editing, I thought about how nice it would be to know every frame as well as I grew to know some interview data I worked on (and am still working on).
Another parallel includes that I am sifting through a lot of data to find something - maybe not so much themes as a 'story' - so film editing may be more like narrative analysis. One question is, though, whose story? The participants? Me as an observer? Frankly, I am telling this story (creating a highlight video) for two audiences - one is the participants so they can see themselves and the other is more of a consumer. A short version of this video may be used to 'market' or to provide a demonstration of a disability sport recreational event. So how do I pull out the salient bits of the story and create a cohesive whole that is a faithful representation of the story? As I worked through this, I realize that I have a lot of bias. Much of this comes from being a consumer of visual media myself. I have a 'picture' in my head of what a sports highlight video should look like, sound, and how it should be paced - and this superseded any ideas of telling a story. I did not come very close at all to creating this ideal, but I think I learned a lot about what to do to improve the process. In fact, after I viewed the first night of video, I started to change how and what I filmed. If I was to do this again, I might do it very differently - certainly I would make a lot of changes in the beginnings of the editing (analysis) process. If you are interested in or familiar with qualitative analysis (maybe even quantitative analysis), you may recognize that I am dealing with data, data reduction, quality issues, and analysis considerations. This experience helps me better appreciate the relationship between art and performance and qualitative inquiry. Immersing myself in the data would have been most helpful, and I hope in the future I can budget my time so I can do a better job of that. I also noted that I had lots of data and might have gotten by with less. This parallels my experience working with 16 interviews - while there is not a single one I would give up now, it might have been better in some w a novice qualitative researcher to start with 12 or even 8. Would that data have been as rich or meaningful? That is something I will never know. If I had just 20 minutes of film, would I have as many good bits (I have a lot of good bits)? Probably not, but maybe with 45 minutes, carefully chosen, I could have ended up with a fine few minute highlight reel.
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AuthorI am Sheryl L. Chatfield, Ph.D, C.T.R.S. I am a member of the faculty in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. I also Co-coordinate the Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Research and I am a member of the Design Innovation Team at Kent State. Archives
February 2024
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