Listening to Voices and Visualizing Data in Qualitative Research

Abstract

One of the tenets of qualitative research is the emphasis and honoring of the participants’ own words as generative of meaning and knowledge; yet it is rare to hear the actual voices of the research participants in a presentation or in text. Qualitative research dissemination has relied on dense transcribed text; these “mountains of words” do not lend themselves to the space limitations of academic journals or condensed visual elements such as summary charts, tables, or graphs. Technological advancements have the potential to revolutionize dissemination efforts, especially for qualitative research. The use of audio clips in poster and oral presentations, as well as embedded within written manuscripts plays with the interstices between the research participants and the observer. Infograms are effective ways of conveying a story visually. We demonstrate how combining audio clips and infographics can be a unique hypermodal dissemination possibility for qualitative results.