Methodology
Qualitative Methods of Inquiry
This study intends to explore how different expressions of silence build rhetorical and discursive power from marginalized, rural women's digital stories in south-central Wisconsin. I conducted qualitative research with detailed case studies to best study my participants because it provides an expansionist, rather than reductionist, pursuit in social inquiry. Robert Stake, a leader in the development of program evaluation methods, argues, "When explanation, propositional knowledge, and law are the aims of an inquiry, the case study will often be at a disadvantage. When the aims are understanding, extension of experience and increase in conviction in that which is known, the disadvantage disappears" (6). Each case study examines the participant's personal experiences documented in one of their digital composition vignettes (4 or 5 individually edited videos per participant). I use the GirlPWRD case studies to achieve a collective, in-depth understanding of the project as a whole. However, each case will be instrumental in its aim to individually focus on how the implications of rhetorical silence and digital storytelling can work together to elevate participants' voices.
Although I do not attempt to draw general conclusions based on GirlPWRD's small sample, I do offer a look at the particular local dynamics of these three women, whose experiences are unique to them yet part of a larger network unfolding around us.
Participants & Research Setting
To find participants, I created a GirlPWRD introduction sheet detailing the intention behind the project, the audience I was capturing, and the digital space I was building. I dropped off these sheets at local locations (i.e., grocery stores, schools, and local businesses)in south-central Wisconsin, which spurred conversations for leads on storytellers. Once I secured three women storytellers, I decided to halt further entries because of restraints due to production time and deadlines with thesis submission.
I was responsible for communicating and setting up sessions with the participants. Coordinating the place of the recording sessions depended on each participant's availability. I documented each woman at a different location. Two women opted to share their stories in their work environments. The other woman preferred I record her session in her home.
I targeted adult women who lived in rural areas of south-central Wisconsin. While the concept of rural is shifting and unstable because determinations about what counts as "rural" are often rhetorical and/or political (Vaughn et al. 28). I specifically chose rural women because I wanted to capture a significant population of women in Wisconsin that traditionally are left out of the dominant rhetoric, especially in the digital space. In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) conducted a survey that states, "..at least 410,000 Wisconsinites – overwhelmingly living in rural areas, but also low-income residents of urban areas – do not have access to a base level of broadband access, defined as 25 megabits per second (Mbps) for shared use. That translates to 7.1% of the state lacking broadband access, compared to a national average of 5.6% – and more than a quarter (26.7%) of residents of rural Wisconsin"(Wagtendonk). Low-income urban areas also experience similar access and digital literacy challenges as rural areas and would be a significant site to study silenced voices. Due to locational constraints and time, rural women provided an important starting point to my research work. While rurality is a central aspect of this project, it is important to note it is a singular aspect of the identity of my participants.
Methods and Procedure of Data Collection
Over two months in the fall of 2021, I documented three women's digital stories for the GirlPWRD website. I worked closely with each participant using a semi-structured approach: meet, sign release forms, administer pre-production survey, record, converse, edit, distribute post-production survey, and upload videos to the GirlPWRD website. I provided the same equipment to video and audio record each woman's story. I grounded the digital storytelling methods in Joe Lambert’s seven elements of a digital story: point of view, dramatic question, emotional content, the gift of your voice, the power of soundtrack, economy, and pacing.
However, I employed an expansive approach to digital storytelling, where precedent is put on honoring participant memories and stories. Inspired by digital storytelling studies performed by Caroline Lenette et al., I practiced their methods when approaching participant digital storytelling, including leading with the research question: “What can we learn if we listen rather than ask questions and receive answers” (67)? Leading with a project that values listening over pointed questions allowed me to further remove myself from projecting bias on the outcomes of our sessions. Letting the participants lead allowed for each woman participant to re-author her own story, as I captured their narratives alongside them without interruptions. Lenette et al. describe their expansionist approach to digital storytelling:
The digital stories reflect a relatively unusual process within the dominant schemas of academic inquiry: instead of asking a series of questions, the digital storytelling process allowed us to enter a space alongside the women to facilitate storytelling according to their own memories, interests, and hopes. Crucial to this process was that the women were not 'prescribed' a particular storyline or theme to follow as a starting point. This 'non sequential' design encouraged participants to think about what stories they wanted to share with others based on their thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences. (Lenette et al. 68)
Privileging these women as their own protagonists and producers of their stories not only eliminated the possibility of perpetuating a prescribed narrative but provided space for them to speak freely and openly. Placing value on them as a "whole" and not just specific pieces of their life created inclusivity that welcomes moments of redundancy and tangents that often lead to beautiful moments of reflection. Thus, each woman got to re-author her own story, using spoken words and pictures she selected. The images were sent to me by the participants after our recording session was over. They chose photos based on the memories they shared during our sessions together.
After video and audio recording, I uploaded all digital files for each participant to Adobe Premiere. I did minimal editing on each participant's footage, often maintaining the same audio stream to maintain the integrity and genuinity of each participant’s story, memory, or narrative. Early on, I realized that lining up each of the participants' reflections into one large 30 min + sequence did not properly showcase each individual memory. By breaking each small story or memory into shorter vignettes allowed me to create a catalog of stories to makeup the profile of each woman.
Methods and Procedure of Data Analysis
For the case study analysis, I selected a video clip from each participant that detailed an experience of the participant being silenced or the participant silencing themselves. I embedded the video into a separate page of the GirlPWRD website. Then, I uploaded the pre-production and post-production survey data into the same webpage. I provide a summary of the video clip to explain the visuals on the screen and the conversations around the documented story. I completed each case study to analyze the participants' silence and the impact of the digital story.
In my analytical framework section on silence, I lay out three different tools to interpret silence rhetorically:
Cheryl Glenn's unexpected vs. expected silence
Richard L. Johannesen's 20 perceived meanings of silence
Sidney J. Baker's negative and positive silence
I use these tools to analyze the meaning attached to the participants' silence in the videos. In my conclusionary notes, I call attention to ways we can better understand the silence and silencing in our communities by listening. Again, I detail Ratcliffe's four moves that comprise rhetorical listening:
Promoting an understanding of self and other
Proceeding within an accountability logic
Locating identifications across commonalities and differences
Analyzing claims as well as the cultural logics within which these claims function
Ethical Issues
With a type of qualitative study like this one and impending time constraints, ethical issues arise that could skew data or influence participants' words and actions. I, as a researcher, must take accountability and consider any effect I may have had on the actual data collected. As a single, white, 28-year-old woman, I led this study understanding my gender, language, age, race, and marital status may impact the project. I recognize the data I collected was filtered through my camera shots, my editing choices, and critically analyzed with my words.
I worked hard to craft a design that would limit my bias as much as possible to showcase the participant. I led my research design with the intent of listening instead of asking pointed questions. I focused my role on walking alongside the participants to build trust and understand their local culture and personal stories. After I assembled them, I had participants view their digital stories to ensure they approved of the final product. Also, I provided a release form that allowed participants to opt out of the study if they felt uncomfortable or misrepresented.