The Analytic Utility of Poetically Transcribing Interview Data in a Participatory Action Research (PAR) Study

To identify and represent salient data themes, the interview transcript can undergo what is called “poetic transcription” of selected excerpts arranged in a way that the prose resembles the look and shape of a poem. The careful repositioning of words into a poetic form allows the data to reveal more nuanced meanings. This is especially the case when the words, sentences, and phrases are kept close to the original sequence to preserve its original meaning. In this study, poetic transcription produced data poems. Poetic transcription is an interpretive act based on several rounds of coding. Using the participants choice of words and phrases allow for the data poems that result to vividly reflect phenomena, or what is known as in-vivo coding. This study relied on an open coding process known as dramaturgical coding. There are two major uses for data poems as an analytic tool. First, the use of data poems reduces copious amounts of interview data. Secondly, the use of data poems in a participatory action research (PAR) study also engages participants in analyzing and representing study themes. Understanding coding will help other authors to replicate poetic transcription as a rigorous analytical tool for their PAR study.