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Abstract
In order to establish veracity , qualitative researchers frequently rely on member checks to insure credibility by giving participants opportunities to correct errors, challenge interpretations and assess results; however, member checks are not without drawbacks. This paper describes an innovative approach to conducting member checks. Six members of a learning organization participated in two group interviews to examine the use of poetry as a method to promote individual and organizational learning. Several weeks later, participants received a copy of their transcripts and were asked to create a “found poem” to reflect their thoughts and feelings about using poetry as a learning tool. There was resonance between the interview themes produced by traditional open coding methods and those using participant - created found poems. However, the found poems added an emotional depth and connect ion that was missing from the traditional approach of coding qualitative data. This suggests that participant - created found poems can provide an agentic alternative to the usual method of member checking and also expand the notions of aesthetic approaches within qualitative research.
Keywords
Arts - Based Research, Found Poems, Member Checks, Trustworthiness, Crisis of Representation
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge and thank Terry Kyle, Erika Bailey, Rhonda deBeaupre, Sergio Rodriguez, Vandna Sethi, and Sharon Taylor for their assistance in this project, and for their courage in opening themselves up and sharing their poems with me.
Publication Date
4-15-2013
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1534
Recommended APA Citation
Reilly, R. C. (2013). Found Poems, Member Checking and Crises of Representation. The Qualitative Report, 18(15), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2013.1534
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