University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2005 A participatory methodology for ethnographic arts -based research: Collaborative playwriting and performance as data collection analysis and presentation Jillian Dean Campana The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Campana, Jillian Dean, "A participatory methodology for ethnographic arts -based research: Collaborative playwriting and performance as data collection analysis and presentation" (2005). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 9538. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/9538 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. 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A PARTICIPATORY METHODOLOGY FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC ARTS-BASED RESEARCH: COLLABORATIVE PL AY WRITING AND PERFORMANCE AS DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS, AND PRESENTATION by Jillian Dean Campana B.F.A California Institute of the Arts, 1992 M.A. New York University, 1999 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Ph.D. in Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies The University of Montana April, 2005 Approved by: Lairoerson Del m, Graduate School U - 0<T Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3177031 Copyright 2005 by Campana, Jillian Dean All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. 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Jillian Dean Campana Ph.D. April, 2005 Individualized Interdisciplinary A Participatory Methodology for Ethnographic Arts-Based Research: Collaborative Playwriting and Performance as Data Collection, Analysis, and Presentation Chairperson: Randy Bolton' This study presents a participatory research methodology that utilized the transcripts of personal interviews and dramatic group workshop observations to create the text of an original documentary theatre play. The thirteen research participants were all members of the Missoula, Montana brain injury support group the Puzzle Club. During the summer of 2004 they collaborated with the principal investigator to craft an original play about their experiences as survivors of brain injuries. Rather than collecting the information and analyzing it on her own, the investigator enlisted the assistance and expertise of the research participants themselves and together the group collected, analyzed, and presented the research in the form of a public presentation of the play. The creative research process asked the participants to be interviewed individually prior to engaging in a series of drama workshops designed to share their stories via role play and improvisation. The participants were interviewed again after taking part in the drama workshops. Transcripts of both sets of interviews, along with the dramatic workshops were used to write a full length reality play,The Puzzle Club: brain injury survivors talk. Trained actors were then cast in the roles of the real people and together the two counterparts worked together to present a character to the audience. All rehearsals were open to the research participants and changes in the script were made accordingly. This unique participatory writing process is described as a way to collect and analyze data and The University of Montana performance of the play on October 1 and 2,2004 is presented as the method of sharing the research findings. The play is presented as an Ethnodrama, a form of contemporary ethnography and it privileges the voice of the participants over the voice of the principal investigator who is not a member of the Puzzle Club but who served as a project facilitator and director. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to the following people for their assistance, advice, and contributions to this project. My advisors on the project, Dr. Paul Silverman - Department of Psychology, who assisted me as I developed the project and who served as a volunteer therapeutic contact person, Dr. Randy Bolton - Department of Drama/Dance, Dr. Paul Miller - Department of Sociology, Dr. Janet Finn - Departments of Social Work and Anthropology, and Dr. John Lundt - Department of Educational Leadership. I am also grateful to my colleagues and students in the department including graduate students Laramie Dean and Lisa Marie Hsylop. Thanks must also go to Community Medical Center, especially Elspbeth Richards the former Director of Rehabilitation, and to the Brain Injury Association of Montana. I also thank Ray and Donna Winn at Broken Pines Productions who funded the filming of the full play and documentary video of the project, Rick Hughes who directed the filming and editing processes, and all of the actors in both the staged and filmed versions who portrayed the real persons with such integrity. Principally though I wish to thank the Puzzle Club members who took part in this project and all survivors and their family and friends, especially my husband and daughter Joe and Estelle Campana. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION ........................................ II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................... .................... iv INTRODUCTION: PURPOSE AND PROCESS ............... ............ 1 THE PARTICIPANTS: BACKGROUND ........ ........................ 4 THE FORM: DOCUMENTARY THEATRE ................... 15 THE METHODOLOGY: PL A Y WRITIN G ................ 23 THE PERFORMANCE: BRAIN INJURY SURVIVORS TALK ....... 34 THE RESPONSE: PARTICIPANTS’ ASSESSMENT ............... 40 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................ ............................ 53 THE PUZZLE CLUB: brain injury survivor’s talk ................................ 59 CAST OF CHARACTERS ............... ..................... .......... .................. 60 PLAY SCRIPT ................................. ...................................................... 62 REFERENCES ............... ........112 INSTITTUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD FORM and PROPOSAL ........... 116 DESCRIPTION FOR RECRUITMENT ................ 121 CONSENT FORM ........ 122 PARTICIPANT THERAPEUTIC CONTACT LIST ........................ 125 COMMUNITY MEDICAL CENTER SUPPORT LETTER ............ 126 ORIGINAL FIRST INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ........ 127 ORIGINAL SECOND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ........ 128 ORIGINAL THIRD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ......... 129 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION: PURPOSE AND PROCESS In late May of 2004 I made my third visit to the Puzzle Club, a Missoula, Montana support group for survivors of brain injuries. The purpose of my visit was to recruit participants for a collaborative and creative research project that sought to study the experiences of survivors as they helped to craft an original play about living with brain Injury. Rather than following a traditional method of qualitative inquiry, I was seeking to marry the creative and research processes by treating the writing of the play as a form of data collection and analysis, and the performance