P061 - ‘Like being an immigrant in someone else’s imagination’: using poetic methods in a study of the everyday reading experiences of prisoners in England and Wales.

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Poetic research methods in qualitative research encompass a variety of techniques and purposes, including data creation, analysis, and communication. Despite the evidence for the power of these methods, clarification of techniques and evidence of value are still needed. In a doctoral study of experiences of informal book reading in two men’s prisons in England and Wales, I interviewed 50 men to elicit reader narratives, and accounts of reading practices and experiences. Alongside other methods of qualitative analysis of the data, I used a version of poetic analysis with the interview transcripts, closely based on the ‘poetic transcription’ methods developed by Glesne, Mears and others, preferring to refer to it as ‘poetic distillation’ as more accurately capturing the process. The distillations used only the words of the participants, condensed and arranged to present the use of language, metaphor, narrative, and affect of the individual interview. The attentive and reflective act of distillation revealed new narrative and thematic aspects of the data and brought others more clearly into focus, particularly the central themes of responsivity and intersubjectivity in prisoners’ experience of reading. The distillations also served as a means of communication within the research as representations of the distinct narratives and experiences of individual participants. A selection of the poems formed a separate section in the thesis between the Methodology and the core Findings chapters. Short sections from the poems were also used as chapter and section epigraphs. The communication value of the method has already been demonstrated in other contexts with academic and general audiences. Through presenting examples of the poetic distillations in this research poster, alongside an explanation of the process, I contribute to advancing the use of poetic methods in qualitative research and evidence for their value.

Author

• Judith Gardom, University of Cambridge