A Participatory Methodology for Ethnographic Arts-Based Research: Collaborative Playwriting and Performance as Data Collection, Analysis, and Presentation

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 research participants 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. This unique participatory writing process is described as a way to collect and analyze data and the performance is presented as the method of sharing the research findings. The play is presented as an Ethnodrama, a form of ethnography which privileges the voice of the participants.