Collecting Qualitative Data for Storytelling

Story as Qualitative Data

Quantitative data, or data that can be measured and quantified, is not sufficient when seeking shared understanding between parties. For example, you can count how many people you trained, or how many malaria nets were distributed, but the numbers cant tell you what the impact was for people without their stories. Quantitative data (or story) delivers useful insights, and is essential for financial reporting, but quant has limited context and can't generate 'ah-ha' moments where folks 'just get it'.

Using Folktale to collect Stories / Qualitative Data

  • One of the first things our customers love about Folktale is the ability to collect, collate and makes sense of individual #story as a method.

  • Folktale has 3 key value propositions for making your #qualitativedata collection easier. The Folktale platform is:

  • a method of story/data collection - saving you time and delivering consistency;

  • a way to analyse and synthesise the data you collect, including transcripts and translation;

  • a powerful tool to create shared understanding through 3-5 minute video summaries using storytelling.

  • The Folktale platform can produce a variety of outputs (transcripts or individual stories and supercut summary videos) used for #insights, #communications, #reporting, and sharing ideas.

4 common use cases for Folktale

  • Monitoring and Evaluation, or M&E, MEL, MERL (choose your acronym).

  • Fundraising - #storytelling for validation and impact with funders and donors

  • Communications - creating shared understanding for internal and external stakeholders

  • Reporting (internal and external) - we use it ourselves for board reports

Using Folktale for Program Reporting

An example of a global development use case is program reporting. A INGO has been contracted through a development funding program to run activities across 8-countries. The intended outcomes for each are standard, but the context and challenges are different. Regular 1-month progress reports are usually typed up and sent through to HQ (based in donor country). These are rarely read by the HQ staff, who have never visited the programme countries, and don't really understand the nuance. For this case Folktale can speed up the reporting process, increase shared understanding between HQ and each country, and collect reliable qualitative data in a highly structured way.

Existing frameworks for progress report questions (such as theory of change) are used to create a Folktale story template. These story requests are sent out to all the country program managers. Have a look at this video to see how we do this. The program managers use Folktale to answer the questions. Some act as field reporters, others simply ask the people they work with. The output is a 2-3 minute individual video from each contributor.

Individual stories are submitted to HQ to deliver an engaging, context rich, narrative progress report in a structured video format.

For an insights driven program overview Folktale will edit together all the individual contributions to deliver a summary of the overall programme progress.

With 12-months of individual contributions a supercut can be produced per country summarising the overall impact of the programme for a fiscal or calendar reporting period. This video impact summary might accompany an annual report.

All 8 countries can be compiled together to summarise the whole programme impact. This kind of content is ideal for donors, funders or stakeholders who engage at the organisation level.

All these outputs can be shared internally and with other stakeholders, with permission. Because Folktale has been created for international development there is an informed consent process each time a contributor shares their story. (We recommend seeking additional consent before sharing with an external audience, even if this was part of the consent process).

Want to know more?

Speak to one of our team to learn more about how Folktale can help you understand your impact beyond numbers.

We would like to acknowledge and pay respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders of the lands where we live, learn and work and extend our respect to Traditional Custodians whose country we create on, to their Elders, both past, present and emerging. We also celebrate and embrace diversity and strive to take an inter-sectional approach that empowers those around us and is respectful of their lived experience. We endeavour to create an environment that is equitable and  inclusive for everyone we work with and for, where everyone's voice is heard.


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