Frameworks Adds New Research Partner to Capture the Power of Storytelling
Washington, DC, December 1 — To bolster its multi-method research methodology on how people think about social issues, the FrameWorks Institute announced today the addition of a new qualitative research method to collect and analyze the stories that people tell about public issues. FrameWorks will be working with StoryTellings™, a Vancouver, BC-based firm, to adapt this process from the corporate world and integrate it into Strategic Frame Analysis™.
"FrameWorks' approach to communications is unique in that we evaluate the effects of various elements of a story to determine how those elements influence support for social policies," explained FrameWorks President Susan Nall Bales. "The StoryTellings™ methodology offers us a chance to interpret narrative structure more directly. We are excited to welcome this new methodology to our research offerings."
StoryTellings™ founder Edward Wachtman specializes in the design and delivery of innovative qualitative research methodologies, many based on stories and story telling. Edward first detailed the notion of stories and their narrative structure as being a valuable research tool in his doctorial dissertation, published in 1982, Evaluation as Story: the Narrative Quality and Structure of Educational Evaluation. Mr. Wachtman did his graduate work at Syracuse University and earned his B.A. degree from Fordham University.
He has used stories and story telling to collect and interpret data in the development of innovative marketing strategies and in understanding points of conflict and synergy within organizations. A management consultant, practicing for 25 years, Edward has worked with Fortune 500 and multi-national organizations in North America, Europe and Asia.
In 1998, Mr. Wachtman co-founded CompQuest Consulting, Inc. to help organizations build competitive advantage through innovative marketing strategies. StoryTellings™ is the research arm of CompQuest Consulting, Inc. StoryTellings™ is a proprietary research process, designed to facilitate the collection and interpretation of stories from the perspectives of psychology, mythology and symbology.
As an initial collaborative project, the StoryTellings™ methodology will first be used to collect and analyze the stories of residents in the Mid South Delta region (Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi) and to discern their sense of empowerment and efficacy. The FrameWorks project is funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
