For researchers
Understanding.
With an inspectable basis.
How can oral experience become a source of knowledge while remaining connected to the person, situation and material from which it emerged?
Research foundations Select a heading to read the argument
01Connect indicators with situated experience.
PCORI’s mixed-methods standards require researchers to justify how qualitative and quantitative evidence will be integrated and how divergent findings will be interpreted. Complementarity is a methodological task, not simply the addition of more data.
The research questionHow can first-person accounts help investigate the meaning and circumstances of an observed pattern, while preserving differences between participants and forms of evidence?
A related theoretical perspective is Alain Supiot’s analysis of the separation between symbolic representations and experienced reality. It informs the question of governance, rather than validating a technical solution.
02Keep interpretation connected to its source.
The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research ask researchers to describe context, explain their analysis and substantiate findings with empirical material. Audit trails are among the techniques identified for supporting trustworthiness.
The research questionWhat does continued access to a recording, its question, its sequence and associated documents contribute to interpretation and the transmission of knowledge?
Traceability makes interpretation open to scrutiny. It does not establish that everything a participant says is factually true.
03Make AI-assisted interpretation open to verification.
NIST’s generative-AI guidance recommends verifying output sources and citations and assessing capabilities in their intended setting. Convincing output may still contain unsupported statements.
The research questionHow can human interpretation and AI assistance remain distinguishable, with the source material available for examination? Evaluation should consider fidelity, contextual understanding and the effort required to check an interpretation.
The EDORA research position
From spoken experience
to situated knowledge.
Methodology precedes technology in EDORA’s approach. The collection protocol shapes the conditions in which spoken experience becomes data. EDORA’s work concerns the constitution of these datasets and the continuity between an account, its digital representation and the judgement it may inform. Collection, source structure, context and interpretive relations are treated as conditions of understanding.
Its proposed research agenda examines the fidelity of representation, the ability to revisit sources and the contribution of contextual access to understanding. These are questions for evaluation.
The references above establish methodological foundations. EDORA-specific outcomes require their own empirical assessment.
The next conversation
Develop a research collaboration.
Methods, evaluation protocols and the study of oral knowledge.