PUBR 3250 week 10 (fall '26)

Summary

The instructor introduces storytelling and qualitative data as tools nonprofits can use to communicate their mission, demonstrate their work, and connect with audiences. This week’s discussion is designed to help students begin researching the nonprofit they will assess in their major assignment.

Main concepts

• Qualitative data is human-centered information that is not primarily expressed as numbers. Examples include interviews, open-ended survey responses, focus-group discussions, and testimonials.
• Quantitative data is measurable or numerical information, such as statistics, survey totals, or percentages.
• Nonprofits benefit from using both:
  • Quantitative evidence can demonstrate the scale or measurable impact of an organization’s work.
  • Stories can make that work more personal and memorable.
• Storytelling is a form of qualitative communication, but not every story is qualitative data. For example, a video documenting an organization’s work may tell a story without including first-person testimony.
• First-person storytelling—hearing directly from staff, volunteers, or people served by an organization—can be especially compelling because audiences hear experiences from the people themselves.

Story Collaborative example

The instructor uses Story Collaborative, a nonprofit initiative of the ETSU Research Corporation, as an example. It works with organizations—mostly nonprofits—to help them communicate their stories, often supporting organizations with limited resources or technical capacity.

Its work includes:

• Video and documentary content
• Brand storytelling
• Strategic and initiative planning
• Workshops and training to help organizations produce future content themselves
• Podcasting and distribution strategies
• Qualitative research and evaluation

The instructor highlights Story Collaborative’s emphasis on participatory, first-person stories, as well as its work with organizations in areas such as youth advocacy, environmental preservation, education, and healthcare. One example is the Nurse Narratives Initiative, which includes workshops, a digital storytelling curriculum, and the documentary Nurse Empathy Heals.

Discussion Question 4: Instructions

Students should prepare a video response about the nonprofit they selected for the Assessing Nonprofit Communication assignment.

• Aim for about two minutes. Responses that are substantially shorter or longer may lose points.
• Use an outline or notes if helpful, but do not read from a script.
• Show that you understand the material and are thoughtfully engaging with the question. Avoid simply reciting prepared or AI-generated text.
• Identify a few media or communication artifacts the nonprofit produces, such as website content, social media posts, videos, annual reports, or testimonials.
• Explain how those materials use qualitative data and/or storytelling to support the organization’s mission.
• Comment on whether the examples seem effective and why.
• Optionally, discuss how the organization combines qualitative material with quantitative evidence.

The instructor explains that this research should contribute directly to the major assignment rather than being separate work. The following week is set aside for students to continue working on that assignment.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: The course instructor, whose name is not stated in the subtitles.
• Organizations and examples discussed: Story Collaborative; ETSU Research Corporation; Florida Youth SHINE; an Oregon watershed-preservation project; an education and workforce-training collaboration with a community college; and the Nurse Narratives Initiative, including Nurse Empathy Heals.
• No other identifiable speakers are heard in the subtitles.