Qualitative Research Methods-A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Ulrich
Historiography in A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard: Utilizing Qualitative Research Methods to Illustrate the History and Culture of 18- 19th Century America Human societies, throughout the years, have manifested and shownsignificant events through various forms, either by oral or writtenhistories, as documented by people living within a particular period andsociety. Oral history often take the form of songs and orally-deliveredlegends and myths, while written records of history are often recordedthrough journals, diaries, official documents, and even narratives writtenon human artifacts made during a particular period. More often, writtenforms of documentation have been utilized in determining the history of asociety for a certain period, since they provide physical evidence thatsubstantiate the narratives contained within a document or record. This is the kind of historical analysis that Laurel Ulrich hasutilized in analyzing the lives of women during the 17th and 18thcenturies, based on the diary of Martha Ballard. In her book, A Midwife'sTale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Ulrich used as the basis for her analysis
" Along with phenomenology, cultural studiesalso provide a closer look at Ballard's social reality, which is throughthe women sector in her society. Thus, the defined role of Ballard's life as a midwifedoes not only speak about her as an individual, but illustrates the realitythat women during her period are already interested and had been givenopportunities (though minimal) to participate in an activity that is male-dominated-the world of scientific endeavor and knowledge (July 1794 entriesin Martha Ballard's Diary). As Ulrich explained in the film versionof A Midwife's Tale, the mundane or everyday activities and events thathappen in Ballard's life mirror ". While textual analysis and symbolic interactionism are methods thatUlrich used to come up with a general profile of Ballard as mother, wife,and midwife/scientist, phenomenology and cultural studies are methods thatreflect Ballard in the context of her society. In these methods, theresearcher is given a general profile not only of Ballard, but also of 18thcentury women in her society. Ulrich(1991) emphasized the importance of Ballard's accounts of life during herperiod because "her (Martha Ballard's) diary" is "a monument to aremarkable life and a testimony to the fragile web that connects onegeneration with another" (352). These materials weregathered by using combined methods of historical analysis, phenomenology,textual analysis, cultural studies, and symbolic interaction. Indeed, it is notable that Ulrich mainly utilized qualitativeresearch methods to collect relevant data, significant interpretations, andreliable analysis and findings about early American life. The four research materials used for the study are Martha Ballard'sdiary, official documents that contain records of events that happenedduring the time, secondary sources about life in 18th century Maine, andinterview transcripts from Ballard's successors. In order to determine 18th century Americanhistory through its culture and society, the researcher used Ballard'sdiary, a written document and cultural artifact of her time, to collectdata and use them for analysis in identifying the nature, structure, anddynamics of early American society. Through four primary research materialsand utilization of multi-qualitative research methods, descriptions andsocial realities of Ballard and her society's life were depicted in thecontext of 18th century American culture and society. Ulrich's last statement is an example of one of Ballard's perspectivesin her writing, which illustrates her 'religious perspective' as areflection and manifestation of her Puritanist belief, which prevailedearly American society during her time. Indeed, in the words of Ulrich, Martha Ballardis, "[i]n twentieth century terms, she was a physician, pharmacist, andnurse, as well as a midwife.
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