Narrative+Study

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** Narrative Research ** ** Definition ** Focus: ﻿ Narrative research is a distinctive form of qualitative research in that data consists of stories told in a sequence of events from the life of a single individual (Creswell, 2009). In Creswell (2007), Czarniawska (2004) writes that “narrative is understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or a series of events/actions chronologically connected” (p. 54). Here is another attempt at a definition. Neuman (2003) writes that “narrative is storytelling” (p. 449). I write “attempt” because Clandinin & Connelly (2000), who are widely recognized as the authors of an authoritative book on the subject, never take an economical stab at it. This is because an ink dab of a definition would be vague, incomplete, and dramatically at odds with narrative inquiry itself. I have decided to instead offer some of their key terms: //Temporality//: Life is as it is experienced in the immediate, but it also exists in a continuum of people’s lives. Everything has a context—immediate, historical, and collective societal. For the narrative inquirer, there is a tension between seeing things in time and seeing thing as they are. //People//: People are in a process of change—what was, is, and will be in the future. //Action//: It is important to give a narrative interpretation of any action before meaning can be applied to it. Without an understanding of the history of the subject, the meaning of the action cannot be known. //Certainty//: Interpretations can always be otherwise. //Context//: Context—spatial, temporal, or in terms of social systems/structures—is necessary for making sense of any person, place, or thing. //Experience//: There is a continuity or whole of an individual’s experiences. This is a highly nuanced and, //because// of its complexity, highly useful form of qualitative inquiry. It is active, energetic, and alive. At its best, it represents the fullness of the subject. ** Experts ** John Dewey: In the spirit of narrative inquiry, I mention Dewey first because he is part of **//our//** collective experience in pre-service teacher education. Dewey, a (or //the//) great thinker in education transformed the term “experience” from the commonplace to an inquiry term. Dewey asserted that experience is at once both personal and social. People cannot be understood only as individuals—they exist in relation to one another and in a social context. There is personal and social (interaction), past, present and future (continuity) and place (situation)--a “three dimensional narrative inquiry space” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). D. Jean Clandinin & F. Michael Connelly: Clandinin and Connelly are the authors of //Narrative Inquiry: Experiences and Story in Qualitative Research// as referenced below. This text from Dr. K’s library is, by far, the most complete and digested source I have found. W. Laurence Neuman: Author of //Social Research Methods//, a text that includes arguments both for and against the value of narrative research. According to Neuman (2003), the strengths of narrative are: It is colorful, interesting. It provides a feeling for life in a different place and time. It helps readers identify with people in/of the past. It provides a mix of many aspects of reality in societies/cultures. Its weaknesses are: It hides theories or leaves them implicit. It uses ordinary language of participants, so it is subject to rhetorical distortion. It tends to ignore the ordinary for the dramatic. It does not often build on knowledge. ** ﻿Design: Procedures and Methods see CRESSWELL p 55 ** ** The procedures for implementing this research consists of focudsing on studying one or two individual, gathering data through the collection of their stories, reporing individual experiences, and chronologically ordering the meaining of those experiences. P54 ** ** APPLICATIONS: Exploring the life of the individual is the focus. Best suited for studies needing to tell sories of individual experiences. p78 ** The author/researcher selects two or more events in temporal or causal sequence and heavily relies on field research, observations and interviews for data collection strategies. Historians might use documents, videos or film as well. Researchers also pay special care to note what is //not// there. The researcher/author disappears from the analysis and presents details of the study in chronological order as if they were a naturally unfolding sequence of events. The researcher/author assembles the data into a descriptive picture or account, but as much as possible allows the data to do the talking. The researcher reveals realities as members in the field experience them, and he or she captures the worldview of the participants at a specific point in time. There is little commentary; the author/researcher does not usually use analytic patterns or principles to generalize or create meaning. This is very different from a “positivist” model, which uses impersonal, abstract, neutral language as a standardized approach (Creswell, 2007; Neuman, 2003). The key to narrative research is the use of stories as data, and more specifically, first-person accounts of experiences told in story form having a beginning, middle and end (Merriam, 2009). Methodological approaches are used to analyze narrative data. Biographical, psychological, and linguistic are common methodological approaches (Merriam, 2009). ** Validation ** Validation standards for the narrative are also a bit more nuanced and even abstract than those for other forms of inquiry. Meanings are best given by and through those who lived the experiences. Because of this, Creswell (2007) writes that "preoccupation with method, validation, reliability, generizability and theoretical relevance must be set aside in favor of a concern for meaning and interpretation" (p. 214). Instead, the researcher will use the strategies of literary interpretation and criticism. ** Utility in the Disciplines ** Narrative research provides value across academic disciplines by aiding in explaining a phenomenon or theory. Narratives can be combined with other research approaches to further explain the topic and answer research questions. Narrative is used in anthropology, psychology, history and social sciences. Neuman (2003) writes that it is often the preferred choice of feminist researchers because they “believe it best enables them to retain the richness and authenticity of their original data sources” (p. 449). Hendry (2010) writes that critics say such research cannot be generalized or applied to other people, situations or time periods, but—and these are my words—is not that the point, particularly for the disciplines above? Is not everything, in its most authentic state, ungeneralizable? I offer one more word: snowflakes. Link to informative website (try the self-assessment): [] References Candinin D., & Connelly, M. (2000). //Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research.// San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Creswell, J.W. (2009).//Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods a////pproaches// (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Creswell, J. (2007). //Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches// (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Hendry, P. (2010). Narrative as inquiry. //Journal of Educational Research, 103//(2), 72-80. Neuman, W. (2003). //Social research methods// (5th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Merriam, S.B. (2009). //Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation.// San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.