2 Narrative research Flashcards
Starting point of narrative research
the assumption that stories are fundamental and constitutive elements of our social reality. Everything we do, everything we say, every utterance and expression, are part of a story. Some scientists even say that expressing yourself, telling a story, is the essence of life. From that perspective, if we want to investigate certain social phenomena, a narrative approach is a logical way to go.
Narrative research (in short)
Explores the life of an individual, tells stories of individual experiences
Individual - narrative research
The main source of your narrative research is the individual whose stories you are interested in. We want to find out how they experience their stories personally, in order to be able to understand their self-image and identity. Sometimes, you might collect their stories directly from the individuals, but sometimes you also need to rely on documents, pictures, observations, or any other types of relevant sources. Due to the interactive nature of this exchange, we need to be aware that often this results in a two-sided process, in which not only the participant partakes but also the researcher themselves.
Situating the narrative chronically and spatially
This gives the important contextual information for an interpretation of the narrative. It is possible to give further informative contextual information, such as the social environment, the physical environment and the emotional states of involved individuals. When situating the narrative into chronological order, this is not necessarily the order of storytelling given by the participant. There can be important events, such as turning points or more important events in the story which the researcher can focus on in their reporting. This can help in giving the narrative a clearer structure and explain changes in the storyline.
Polkinghorne
differentiates between two types of narrative research: the first, in which themes are discovered by the researcher and explored throughout different stories; and a second more literary approach in which the research retells stories along one plotline
Riessman
(1) thematic, (2) structural and (3) dialogic or performance analysis. While thematic analysis uncovers the themes underlying a narrative, structural analysis considers the structure and form of the narrative, and dialogic/performance analysis focusses on the mode of presentation and the message conveyed in the narrative.
Biographical study
the life of one individual is examined. By, for example, contrasting the experience of different individuals one can gain insights about the differences and similarities that are experiences between individuals, with a strong focus on the context of each individual.
autoethnography
This is a narrative written by the studied individual themselves. Muncey explains that this involves multiple layers of an individual’s experience of the world. The individual’s narrative is embedded in the (socio-)cultural context of the experience.
Life history
portrays the whole life of an individual
personal experience story
will focus on certain relevant episodes in an individual’s life
oral history
collects narratives about a specific event and its consequences from one or more individuals. An oral history could, for instance, be used to give voice to underrepresented individuals who are not given a voice else wise and thus can also become a medium of political interest.
Challenges of narrative research
Narrative research is a very extensive approach with a strong focus on one single individual and their context.
While the researcher has to find the essence of the individual’s experience, the researcher also needs to be aware of their own experience and interaction with the studied materials.
It is very important to be aware of the power relations intrinsic to narrative research and there is an ethical responsibility in collecting such a vast amount of data on an individual’s life experience that the researcher always needs to keep in mind.
The researcher needs to question themselves about ownership of the story, right of narratorship, right of adapting a narrative, how rewriting shapes the persuasiveness of a story, and how to deal with competing narratives, and about the effect a narrative can have on the community that experiences it.
Giving a multi-dimensional context of the narrative (such as society, culture, family, language, and involved institutions) allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the narrative, but that this is not easy to do in practice. (adding pictures might help)
