Narrative Analysis

Question 1

Brief Description
Narrative Analysis

Answer 1

Narrative analysis, as a method, begins with exploring the experiences as expressed in lived and told stories of individuals. Czarniawska (2004) defines it as a specific type of qualitative design in which “narrative is understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or series of events/actions, chronologically connected.”

Question 2

Is narrative a phenomenon being studied or a method used in a study?

Answer 2

Narrative might be the phenomenon being studied, such as a narrative illness, or it might be the method used in a study, such as the procedures of analyzing stories told (Chase, 2005; Clandinin & Connolly, 2000; Pinnegar & Dayne, 2007). First person accounts derived from the “illumination” of individual stories and narratives.

Question 3

Is narrative inquiry generalizable?

Answer 3

Narrative inquiry data is not meant for generalization. In fact, it would be oppositional to the purpose of narrative inquiry to disband the narrative from the individual for the sake of generalizing findings. Clandinin and Rosiek (2007) asserted that when researchers claiming to use narrative inquiry methodology attempt to generalize data “the story is ripped from the personal history of the one living it and is treated as fixed data, much as one might treat numerical data” (p. 61).

Question 4

With which philosophy/theoretical perspective does narrative inquiry align?

Answer 4

Narrative inquiry thus aligns with a social constructivist theoretical perspective in which knowledge is held in the narrative, but the narrative is affected by interactions between people and social factors.

Question 5

What are the 3 assumptions of narrative inquiry according to Connelly & Clandinin?

Answer 5

The three commonplaces of narrative inquiry (temporality, sociality, and place or sequence of places) are what situate and bind narrative inquiry research (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006). According These three dimensions shape how people make sense of their experiences; therefore, these three dimensions determine ontology for narrative inquirers.

Question 6

What are the 3 assumptions of Narrative Inquiry according to Dodge, Ospina, and Foldy?

Answer 6

All forms of narrative inquiry have at least three assumptions in common:
1) Narrative as language: Narratives convey meanings, intentions, beliefs, values, and emotions that reflect situated social reality, rather than reflecting an “objective reality”.
2) Narrative as knowledge: Narratives carry practical knowing that individuals have gained through their experience.
3) Narrative as metaphor: Narratives are constitutive, which means that they are not only shaped by individuals, but they also shape individuals” (Dodge, Ospina, and Foldy 2005, 290–91).

Question 7

Research focus of approach of narrative inquiry?

Answer 7

Exploring the life of an individual

Question 8

Type of research problem best suited for Narrative Inquiry?

Answer 8

Needing to tell stories of individual experiences

Question 9

Nature of disciplinary origins of Narrative Inquiry

Answer 9

Drawing from the humanities including anthropology, literature, history, psychology, and sociology

Question 10

Forms of data collection of Narrative Inquiry

Answer 10

Using primarily interviews and documents

Data collection tools: Interview protocols (life/history bio), questionnaires, journals-informants, journals-researcher.

Question 11

Strategies of data analysis of Narrative Inquiry

Answer 11

Analyzing data for stories, “restorying” stories, and developing themes, often using a chronology

Question 12

What is traditionally studied in Narrative Inquiry?

Answer 12

Single individual, accessible and distinctive by their stories of experience.

Question 13

What are typical access and rapport procedures of Narrative Inquiry?

Answer 13

Gaining permission from individuals, obtaining access to information in archives
Ethical considerations: Seeking permissions from Human Subject Review Board/IRB/local approvals for access and review procedures; Human Subject/Individual Consent Forms. Become familiar with research context and population. Find out about cultural, religious, gender, and other differences that need to be respected.

Question 14

What type of Narrative Inquiry information is typically collected (forms of data)?

Answer 14

Documents and archival material, open-ended interviews, subject/participant and researcher journaling, life history, bio, participant observation, casual chatting; typically, a single individual

Question 15

According to Czarniawska (2004) and Clandinin and Connelly (2000), how should a Narrative researcher collect data for stories?

Answer 15

Czarniawska (2004) mentions 3 ways to collect data for stories: 1) recording spontaneous incidents of storytelling, 2) eliciting stories through interviews, and 3) asking for stories through such mediums as the Internet. Clandinin and Connelly (2000) suggest collecting field texts through a wide array of sources – autobiographies, journals, researcher field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, stories, of families, documents, photographs, and personal-family-social artifacts.

Question 16

How is Narrative information recorded?

Answer 16

Notes, interview protocol

Question 17

Methods of Interpreting Narrative Data

Answer 17

Analysis and interpretation work together in tandem to find narrative meaning in the process of storytelling, retelling, and reliving of personal experiences. Typically, field notes and interview transcriptions are shared with the narrator, so that the written analysis may be constructed collaboratively. There is recognition that the researcher is not just passively recording and reporting the narrator’s own reality.
Regarding presentation of data, a narrative researcher can take a literary orientation or a chronological approach (Cresswell & Poth, 2018).

Question 18

Key Words for purpose statement in Narrative research

Answer 18

Report, describe, perceive

Question 19

Critique: Strengths and Limitations of Narrative research

Answer 19

Narrative research does not lead to conclusions and certainty. Uncertainty and tension guide the work, and rather than produce conclusive findings, the process offers understanding and meaning. There is inherent reflexivity in narrative research that demands the attention of the researcher and the participant collaborators as the story emerges and evolves through multiple iterations. Each researcher brings his or her own epistemological and ontological views to the study, and so multiple challenging issues can possibly arise in collecting, analyzing, and telling individual .

Question 20

What are the 3 Categories of Narrative Inquiry Interview Protocols

Answer 20

1) Thematic/structural/dialogic – combines elements of the story that is told, how it is told, and the performance or production aspect of the story, as in how the story evolves, conveys a message, or makes a point.
2) Narrative dramatism – Burke (1969) focuses on the story as a showcase for how individuals make sense of the events in their lives. The narrative dramatism interview format uses the concept of “life as theater” to interview participants and follow a construct (five sequenced steps) to reveal how participants experienced or describe a particular phenomenon. Burke (1969) five key elements: 1) Act 2) Scene 3) Agent 4) Agency 5) Purpose
3) Life history/life stories – researcher orders the meaning of individual experiences in the life stages sequence employing a 3-phase process: 1) past life history 2) present life account 3) Integrated meaning of the two perspectives.