Chapter 10

Narrative research

Lewis P and Adney R. (2014). In: Mills J and

Birks M (eds) Qualitative methodologies: A
practical guide. London: Sage Publications
 Learning objectives
Discuss the philosophical underpinnings of narrative inquiry

Outline the key philosophies involved in the development of

narrative inquiry

Describe the different types of narrative inquiry

Reflect on the ethical responsibility of the positioning of the

researcher undertaking narrative inquiry

Summarize strategies for data generation and analysis in narrative

inquiry

Critique mechanisms for ensuring rigour and quality in narrative

inquiry
 History of the methodology
• 1920s – Chicago School of anthropology

• 1960s/70s – feminist work

• 1970s/80s – sociolinguistic work

• 1980s/present - Grown dramatically in

qualitative research
 History of the methodology
• Story is our primary mode of making meaning
and understanding of lived experience

• Narrative work involves different methods:

autobiography, auto-ethnography, narrative
performance & narrative inquiry

• Story is the common thread

 History of the methodology
• Narrative inquiry as a methodology

• Can be used in multiple disciplines

• Well suited to social science questions and

human inquiries

• Inquiry into stories creates an educative

experience as individuals interpret their own
and others’ experiences
 History of the methodology
• Narrative inquiry should not be confused with
narrative analysis

• Narrative analysis predates narrative inquiry

• Emerged in the 1960s post-positivist

movement
 History of the methodology
• Narrative analysis positions the researcher as
the sole interpreter of narratives

• Narrative analysis discounts the meanings that

readers/listeners bring to text

• Narrative analysis discounts “the fact that

language [stories] creates rather that mirrors
reality” (Denzin, 1997: 224)
 History of the methodology
• Narrative inquirers structure a self-narrative
through living, telling, re-telling and reliving
(Connelly and Clandinin, 2006)

• Narratives are not fixed temporally

• Inherent reflexivity demands the researcher’s

attention as story emerges and changes
through multiple iterations
 Philosophical underpinnings
• Influenced by ethnography, phenomenology,
phenomenological hermeneutics, narrative
psychology & literary studies
• Espouses the belief that humans and non-
humans are best studied in their natural
settings
• Individuals’ stories often disrupt or run counter
to larger, accepted dominant narratives
 Philosophical underpinnings
Distinct features of narrative inquiry include:
• Oral and written narrative are treated as
distinct forms of discourse
• Communicates the narrator’s point of view
• Explain why the narrative is worth telling
• Pay attention to emotions, thoughts and
interpretations (Chase, 2005)
 Positioning of the researcher
• Fundamental to ask: How am I positioned in
this narrative?
• Researcher and co-researcher(s) are intimately
engaged in the story of relationship
• Researcher – participant relationships may be
intense, personal and conflicting
 Positioning of the researcher
• Narratives promote social justice
• Enable historically marginalized and silenced
peoples to tell their stories
• Need to consider how the hierarchy of power
can be negotiated, balanced, flattened,
disrupted or exacerbated
Aligning philosophy and methodology with
purpose
• Need firstly to determine what is your
research question?
• Research methodology should not be
predetermined
• Need to ask if narrative research fits your
research question
Aligning philosophy and methodology with
purpose
• Narrative inquirers are interested in
inclusion in research
• Enable stories and observations to be
revealed by participants telling their own
stories
• Study the unremarkable, routine and
ordinary and raise awareness and
questions around practice
 Data generation and collection
Data collection may include one or more of the
following:
• participant stories
• conversation
• field notes poetry
• imagined dialogue
• artwork
 Data generation and collection
• Managing data may include concurrent data
collection and analysis
• Enables new insights, questions and
connections to emerge
• Recruiting participants may require
preliminary relationship building
• No required sample size - may range from one
to many
 Data generation and collection
• Means of collecting data: personal journal,
digital audio-visual, digital camera,
observation notebook, artwork, artifacts
• Think broadly and creatively about what
defines data: photographs, poetry, artwork,
playlets, digital media, imagined dialogue
 Data generation and collection
• Questions around quantity of data
• Better to see small and understand a piece of
the puzzle and then fit that into a larger
picture
• Consider how your own data collection
(writing notes, taking photos etc.) may
interrupt relationships with participants
 Analysis of data
• How do you write about ‘other’?
• Develop your own voice even as you construct
others’ voices and realities (Chase, 2005)
• Temporality, sociality and place underpin
narrative studies (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000)
• Use as checkpoints, especially for novice
researchers (refer box 10.1 in textbook)
 Analysis of data
• Attend to the small seemingly routine or
ordinary occurrences while watching the
larger picture
• Read and re-read fieldnotes
• Look for commonalities, patterns &
connections
• Be prepared for surprises
 Quality and rigour
• “that’s a good story, but is it really research”
(Ceglowski, 1997: 195)

• Researchers often challenged on the

authenticity of their narrative inquiries
• Human science approaches are concerned
with finding meaning not measurements
• Need for evidence, interpretive plausibility,
logical construction and disciplined thought
(Connelly and Clandinin, 2006)
 Quality and rigour
• Narrative inquiry does not claim some bold TRUTH
but provides some truths about human beings and
being human
• Believability, authenticity, quality, power and
authority are at the nexus of validity in narrative
research
• Believability means: to hold dear, love; to like, desire

• Authenticity means: original, principal and genuine

 Quality and rigour
• When we tell a story we are making a bid for
power (Toolan, 1988)
• Shifting researchers’ sense of trust from
method to relationship
• “We invest our trust in our methods not in out
relationships” (Hendry, 2007: 493)
• Story is relationships not methods
 Quality and rigour
• Narrative is the methodology
• Storytelling is the method
• Stories and storytelling are the authentic form
of research
 Ethical concerns and relational
responsibility
• Centrality of relationship in the research
process
• Respect for participants offering of stories
• Research is less about interpretation and more
about faith – trust the stories and the
storyteller (Hendry, 2007)
 Ethical concerns and relational
responsibility
• Relational responsibility begins before the
inquiry, grows and develops during the inquiry
and continues after the inquiry
• Represent stories so that they do no harm
• Listen the storyteller’s narrative into being
Presentation and dissemination of findings

• Think about your audience

• Think about the format you will use to present
your findings i.e. poetry, theatre, film, video,
imagined dialogue, creating a website
• Determine a writing genre that is fair and
genuine
Presentation and dissemination of findings

• Narrative research does not result in one

definitive finding or conclusion
• Findings cannot be predicted
• Narrative inquiry looks for understanding and
meaning
 Summary
• Developed in the early 20th century
• In and through narrative meaning making we
gain insight and understanding of lived
experience
• “We are stories and stories are us” (Lewis and Adeney, 2014)
 References
Ceglowski D. (1997) That’s a good story, but is it really research? Qualitative Inquiry 3: 188-201.

Chase S. (2005) Narrative Inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices In: Denzin N and Linclon
Y (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research Thousand Oaks: Sage, 651-679.

Clandinin D and Connelly M. (2000) Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative
research, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Connelly F and Clandinin D. (2006) Narrative Inquiry In: Green J, Camilli G and Elmore P (eds)
Handbook of complementary methods in education research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum,
375-385.

Denzin N. (1997) Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century,
Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Hendry M. (2007) The future of narrative. Qualitative Inquiry 13: 487-498.

Toolan M. (1988) Narrative: a critical linguistic introduction, New York: Routledge.