Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches - Hardcover

Elliott, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1412900409 ISBN 13: 9781412900409

Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2005

Synopsis

"An elegantly written, scholarly and accessible text. Jane Elliott shows a sophisticated appreciation of contemporary methodological developments, and makes a persuasive case for the use of narrative approaches in both qualitative and quantitative research. The book challenges and advances debates about combining methods, and shows how stories can work within and across conventional research boundaries. It is a truly original contribution to the literature."
-- Amanda Coffey Cardiff School of Social Sciences

This is a lucid and accessible introduction to narrative methods in social research. It is also an important book about the nature, role and theoretical basis of research methodology in general. Jane Elliott instructs the reader on the basic methods and methodological assumptions that form the basis of narrative methods. She does so in a way that is practical and accessible and in a way that will make the book a favourite with students and experienced researchers alike. Elliott argues that both qualitative and quantitative methods are characterized by a concern with narrative, and that our research data can best be analyzed if it is seen in narrative terms. In concrete, step-by-step terms she details for the reader how to go about collecting data and how to subject that data to narrative analysis, while at the same time placing this process in its wider theoretical context. She works across the traditional quantitative/qualitative divide to set out the ways in which narrative researchers can uncover such issues as social change, causality and social identity. She also shows how the techniques and skills used by qualitative researchers can be deployed when doing quantitative research and, similarly, how qualitative researchers can sometimes profit from using quantitative skills and techniques.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Jane Elliott is currently employed as Research Director of the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education, London. She was previously a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University.

Edition details

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1412900409
• ISBN 13: 9781412900409
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232