Narrative Inquiry (Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods)

Narrative inquiry allows for a detailed examination of the structure and content of a story and its significance in relation to psychological, sociological, or historical frames of reference. Narrative methods are ideal for the study of intra- and inter-personal process. They are traditionally used to understand first-person accounts obtained in interviews, but unlike other forms of analysis, the storied nature of data is retained, allowing for qualitative analysis of personal experience in relation to time, social condition, and place.

This pocket guide presents a reader-friendly introduction to narrative inquiry. It focuses on one particular research design, the case study design, providing a broad framework in which narrative and other relevant data may be collected and the specific ways in which audio recordings of interviews may be transcribed. With dozens of transcript examples taken from research conducted around the English-speaking world, this guide reviews prevailing analytic frameworks for the analysis of transcribed interviews, which include analyses of narrative content, structure, and context. Two cutting-edge approaches, critical narrative analysis and contextual discursive analysis, are also examined for applicability in teasing out how interviewees come to give the narratives that they do-the psychological processes and representational forms that people draw on in telling the stories of their lives. Issues pertaining to validity, reflexivity, and ethics in relation to narrative inquiry are also delineated. Appendices contain a summary of narrative analytic methods and a detailed guide for developing a narrative research proposal. The over 250 references include core references in narrative inquiry that span a range of disciplines and offer a platform for further study of this unique and vital method.

Ideal for researchers and graduate students new to narrative study, this is a valuable guide to developing research projects that depend on narrative methods.

Kathleen Wells, Ph.D., is Emerita Professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.