Narrative Methods, Volume 1 Narrative Perspectives, Volume2 Narrative Applications, Volume 3 Oral History and Testimony Volume 4 Performance and Performativity - Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods

In recent years, there has been a convergence of interest on narratives and lives from many qualitative and interpretative strands in the social sciences: sociology and anthropology, health and nursing studies, educational research, cultural and communication analysis, cultural geography and the emergent fields of discourse and narrative analyses. In some contexts this is interpreted somewhat narrowly but these volumes adopt a more inclusive approach to the topic of narrative methods to reflect the current diversity of perspectives across the different social sciences. Here the broad term ′narrative′ includes personal narratives, life histories, performances, testimonials, and memories. The aims of this compilation are to:

• Demonstrate the deeply rooted nature of this approach across the social sciences;
• Reveal the contested nature of the narrative turn;
• Emphasize the methodological strengths and weakness associated with the collection and analysis of narrative, life story and performance;
• Break down the barriers between the disciplines in their uses of such material.

Paul Atkinson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Cardiff University. Recent publications include For Ethnography (SAGE 2014) and Thinking Ethnographically (SAGE 2017). The fourth book in his quartet will be Crafting Ethnography, also for SAGE. The fourth edition of Hammersley and Atkinson Ethnography: Principles in Practice was published by Routledge in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales.

Dr Sara Delamont, DSc Econ, AcSS. read Social Anthropology at Girton College Cambridge, did her PhD at Edinburgh, and lectured at Leicester before moving to Cardiff in 1976. She was the first woman to be President of BERA (the British Education Research Association) and the first woman Dean of Social Sciences at Cardiff. She has done ethnographies in schools, and other settings where teaching and learning take place such as operatic master classes and martial arts studios. With Paul Atkinson she is the Founding Editor of Qualitative Research, and is the author of fourteen books.