Chapter 16

Narrative Research Designs

Power Point slides by Ronald J. Shope in collaboration with John W. Creswell

Key Ideas
Narrative research and when to use it Types of narrative designs Key characteristics of narrative designs Potential issues in gathering data Steps in conducting a narrative study Evaluating narrative research

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

What is narrative research?

In narrative research, researchers describe the lives of individuals, collect and tell stories about peoples lives, and write narratives of individual experiences. As a distinct form of qualitative research, a narrative typically focuses on studying a single person, gathering data through the collection of stories, reporting individual experiences, and discussing the meaning of those experiences for the individual.
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

How do you use narrative designs?

When individuals are willing to tell their stories Want to report personal experiences in a particular setting Want a close bond with participants When participants want to process their stories When you have a chronology of events When you want to write in a literary way and develop the micro picture
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

How did narrative research develop?

1990 Clandinin and Connelly first overview of narrative research in education Trends influencing the development of narrative research
increased emphasis on teacher reflection emphasis placed on teacher knowledge attempt to bring teachers voices to the forefront
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Types of narrative designs: Questions to ask

Who writes or records the story?( e.g., Biography; Autobiography) How much of a life is recorded or presented? (e.g., Life History; Personal Experience Story) Who provides the story? Is a theoretical lens being used? (Ideology that provides structure) When can narrative forms be combined? (e.g., Biography and Personal Account)
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics of narrative designs

Individual experiences Chronology of the experiences Collecting individual stories Restorying Coding for themes Context or setting Collaboration with participants
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Individual experiences

Single individual Interested in exploring the experiences of that individual

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Chronology of experiences

Researcher analyzes and writes about an individual life using a time sequence or chronology of events Researcher orders these events in a way that makes sense to a reader

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics Collecting individual stories

A story in narrative research is a first-person oral telling or retelling of an individual Stories have a beginning, middle, and end Involve a predicament, conflict, or struggle; a protagonist or character; and a sequence with implied causality (a plot) during which the predicament is resolved in some fashion Like a novel, stories have time, place, plot, and scene Varied sources of data comprise the data base
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Restorying

Restories the individual stories
researcher gathers stories and analyzes them for elements of the story researcher rewrites the story to place it in a chronological sequence restorying provides a causal link among ideas information would include interaction, continuity, and situation
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

The Process of Restorying

Transcription: researcher conducts the interview and transcribes the conversation from an audiotape Retranscription: identifying the key elements of the story. Codes used by the researcher to identify setting, characters actions, problem and resolution in the transcript Restorying: organizing the key codes into a sequence

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Coding for themes

Themes provide the complexity of the story Themes add depth to the insight about understanding an individuals experiences Themes can be incorporated into the passage retelling the individuals experience or as a separate section of the study

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Context or setting

Describes the context or setting for the individual stories: includes the people involved in the story includes the physical setting setting may be described before events or actions, or can be woven throughout the study

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics: Collaboration with participants

Collaboration: inquirer actively involves the participant in the inquiry as it unfolds Strategies Negotiating relationships Involving participants in the process of research Negotiating transitions in the research process
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Potential issues in narrative research

Story authentic? (Faking the data possible) Is the story real? (Participants may not be able to tell the real story) Who owns the story? (Does the researcher have permission to share it?) Is participants voice lost? Does the researcher gain at the expense of the participant?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Steps in narrative research

Build in past, Present, future Have them Tell story Build in place or setting Describe their story Analyze story for themes

Restory or retell The individuals Collaborate with Collect stories from story participant storyteller in the individual that all phases of research Reflect personal experience Purposefully select an individual to learn about the phenomenon Identify a phenomenon that addresses an educational problem
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Collect other Field texts

Write a story about the participants personal and social experiences Validate the accuracy of the report

Evaluating narrative research

Does the researcher focus on individual experiences? Is there a focus on a single individual or a few individuals? Did the researcher collect the story of an individuals experience? Was there a restorying by the researcher of the participants story?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Evaluating narrative research

In the restorying, was the participants voice as well as the researchers voice heard? Did the researcher identify themes that emerged from the story? Did the story include information about place or setting of the individual?

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Evaluating narrative research

Did the story have a temporal, chronological sequence including the past, present and future? Is there evidence that the researcher collaborated with the participant? Does the story adequately address the purpose and questions of the researcher?
Educational Research 2e: Creswell