Narrative inquiry
Encyclopedia
Narrative Inquiry emerged as a discipline within the broader field of qualitative research
. It is an approach to understanding/researching the way people make meaning of their lives as narratives, linked fields are narrative analysis, narratology
and life writing
. Narrative Inquiry should be distinguished from storytelling
in that the word narrative implies an audience and a narrator. Of interest to narrative inquirers is not what happened so much as what meaning did people make of what happened. Narrative Inquiry is a fairly recent movement in social science qualitative research
. It has been employed as a tool for analysis in the fields of cognitive science
, organizational studies
, knowledge
theory, sociology
and education
studies, among others.
Other recent advances include the development of quantitative methods and tools based on the large volume capture of fragmented anecdotal material, and that which is self signified or indexed at the point of capture. According to D. Clandinin and F. Connelly, Narrative Inquiry is an understanding of “narrative as both phenomena under study and method of study”
Narrative Inquiry emerged not just as a form of qualitative research
, but from the field of Knowledge Management
, which shares the sphere of Information Management
. Thus Narrative Inquiry focuses on the organization of human knowledge more than merely the collection and processing of data
. It also implies that knowledge itself is considered valuable and noteworthy even when known by only one person.
Knowledge Management
was coined as a discipline in the 1990s as a method of identifying, representing, sharing, and communicating knowledge
. Knowledge Management
and Narrative Inquiry share the idea of Knowledge transfer
, a theory which seeks to transfer unquantifiable elements of knowledge, including experience
. Knowledge, if not communicated, becomes arguably use-less, literally unused.
Philosopher Andy Clark
speculates that the ways in which minds deal with narrative
(second-hand information) and memory
(first-hand perception) are cognitively indistinguishable. Narrative, then, becomes an effective and powerful method of transferring knowledge.
is a powerful tool in the transfer, or sharing, of knowledge, one that is bound to cognitive issues of memory
, constructed memory, and perceived memory. Jerome Bruner
discusses this issue in his 1990 book, Acts of Meaning, where he considers the narrative form as a non-neutral rhetorical account that aims at “illocutionary intentions,” or the desire to communicate meaning
. This technique might be called “narrative
” or defined as a particular branch of storytelling
within the narrative method. Bruner’s approach places the narrative in time, to “assume an experience of time” rather than just making reference to historical time.
This narrative approach captures the emotion of the moment described, rendering the event active rather than passive, infused with the latent meaning being communicated by the teller. Two concepts are thus tied to narrative storytelling: memory and notions of time, both as time as found in the past and time as re-lived in the present.
A narrative method accepts the idea that knowledge can be held in stories that can be relayed, stored, and retrieved.
is credited for influencing the American field of education in addition to his influence on the social sciences and psychology. His philosophical ideas remain popular primarily in America. Dewey informs Narrative Inquiry in terms of the nature of experience
. Dewey viewed experience as having both social and personal meaning, believing that people should be analyzed both as individuals and as part of a group or social context. In this view of experience nothing and no one exists in isolation.
Dewey’s criterion of experience is that of “continuity:” that all experiences are shaped by previous ones and will continue to shape those that come after. Despite difficulty in defining this term, it is clear how the emphasis on individual experience would lend itself to storytelling
methodologies, and how the idea of continuity relates to shared knowledge, or Knowledge Management
/Transfer.
In Narrative Inquiry each experience is perceived of as being on a continuum, that of “imagined now, some imagined past, or some imagined future."
converge within narrative methodologies. Within Narrative Inquiry, storytelling seeks to better understand the “why” behind human action. Story collecting as a form of Narrative Inquiry allows the research participants to put the data
into their own words and reveal the latent “why” behind their assertions.
“Interpretive research” is a form of field-research methodology that also searches for the subjective "why." Interpretive research, using methods termed “storytelling” or “Narrative Inquiry,” does not attempt to predefine independent variables and dependent variables, but acknowledges context and seeks to “understand phenomena through the meanings that people assign to them.”
Two influential minds in the narrative research model are Mark Johnson (professor)
and Alasdair MacIntyre
. In his work on experiential, embodied metaphors, Johnson encourages the researcher to challenge “how you see knowledge as embodied, embedded in a culture based on narrative unity,” the “construct of continuity in individual lives.”
research. As Michael Brecher and Frank P. Harvey advocate, when asking unusual questions it is logical to ask them in an unusual manner. The Narrative Inquiry and storytelling
methods require researchers to consider their studies culturally and theoretically, with particular attention to the “why,” or meaning, of the narrative story.
has had to fight for a place in the realm of “accepted” academic fields, so too will Narrative Inquiry and “storytelling as method.”
In this relatively young field there is some disagreement. While some argue that there is a clear distinction between Narrative Inquiry and storytelling
, others might describe Narrative Inquiry as a form of Organizational Storytelling
. It could be argued that “story as method” allows for a relaxation of “accuracy” in order to allow the greater meaning of the narrative to come through, i.e., that the veracity of meaning out-ranks the veracity of detail.
Many advocate the alternative nature of this method of discourse analysis
and present diverse methods for deploying it. However, Narrative Inquiry challenges the philosophy behind data-gathering and questions the idea of “objective” data. Narrative Inquiry is additionally criticized for not being “theoretical enough."
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
. It is an approach to understanding/researching the way people make meaning of their lives as narratives, linked fields are narrative analysis, narratology
Narratology
Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
and life writing
Life writing
Life writing is a fluid term used to describe the recording of selves, memories and experiences, whether one's own or another's. It is a term deliberately designed to describe many genres and practices, under which can be found autobiography, biography, memoir, diaries, letters, testimonies,...
. Narrative Inquiry should be distinguished from storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
in that the word narrative implies an audience and a narrator. Of interest to narrative inquirers is not what happened so much as what meaning did people make of what happened. Narrative Inquiry is a fairly recent movement in social science qualitative research
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
. It has been employed as a tool for analysis in the fields of cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, organizational studies
Organizational studies
Organizational studies, sometimes known as organizational science, encompass the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about how people act within organizations...
, knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
theory, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
studies, among others.
Other recent advances include the development of quantitative methods and tools based on the large volume capture of fragmented anecdotal material, and that which is self signified or indexed at the point of capture. According to D. Clandinin and F. Connelly, Narrative Inquiry is an understanding of “narrative as both phenomena under study and method of study”
Background
Clandinin and Connelly define Narrative Inquiry as a method that uses the following field texts as data sources: stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, family stories, photos (and other artifacts), and life experience.Narrative Inquiry emerged not just as a form of qualitative research
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
, but from the field of Knowledge Management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
, which shares the sphere of Information Management
Information management
Information management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information...
. Thus Narrative Inquiry focuses on the organization of human knowledge more than merely the collection and processing of data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
. It also implies that knowledge itself is considered valuable and noteworthy even when known by only one person.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
was coined as a discipline in the 1990s as a method of identifying, representing, sharing, and communicating knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
. Knowledge Management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
and Narrative Inquiry share the idea of Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer
Knowledge transfer in the fields of organizational development and organizational learning is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another part of the organization. Like Knowledge Management, Knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or...
, a theory which seeks to transfer unquantifiable elements of knowledge, including experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
. Knowledge, if not communicated, becomes arguably use-less, literally unused.
Philosopher Andy Clark
Andy Clark
Andy Clark is a Professor of Philosophy and Chair in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Before this he was director of the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University in Bloomington. Previously, he taught at Washington University at St. Louis and the University...
speculates that the ways in which minds deal with narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
(second-hand information) and memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
(first-hand perception) are cognitively indistinguishable. Narrative, then, becomes an effective and powerful method of transferring knowledge.
Narrative ways of knowing
NarrativeNarrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
is a powerful tool in the transfer, or sharing, of knowledge, one that is bound to cognitive issues of memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
, constructed memory, and perceived memory. Jerome Bruner
Jerome Bruner
Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist who has contributed to cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology, as well as to history and to the general philosophy of education. Bruner is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School...
discusses this issue in his 1990 book, Acts of Meaning, where he considers the narrative form as a non-neutral rhetorical account that aims at “illocutionary intentions,” or the desire to communicate meaning
Meaning (linguistics)
In linguistics, meaning is what is expressed by the writer or speaker, and what is conveyed to the reader or listener, provided that they talk about the same thing . In other words if the object and the name of the object and the concepts in their head are the same...
. This technique might be called “narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
” or defined as a particular branch of storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
within the narrative method. Bruner’s approach places the narrative in time, to “assume an experience of time” rather than just making reference to historical time.
This narrative approach captures the emotion of the moment described, rendering the event active rather than passive, infused with the latent meaning being communicated by the teller. Two concepts are thus tied to narrative storytelling: memory and notions of time, both as time as found in the past and time as re-lived in the present.
A narrative method accepts the idea that knowledge can be held in stories that can be relayed, stored, and retrieved.
John Dewey's Influence
John DeweyJohn Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
is credited for influencing the American field of education in addition to his influence on the social sciences and psychology. His philosophical ideas remain popular primarily in America. Dewey informs Narrative Inquiry in terms of the nature of experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
. Dewey viewed experience as having both social and personal meaning, believing that people should be analyzed both as individuals and as part of a group or social context. In this view of experience nothing and no one exists in isolation.
Dewey’s criterion of experience is that of “continuity:” that all experiences are shaped by previous ones and will continue to shape those that come after. Despite difficulty in defining this term, it is clear how the emphasis on individual experience would lend itself to storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
methodologies, and how the idea of continuity relates to shared knowledge, or Knowledge Management
Knowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
/Transfer.
In Narrative Inquiry each experience is perceived of as being on a continuum, that of “imagined now, some imagined past, or some imagined future."
Interpretive Research
The idea of imagination is where Narrative Inquiry and storytellingStorytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
converge within narrative methodologies. Within Narrative Inquiry, storytelling seeks to better understand the “why” behind human action. Story collecting as a form of Narrative Inquiry allows the research participants to put the data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
into their own words and reveal the latent “why” behind their assertions.
“Interpretive research” is a form of field-research methodology that also searches for the subjective "why." Interpretive research, using methods termed “storytelling” or “Narrative Inquiry,” does not attempt to predefine independent variables and dependent variables, but acknowledges context and seeks to “understand phenomena through the meanings that people assign to them.”
Two influential minds in the narrative research model are Mark Johnson (professor)
Mark Johnson (professor)
Mark L. Johnson is Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oregon. He is well-known for contributions to embodied philosophy, cognitive science and cognitive linguistics, some of which he has coauthored with George Lakoff such as...
and Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a British philosopher primarily known for his contribution to moral and political philosophy but known also for his work in history of philosophy and theology...
. In his work on experiential, embodied metaphors, Johnson encourages the researcher to challenge “how you see knowledge as embodied, embedded in a culture based on narrative unity,” the “construct of continuity in individual lives.”
Practices
Feminist scholars have found narrative analysis useful for data collection of perspectives that have been traditionally marginalized. The method is also appropriate to cross-culturalCross-cultural
cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*cross-cultural communication, a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate...
research. As Michael Brecher and Frank P. Harvey advocate, when asking unusual questions it is logical to ask them in an unusual manner. The Narrative Inquiry and storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
methods require researchers to consider their studies culturally and theoretically, with particular attention to the “why,” or meaning, of the narrative story.
Criticisms
Narrative Inquiry is seen by many as something between the formal and the ad hoc, either contrived or piecemeal. It is perceived as an unorthodox method of formal inquiry being used in scholarly or scientific fields of research. Some might argue that just as Knowledge ManagementKnowledge management
Knowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
has had to fight for a place in the realm of “accepted” academic fields, so too will Narrative Inquiry and “storytelling as method.”
In this relatively young field there is some disagreement. While some argue that there is a clear distinction between Narrative Inquiry and storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, others might describe Narrative Inquiry as a form of Organizational Storytelling
Organizational storytelling
Organizational storytelling is an emerging discipline in the study of management, strategy and organization studies. As an emerging discipline it is contested ground, with some academics describing it is a purposeful tool to be used by business people, and others describing it is a way of...
. It could be argued that “story as method” allows for a relaxation of “accuracy” in order to allow the greater meaning of the narrative to come through, i.e., that the veracity of meaning out-ranks the veracity of detail.
Many advocate the alternative nature of this method of discourse analysis
Discourse analysis
Discourse analysis , or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event....
and present diverse methods for deploying it. However, Narrative Inquiry challenges the philosophy behind data-gathering and questions the idea of “objective” data. Narrative Inquiry is additionally criticized for not being “theoretical enough."
See also
- CynefinCynefinThe Cynefin framework is a model used to describe problems, situations and systems. The model provides a typology of contexts that guides what sort of explanations and/or solutions may apply. Cynefin is a Welsh word, which is commonly translated into English as 'habitat' or 'place', although...
- Knowledge ManagementKnowledge managementKnowledge management comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences...
- Knowledge transferKnowledge transferKnowledge transfer in the fields of organizational development and organizational learning is the practical problem of transferring knowledge from one part of the organization to another part of the organization. Like Knowledge Management, Knowledge transfer seeks to organize, create, capture or...
- Organizational storytellingOrganizational storytellingOrganizational storytelling is an emerging discipline in the study of management, strategy and organization studies. As an emerging discipline it is contested ground, with some academics describing it is a purposeful tool to be used by business people, and others describing it is a way of...
- Phronetic social sciencePhronetic social sciencePhronetic social science is an approach to the study of social – including political and economic – phenomena based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, variously translated as practical judgment, common sense, or prudence. Phronesis is the intellectual virtue...
- Reflective practiceReflective practiceReflective practice is "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning", which, according to the originator of the term, is "one of the defining characteristics of professional practice"....
- StorytellingStorytellingStorytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
- Hermeneutics
- Praxis interventionPraxis interventionPraxis Intervention is a form of participatory action research. Where other forms of participatory action research emphasize the collective modification of the external world, the praxis intervention model emphasizes working on the Praxis potential of its participants...
External links
David Pollard's writing on Knowledge Management and Narrative Inquiry.- http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/categories/businessInnovation/2005/06/06.html#a1170