Narrative Inquiry Experience and Story in Qualitative Research

by Clandinin, D. Jean; Connelly, F. Michael

• ISBN13: 9780787972769
• ISBN10: 0787972762
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-13
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

"The literature on narrative inquiry has been, until now, widely scattered and theoretically incomplete. Clandinin and Connelly have created a major tour de force. This book is lucid, fluid, beautifully argued, and rich in examples. Students will find a wealth of arguments to support their research, and teaching faculty will find everything they need to teach narrative inquiry theory and methods."--Yvonna S. Lincoln, professor, Department of Educational Administration, Texas A&M University Understanding experience as lived and told stories--also known as narrative inquiry--has gained popularity and credence in qualitative research. Unlike more traditional methods, narrative inquiry successfully captures personal and human dimensions that cannot be quantified into dry facts and numerical data. In this definitive guide, Jean Clandinin and Michael Connelly draw from more than twenty years of field experience to show how narrative inquiry can be used in educational and social science research. Tracing the origins of narrative inquiry in the social sciences, they offer new and practical ideas for conducting fieldwork, composing field notes, and conveying research results. Throughout the book, stories and examples reveal a wide range of narrative methods. Engaging and easy to read, Narrative Inquiry is a practical resource from experts who have long pioneered the use of narrative in qualitative research.

Author Biography

D. Jean Clandinin is professor and director of the Centre for Research for Teacher Education and Development at the University of Alberta.<BR> F. Michael Connelly is professor and director of the Centre for Teacher Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
The Authors	p. xix
Prologue	p. xxi
Why Narrative?	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
John Dewey	p. 2
Mark Johnson and Alasdair MacIntyre	p. 3
New Ways of Thinking: The Contribution of Inquiry	p. 4
Clifford Geertz, After the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist	p. 5
Mary Catherine Bateson, Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way	p. 7
Barbara Czarniawska, Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity	p. 10
Robert Coles, The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination	p. 11
Donald Polkinghorne, Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences	p. 15
Bringing These Authors to Narrative Inquiry	p. 16
Why the Turn to Narrative?	p. 17
Coming to Research Narratively	p. 20
Thinking Narratively: A Case at the Boundaries	p. 21
Introduction	p. 21
Bloom's Taxonomy	p. 21
Working with the Taxonomy Team	p. 25
Responses to a Narrative Revision	p. 27
Inquiry Life at the Boundaries	p. 29
Temporality	p. 29
People	p. 30
Action	p. 30
Certainty	p. 31
Context	p. 32
Summary	p. 32
Thinking Narratively: Reductionistic and Formalistic Boundaries	p. 34
Introduction	p. 35
The Ideas of Schon, Oakeshott, and Johnson	p. 35
Narrative Thinking at the Formalistic Boundary	p. 38
Inquiry Life at the Formalistic Boundary	p. 40
The Place of Theory	p. 40
The Balance of Theory	p. 42
People	p. 43
The Place of the Researcher	p. 45
Summary	p. 46
What Do Narrative Inquirers Do?	p. 48
Introduction	p. 49
Narrative Inquiry Terms and Narrative Inquiry Spaces	p. 49
A Story of Working in a Three-Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space with Ming Fang He	p. 51
Three-Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space	p. 54
A Story of Working in a Three-Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space with Karen Whelan	p. 57
A Reflective Note	p. 60
Being in the Field: Walking into the Midst of Stories	p. 63
Introduction	p. 63
Beginning in the Midst	p. 63
Beginning in the Midst at Bay Street School	p. 64
Being in the Midst Is Different for Everyone	p. 68
Living, Telling, Retelling, and Reliving Stories	p. 71
What Do We Do Now That We Are in the Field?	p. 71
Negotiating Relationships	p. 71
Negotiating Purposes	p. 73
Negotiating Transitions	p. 74
Negotiating a Way to Be Useful	p. 75
Getting a Feel for It	p. 76
Living Life on the Landscape	p. 77
From Field to Field Texts: Being in a Place of Stories	p. 80
Introduction	p. 80
Falling in Love, Slipping to Cool Observation	p. 81
Remembering an Outline, Slipping into Detail	p. 83
Narrative Truth and Narrative Relativism	p. 85
Turning Inward, Watching Outward	p. 86
The Ambiguity of Working in a Three-Dimensional Inquiry Space	p. 89
Composing Field Texts	p. 92
Introduction	p. 92
Composing Field Texts Is an Interpretive Process	p. 93
Writing Field Texts Expresses the Relationship of Researcher to Participant	p. 94
Field Texts in a Three-Dimensional Inquiry Space	p. 95
Interwoven Field Texts	p. 96
Teacher Stories as Field Text	p. 98
Autobiographical Writing as Field Text	p. 101
Journal Writing as Field Text	p. 102
Field Notes as Field Text	p. 104
Letters as Field Text	p. 106
Conversation as Field Text	p. 108
Research Interview as Field Text	p. 110
Family Stories and Stories of Families as Field Text	p. 112
Documents as Field Text	p. 113
Photographs, Memory Boxes, and Other Personal-Family-Social Artifacts as Field Text	p. 114
Life Experience as a Source of Field Texts	p. 115
What Is Important for Inquirers to Know About Field Texts?	p. 116
From Field Texts to Research Texts: Making Meaning of Experience	p. 119
Introduction	p. 119
What Do Narrative Inquirers Do?	p. 120
Justification (Why?)	p. 121
Phenomena (What?)	p. 124
Method (How?)	p. 127
Theoretical Considerations	p. 127
Practical Field Text-Oriented Considerations	p. 129
Interpretive-Analytic Considerations	p. 130
Theory and Literature	p. 135
Kind of Text Intended	p. 136
Composing Research Texts	p. 138
Introduction	p. 138
Experiencing Tensions as Writing Begins	p. 139
Writing Research Texts at the Boundaries	p. 140
Writing Research Texts at the Formalistic Boundary	p. 140
Writing Research Texts at the Reductionistic Boundary	p. 141
Writing, Memory, and Research Texts	p. 143
Writing Research Texts in the Midst of Uncertainty	p. 144
Voice	p. 146
Signature	p. 147
Audience	p. 149
Tensions Among Voice, Signature, and Audience	p. 149
Narrative Form	p. 151
Narrative Form in He's Dissertation	p. 156
Narrative Form in Rose's Dissertation	p. 159
Searching for Narrative Form	p. 162
Reading Other Narrative Dissertations and Books	p. 162
Looking for Metaphor	p. 163
Noticing Reading Preferences	p. 163
Experimenting with Form	p. 164
Maintaining a Sense of Work in Progress	p. 166
Audience and the Composition of Research Texts	p. 167
Persistent Concerns in Narrative Inquiry	p. 169
Introduction	p. 169
Ethics	p. 170
Ethics and Anonymity	p. 174
Ownership and Relational Responsibilities	p. 176
How We Are Storied as Researchers	p. 177
Fact and Fiction	p. 179
Risks, Dangers, and Abuses: "I, the Critic"	p. 181
Wakefulness	p. 184
Epilogue	p. 187
References	p. 191
Index	p. 199
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