Narrative Research

Narrative Research was Influenced by the Following Three Trends:

  1. Increased emphasis on teacher reflection for what worked or didn’t work.
  2. More attention given to what teachers know, how they think, and how they make classroom decisions.
  3. The ability to shed light on teacher’s stories, and enabling to reflect on their personal experiences.

What is Narrative Research?

  • A form of inquiry where researches describe the lives of individuals, collect and tell stories about people’s lives, and write narratives of individual experiences.
  • A form of qualitative research that focuses on studying a single person.
  • Data is gathered through the collection of stories, individual experiences, and discussing the meaning of the those experiences for the individual.

Why Narrative Research?

  • It gives people a voice and chance to discuss their experiences.
  • It gives an opportunity to explore research problems by including and analyzing the experiences of an individual.
  • Useful for better understanding our patients and why they may choose a certain treatment or another.
  • It can offer a specific way of caring about how knowledge is produced, and how it affects human thought and behaviour.

Common Characteristics and Assumptions of Narrative Research:

  • Narrative research is a means by which we systematically gather, analyze, and represent people’s stories as told by them.
  • It challenges reality, knowledge, and personhood.
  • Provides a narrative story of the phenomenon of interest that can assist in the understanding of why the participants did what they did.
  • Narratives provide a window into the process of self identity.
  • Narratives allows the nurse to have an insider view and deeper understanding of the issues that arise between the nurse patient relationship.
  • Narrative research can enable us to establish a therapeutic relationship with our patients.
  • Narrative research is the belief that the stories being told hold special influences and provides a unique perspective of individuals and the social world.
  • Narrative research often “assumes a distinction between the representation and that which is represented."
  • Narrative research focuses on representing real life experiences in a transparent fashion.
  • Narrative research assumes the participant(s) offers the most accurate and powerful insights into the specific phenomena of study.
  • Narrative research emphasizes the importance of learning from their participants.

  • Some material from this presentation is not original, please see reference page for sources.