Narrative inquiry

Narrative inquiry or narrative analysis emerged as a discipline from within the broader field of qualitative research in the early 20th century, as evidence exists that this method was used in psychology and sociology. Narrative inquiry uses field texts, such as stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, family stories, photos, and life experience, as the units of analysis to research and understand the way people create meaning in their lives as narratives.
Narrative inquiry has been employed as a tool for analysis in the fields of cognitive science, organizational studies, knowledge theory, applied linguistics, sociology, occupational science and education studies, among others. Other approaches include the development of quantitative methods and tools based on the large volume captured by fragmented anecdotal material, and that which is self signified or indexed at the point of capture. Narrative inquiry challenges the philosophy behind quantitative/grounded data-gathering and questions the idea of "objective" data; however, it has been criticized for not being "theoretical enough." In disciplines like applied linguistics, scholarly work has pointed out that enough critical mass of studies exists in the discipline that uses this theory, and that a framework can be developed to guide its application.

Background

Narrative inquiry is a form of qualitative research, that emerged in the field of management science and later also developed in the field of knowledge management, which shares the sphere of information management. Narrative case studies were used by Sigmund Freud in the field of psychology, and biographies were used in sociology in the early twentieth century. 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 early 1980s 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 useless, literally unused.
Philosopher Andy Clark speculates that the ways in which minds deal with narrative and memory are cognitively indistinguishable. Narrative, then, becomes an effective and powerful method of transferring knowledge.
More recently, there has been a "narrative turn" in social science in response to the criticism against the paradigmatic methods of research. It has also been forecasted that soon narrative inquiry will emerge as an independent research method as opposed to being an extension of the qualitative method.

Narrative ways of knowing

Narrative 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. There is also a view that a critical event can play an important role as creating the context of a narrative to be captured.

Method

1. Develop a research question

A qualitative study seeks to learn why or how, so the writer's research must be directed at determining the why and how of the research topic. Therefore, when crafting a research question for a qualitative study, the writer will need to ask a why or how question about the topic.

2. Select or produce raw data

The raw data tend to be interview transcriptions, but can also be the result of field notes compiled during participant observation or from other forms of data collection that can be used to produce a narrative.

3. Organize data

According to psychology professor Donald Polkinghorne, the goal of organizing data is to refine the research question and separate irrelevant or redundant information from that which will be eventually analyzed, sometimes referred to as "narrative smoothing."
Some approaches to organizing data are as follows:
There are a multitude of ways of organizing narrative data that fall under narrative analysis; different types of research questions lend themselves to different approaches. Regardless of the approach, qualitative researchers organize their data into groups based on various common traits.

4. Interpret data

Some paradigms/theories that can be used to interpret data:
While interpreting qualitative data, researchers suggest looking for patterns, themes, and regularities as well as contrasts, paradoxes, and irregularities.
The interpretation is seen in some approaches as co-created by not only the interviewer but also with help from the interviewee, as the researcher uses the interpretation given by the interviewee while also constructing their own meaning from the narrative.
According to some qualitative researchers, the goal of data interpretation is to facilitate the interviewee's experience of the story through a narrative form.
Narrative forms are produced by constructing a coherent story from the data and looking at the data from the perspective of one's research question.

Interpretive research

The idea of imagination is where narrative inquiry and storytelling 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 such as those 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 proponents of a narrative research model are Mark Johnson 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."
The seven "functions of narrative work" as outlined by Catherine Kohler Riessman:

Narrative constitutes past experiences as it provides ways for individuals to make sense of the past.
Narrators argue with stories.
Persuading. Using rhetorical skill to position a statement to make it persuasive/to tell it how it "really" happened. To give it authenticity or 'truth'.
Engagement, keeping the audience in the dynamic relationship with the narrator.
Entertainment.
Stories can function to mislead an audience.
Stories can mobilize others into action for progressive change.

Practices

Narrative analysis therefore can be used to acquire a deeper understanding of the ways in which a few individuals organize and derive meaning from events. It can be particularly useful for studying the impact of social structures on an individual and how that relates to identity, intimate relationships, and family. For example:

Feminist scholars have found narrative analysis useful for data collection of perspectives that have been traditionally marginalized. The method is also appropriate to cross-cultural research. As Michael Brecher and Frank P. Harvey advocate, when asking unusual questions it is logical to ask them in an unusual manner.
Developmental psychology utilizes narrative inquiry to depict a child's experiences in areas such as self-regulation, problem-solving and development of self.
Personality uses the narrative approach in order to illustrate an individual's identity over a lifespan.
Social movements have used narrative analysis in their persuasive techniques.
Political practices. Stories are connected to the flow of power in the wider world. Some narratives serve different purposes for individuals and others, for groups. Some narratives overlap both individual experiences and social.
Promulgation of a culture: Narratives and storytelling are used to remember past events, reveal morals, entertain, relate to one another, and engage a community. Narrative inquiry helps to create an identity and demonstrate/carry on cultural values/traditions. Stories connect humans to each other and to their culture. These cultural definitions aid to make social knowledge accessible to people who are unfamiliar with the culture/situation. An example of this is how children in a given society learn from their parents and the culture around them.