ABSTRACT
Narrative interviewing, the elicitation of accounts of personal experience, has become a favoured investigative method in applied linguistics and neighbouring disciplines. It has enhanced our understandings of the dynamic trajectories of language learning and use, and it has inspired alternative ways of conceptualizing and critiquing both narrative and identity. Representation also became a concern in the ways that the interviewee’s narratives evolved over time. Narrative interviewing will undoubtedly remain a popular research method with applied linguists interested in the personal experiences and perspectives of ‘real people’ in the ‘real world.’ In this chapter, the author contributes to the goals of researcher reflexivity and methodological transparency. Reflecting on a sample narrative interview study, he traces some of the dilemmas he encountered in the stages of data analysis and discusses steps he took toward resolution. The author concludes by considering implications for other qualitative researchers.
