ABSTRACT
In this discussion of narrative configuration, I am using the term narrative to refer specifically to texts that are thematically organized by plots. Qualitative researchers, however, have not limited their use of the term narrative to this meaning. In the qualitative research literature, the term narrative is employed to signify a variety of meanings. These multiple uses have caused some ambiguity to be associated with the term and have sometimes led to a lack of clarity and precision in its use. Thus, the first section of the paper is an investigation of the referents of the different meanings of narrative and how qualitative researchers employ these referents. In everyday conversation and in the qualitative research literature, the term narrative is used equivocally. Although the term has been used to refer to any prose text, in this paper I emphasize its reference to a specific kind of prose text (the story) and to the particular kind of configuration that generates a story (emplotment).
