ABSTRACT
The research team consisted of key contributors to biographical narrative research across Europe, bringing a diversity of perspectives and traditions yet demonstrating the capacity to work together and enrich each other's theoretical and methodological repertoires. In this chapter we introduce the rationale and value of biographical narrative interviews as an approach to understanding student experiences of contemporary higher education. We note how these approaches can be applied across different systems of higher education and with a range of non-traditional students. We deal too with how the ‘biographical turn’ in social science in general, including education, manifested itself and why; and we offer a brief overview of the current state of such research in Europe, with especial reference to adult and higher education. Finally, we illustrate some distinct ways of engaging, narratively, with students, as well as describing and reflecting on how the methodology and interpretation of various research teams within the network cohered or remained distinct from others over the course of the RANLHE research.
