ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the background to narrative approaches and then explores various forms of narrative approaches, such as life history and life course research, biography and autobiography, suggesting contexts in which these may be used. Narrative approaches generally focus on developing understanding through an exploration of story, interpretation and discourse. Narrative approaches focus on collecting narratives, because the point of collecting stories is to understand the experiences and the way they are told, seeking clarity about both the events that have unfolded and the meaning that participants have made of them. Narrative approaches are theory, process, data and product combined to create a unique form of inquiry. Narrative approaches are varied but what is central to them all is the sense that stories reveal much about social and cultural contexts as well as about humans making meanings. Finally, the authors describe advantages and disadvantages of narrative research and also provide an example of one researcher’s approach to narrative inquiry.
