ABSTRACT
The biographical and autobiographical approach to research is ideal for a lone researcher with a limited amount of time or resources. It has been suggested that autobiographical and biographical approaches are more art and literature than sound research practice. Methods of data collection are many and varied within biographical research. Biographical methods can be used to provide concrete examples of how real people experience complex social processes such as those outlined by Giddens in his theory of class structuration. For the researcher using biographical methods, narrative becomes a creative means of exploring the context in which social action takes place. Labov is one of the most influential exponents of narrative analysis. Feminist methodology has a significant influence on the development of biographical research. There are three basic approaches to data analysis in biographical and autobiographical research. Plummer has defined them as: analytic induction, grounded theory, and the progressive regressive method.
