The What’s What and the Who’s Who of Psychobiography

Authors

Ronald Chenail, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Abstract

Joseph G. Ponterotto’s 2025 book, The Psychobiographer's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Research and Ethics, not only serves as an excellent introduction and practical methodological guide to psychobiography, but it also introduces readers to the leading psychobiographers from around the world via the 22 captivating profiles distributed throughout the book. Starting with his self-reflective introduction Ponterotto brings us inside the psychobiography craft by combining technical design and data management skills along with a relational awareness of the researcher to the historic subject. Lastly, the structure of this book can also serve as a template for anyone wanting to create a helpful research handbook.

Keywords

psychobiography, biography, psychological theory, qualitative research, methodology, handbook

Author Bio(s)

Ronald J. Chenail, Ph.D., is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Family Therapy at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. He is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Qualitative Report. Please direct correspondence to ron@nova.edu.

Publication Date

11-29-2024

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7781

Recommended APA Citation

Chenail, R. J. (2024). The what’s what and the who’s who of psychobiography. The Qualitative Report, 29(10), 2793-2797. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7781