Navigating the Terrain of Narrative Inquiry: Insights and Innovations for Teaching

Location

DeSantis Room 1047

Format Type

Plenary

Format Type

Workshop

Start Date

17-1-2020 1:45 PM

End Date

17-1-2020 2:35 PM

Abstract

Pinnegar and Daynes (2007) attribute the “narrative turn” of the mid-1980s to four themes. First was the change in the nature of the research relationship. Hypothesis testing in a controlled and decontextualized environment was no longer viable. Narrative researchers highlighted the subjective, relational, contextual and constitutive nature of inquiry. Second was the shift from numbers to words to account for the unique, local and contextualized nature of interaction (p. 20). Third was a change in focus from the general to the particular. Fourth was the critique of privileged objective knowledge and the search for truths. There was a return to the largely narrative roots of research (Latour, 1979). Narrative inquiry has blossomed since then as arts-based research gained acceptance and burgeoning technology offered different modalities. The varieties of narrative work make it difficult to navigate and choose an approach that is congruent with the epistemology and ontology of the researcher. This workshop will use a typology of narrative inquiry which is part of our study of stories of human displacement to be published by Routledge. It will share with examples how one can use narrative inquiry that “lives the story with participants,” or that “starts with a story” or “finds a story” (Butler-Kisber, 2018; Savin-Baden & Major Howell, 2013) and how results can be portrayed in written text, and in visual and poetic form. A “think, pair, share” exercise will be used to examine a short transcript, use an analytic structure to create a narrative and decide how it might be portrayed. The results will be shared and will provide concrete possibilities for analyzing and portraying narrative research.

Keywords

narrative inquiry, teaching qualitative research

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Jan 17th, 1:45 PM Jan 17th, 2:35 PM

Navigating the Terrain of Narrative Inquiry: Insights and Innovations for Teaching

DeSantis Room 1047

Pinnegar and Daynes (2007) attribute the “narrative turn” of the mid-1980s to four themes. First was the change in the nature of the research relationship. Hypothesis testing in a controlled and decontextualized environment was no longer viable. Narrative researchers highlighted the subjective, relational, contextual and constitutive nature of inquiry. Second was the shift from numbers to words to account for the unique, local and contextualized nature of interaction (p. 20). Third was a change in focus from the general to the particular. Fourth was the critique of privileged objective knowledge and the search for truths. There was a return to the largely narrative roots of research (Latour, 1979). Narrative inquiry has blossomed since then as arts-based research gained acceptance and burgeoning technology offered different modalities. The varieties of narrative work make it difficult to navigate and choose an approach that is congruent with the epistemology and ontology of the researcher. This workshop will use a typology of narrative inquiry which is part of our study of stories of human displacement to be published by Routledge. It will share with examples how one can use narrative inquiry that “lives the story with participants,” or that “starts with a story” or “finds a story” (Butler-Kisber, 2018; Savin-Baden & Major Howell, 2013) and how results can be portrayed in written text, and in visual and poetic form. A “think, pair, share” exercise will be used to examine a short transcript, use an analytic structure to create a narrative and decide how it might be portrayed. The results will be shared and will provide concrete possibilities for analyzing and portraying narrative research.