Narrative Research Processes

This week’s reading on narrative research is relevant to my research proposal because I want to investigate the subjective experiences of a vulnerable group -- that is, people with social anxiety. It is important that stories about life experiences be viewed as legitimate because they offer a type of natural contextualization that is not always present with other methods.

I am most interested in the problem-solution approach. According to Ollerenshaw & Creswell (2002), the process involves audio-taping interviews, transcribing them, and then reading and re-reading the transcripts to get a sense of the data. I like this kind of approach because it encourages the researcher to discover patterns in the data through repetition. This way, researchers do not begin by looking for specific elements, but allow meaning to naturally emerge.

The next step is to color-code transcripts for the elements of plot structure, to organize the color-coded transcripts into events, and to sequence the events until they make sense. The researcher rearranges the sequence until a resolution to the problem emerges. This approach to problem solving seems useful for complex puzzles and can help researchers discover creative solutions that might not be found using a linear process. I like the idea of rearrangements because it implies that several solutions could be possible, and this method gives the researcher a chance to consider and test each one until the most appropriate is found.