Bamberg and Georgakopoulou (2008), Essay Example

Stories are important systems that make sense of self by uniting the coordinates of space, time, and personhood so that the authors or storytellers can be evaluated systematically through ‘identity analysis.” In general, an evocation of interview narratives as the basis of the qualitative method in social sciences has made big stories more prominent. Hence, there is a bias in the narrative analysis for narratives of some past events. Reading of a ‘small story’ reveals the aspects of identity construction, which are likely to remain unnoticed. Unlike the big stories approach, the small story is not about the narrator himself. Rather, it concerns a friend, as well as the idea that the narrator seeks to place himself at a distance from any likely relationship with the key character of his story. As a result, the narrator’s tendency to shun his role as the principal of the story is crucial for the type of identity that is being constructed. A five-step analytical operation model suggested for the analysis of small stories includes determining the characters and their positioning. Second, determining the ‘narrating’s’ interactive accomplishment. Third, determining how the speaker is positioned within the “interactive flow” that makes up the situation as ‘research.” Fourth, determining the theme of the story and fifth, self-identity.

Bamberg (2012)

Narratives are tools for exploring distinctive features of human experience or memory. Narratives are significant, as they are used for revealing particular kinds of experiences to achieve better understanding of experiences. The narrative has two key portals:  the realm of experience and realm of narrative means. Their distinctions are made through Narrative as Method and Narrative as Genre. They can be used as analytical layers to provide insights into narratives as texts within interactions. The three approaches are, as results of many experiences. The approaches proposed include linguistic-based approaches that functions using syntactic and lexical configurations of texts, and cognitive-based approach that functions from the perspective that the story segments are bound by overarching structures of an organization. The third approach is the interactive-based approach, which sees stories as being local achievements among participants. The three approaches engage people through storytelling.

Holstein and Gubrium (2002)

The interview is a neutral means of information extraction where interviewers ask questions while respondents provide answers. Active interview highlights the perspective that the intention of all interviews is to search out for meanings, such as the standardized procedures intended to limit the scope of the interviewers’ interpretive actions. Identifying the vision for an active interview offers oblique censure of standardized methods of interviews. In many cases, this allows researchers to be more aware of the details of the interview. Focusing on activities sued interviewing, a competing epistemological model of the interview is provided to gain more insight into the inner lives of the social worlds. The idea of active interview offers an alternative means for interpreting how information is collected and produced. It also provides a more extensive form of inquiry.

Mishler (1986)

Mishler (1986) posits that interview is a research method where respondents’ values, beliefs, and attitudes are gathered. Essentially, interview-narrative is focused on encouraging researchers to pursue such inquiries. Narratives are elements of accounts that respondents provide during the interview. Two key implications are apparent. First is that they provide an explanation of courses of actions or respondents’ experiences. This makes the analysis by researchers meaningful and suitable for construction of theories since learning how to perform systematic analysis allows researchers to develop dynamic theories. Next, standard research practices make narrative accounts noticeable for interviewers. Additionally, narratives are essentially context-sensitive. There contents and structures are also responsive to the objectives and circumstances of the research situation. The asymmetric power relations between the interviewer and the interviewee is where the interviewer maintains control over the aim, the form and the flow of the interviews, as well as the use of interview data.

Murray (2003)

Narrative psychology deals with the content, function, and structure of stories people narrate to others and themselves during social interactions. Narratives shape the world. Narrative psychology offers a dynamic approach to gaining an insight into human identity, as well as the methods of interpreting the changeful world. People social and personal identities are shaped by what they narrate to other, as well as themselves regarding their experiences and love. Analysis of the narratives facilitates an understanding of people’s changing identities, as well as how they interpret the world. The three approaches for the narrative analysis include linguistic and literary narrative analysis, grounded narrative analysis, and lastly social context and narrative analysis. Through narrative psychology, a framework for understanding and changing the human nature and the nature of the world is provided.

Talbot et al. (1996)

Talbot et al. (1996) explores first-person narrations of people’s experiences, as well as their claims on truth, values, and knowledge, which are usually framed in pre-existing master narratives. The research examined the origins of innovation and subversiveness in respect to the master narrative regarding the issue of pregnancy. The two personal narrative used are based on interviews performed on pregnancy women, diagnosed with conditions that placed their unborn babies at risk. The interview responses of Sue and Mary were selected, as expectant women tend to position themselves in relation to a discourse that indicates conception. This brings the idea of positioning characters in narratives. The description of subversiveness substantiates the idea that Master narratives are merely selective representations, with some loopholes, and which cannot fit everyone’s experience. An alternative description of subversiveness is the confines of what individual narratives tend to act against.