What is narrative inquiry?
Narrative inquiry is the interdisciplinary study of the activities involved in generating and analyzing stories of life experiences (e.g., life histories, narrative interviews, journals, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, biographies) and reporting that kind of research. (Schwandt, 2007, p. 204) A1. Narrative inquiry, or narrative research, is a research methodology that is growing in acceptance and practice in such disciplines as nursing, medicine, and law, and especially organizational studies, therapy in health fields, social work, counselling, and psychotherapy, and teaching (Clandinin, 2007, pp. xi-xii). Like other methodologies used by social science researchers, narrative inquiry inquires into–or asks questions about and looks for deeper understanding of–particular aspects of life experience. For example, some of the graduate students whose work informs this FAQ explore such diverse experiences as an elementary school teachers ongoing efforts to modify the spitting behaviour o
