This book raises important questions about whether or not researchers can ever keep their own lives out of their work. In contrast to traditional impersonal approaches to research, reflexive researchers acknowledge the impact of their own history, experiences, beliefs and culture on the processes and outcomes of inquiry. In this thought-provoking book, Kim Etherington uses a range of narratives, including her own research diary and conversations with students and academics, to show the reader how reflexive research works in practice, linking this with underpinning philosophies, methodologies and related ethical issues. Placing her own journey as a researcher alongside others, she suggests that recognising the role of self in research can open up opportunities for creative and personal transformations, and illustrates this idea with poetry, paintings and the use of metaphors and dreams. She explores ways in which reflexivity is used in counselling and psychotherapy practice and research, enabling people to become agents in their own lives. This book encourages researchers to reflect on how self-awareness can enrich relationships with those who assist them in their research. It will inspire and challenge students and academics across a wide range of disciplines to find creative ways of practising and representing their research.

In contrast to traditional impersonal approaches to research, reflexive researchers acknowledge the impact of their own experience, beliefs and culture on the processes and outcomes of inquiry. The author uses a range of narratives, including her own research diary, to show the reader how reflexive research works in practice.

Reflexive Narrative is latest addition to the Qualitative Research Methods series. Author Christopher Johns describes this unique qualitative method and its developmental approach to research to enable researchers’ self-realization, however that might be expressed.

This comprehensive Handbook illustrates the wide range of approaches to teaching and learning social research methods in the classroom, online, in the field and in informal contexts. Bringing together contributors from varied disciplines and nations, it represents a landmark in the development of pedagogical culture for social research methods.

Connecting "theory" and "method" can be challenging for novice researchers. Interviewing: A Guide to Theory and Practice draws from, and extends, the author′s earlier 2010 book, and focuses on three interrelated issues, how researchers: theorize research interviews; examine their subject positions in relation to projects and participants; and explore the details of interview interaction to inform practice.

Proceedings of the 15th European Conference on e- Learning (ECEL 2016)

Patients' perspectives on their experiences of illness and treatment are increasingly valued by the medical profession as a source of information to enhance professional development, peer support and the quality of care provided. This book explores the development of an in-depth, relational and reflexive approach to narrative inquiry, drawing on counselling and arts-based approaches to researching accounts of illness. The significance of patient stories is explored through narrative research conversations with people whose personal accounts of a range of conditions provide powerful insights into the impact of illness on identity, life stories and the experience of patienthood. It offers suggestions for using narrative methods in medical education and practice to help professionals to both attend to patients' narratives and reflect on their own stories. Developing a Narrative Approach to Healthcare Research will be of interest to educators, practitioners, students and researchers in healthcare and the social sciences. 'I will recommend this book to my students; I hope other healthcare professionals will do the same and that some, like me, will go on to explore how narrative and story can be harnessed to both explore experience and to teach within healthcare.' - from the Foreword by Karen Forbes 'I would recommend this book to everybody who is involved in caring for people who suffer serious illness - whether they are professionals, family or friends. I also recommend it to social scientists and health professionals who want to conduct research in ways that capture the richness of peoples' lived experience.' - Kim Etherington, Professor of Narrative and Life Story Research, University of Bristol, UK.

Research methodology is as old as academia itself. Research methodology shifts in strategy as it crosses different disciplines and theories. This, too, is true with the shifting landscape of research opportunities and technologies available to global researchers. To achieve the most accurate and substantial research, it is important to be knowledgeable of emerging research methodologies. The Research Anthology on Innovative Research Methodologies and Utilization Across Multiple Disciplines discusses the most recent global research innovations made across multiple fields. This anthology further discusses how these research methodologies can be applied to a variety of specific fields. Covering topics such as creative thinking, qualitative research, and the research method landscape, this book is essential for students and faculty of higher education, scientists, researchers, sociologists, computer scientists, and academicians.

Biographical research may take a range of forms and may vary in its application and approach but has the unified and coherent aim to give ′voice′ to individuals. The central concern of this collection is to assemble articles (from sociology, social psychology, education, health, criminology, social gerontology, epidemiology, management and organizational research) that illustrate the full range of debates, methods and techniques that can be combined under the heading ′biographical research′. Volume One: Biographical Research: Starting Points, Debates and Approaches explores the different biographical methods currently used while locating these within the history of social science methods. Volume Two: Biographical Interviews, Oral Histories and Life Narratives focuses on the more established, interview-based, biographical research methods and considers the analytical strategies used for interview-based biographical research Volume Three: Forms of Life Writing: Letters, Diaries and Auto/Biography considers the value of ′data′ contained within letters, diaries and auto/biography and illustrates how this data has been analyzed to reveal biographies and their social context. Volume Four: Other Documents of Life: Photographs, Cyber Documents and Ephemera focuses on the ′other′ human documents and objects, like photographs, cyber-documents (emails, blogs, social networking sites, webpages) and other ephemera (such as official documents) that are used extensively in biographical research.

There is considerable and growing interest in professionals learning across their working lives. The growth in this interest is likely premised upon the increasing percentage of those who are being employed under the designation as professi- als or para-professional workers in advanced industrial economies. Part of being designated in this way is a requirement to be able to work autonomously and in a relatively self-regulated manner. Of course, many other kinds of employment also demand such behaviours. However, there is particular attention being given to the ongoing development of workers who are seen to make crucial decisions and take actions about health, legal and ?nancial matters. Part of this attention derives from expectations within the community that those who are granted relative autonomy and are often paid handsomely should be current and informed in their decisi- making. Then, like all other workers, professionals are required to maintain their competence in the face of changing requirements for work. Consequently, a volume that seeks to inform how best this ongoing learning can be understood, supported and assisted is most timely and welcomed. This volume seeks to elaborate professional learning through a consideration of the concept of authentic professional learning. What is proposed here is that, in contrast to programmatic approaches towards professional development, the process of continuing professional learning is a personal, complex and diverse process that does not lend itself to easy prescription or the realisation of others’ intents.