It has long been recognised that life history method has a great deal to offer to those engaged in social research. Indeed, right from the start of the twentieth century, eminent sociologists such as W.I. Thomas, C. Wright Mills and Herbert Blumer have suggested that it is the best, the perfect, approach for studying any aspect of social life. In recent years, life history has become increasingly popular with researchers investigating educational topics of all kinds, including: teachers' perceptions and experiences of different areas of their lives and careers; curriculum and subject development; pedagogical practice; and managerial concerns. Life History Research in Educational Settings sets out to explore and consider the various reasons for this popularity and makes the case that the approach has a major and unique contribution to make to understandings of schools, schooling and educational experience however characterised. The book draws extensively on examples of life history research in order to illustrate theoretical, methodological, ethical and practical issues.

The reflexive turn in qualitative research has transformed the process of doing life history research. No longer are research subjects examined through the lens of the all-knowing but supposedly invisible researcher. As Ardra Cole and Gary Knowles point out in this fresh introduction to conducting life history research, the process is now one of mutuality, empathy, sensitivity and caring. The authors carry the novice researcher through the steps of conducting life history research-from conceptualizing the project to the various means of presenting results-with an eye toward understanding the complex relationship between participant and researcher and how that shapes the project. In addition to examples from their own research, Cole and Knowles bring in the work of a dozen novice researchers who explain the challenges they faced in developing their own life history projects in a wide variety of settings. Well written, interesting, and pedagogically sound, Lives in Context is the ideal text for teaching life history research to students and an important reference for the bookshelf of all qualitative researchers.

The book brings together a collection of writing by different authors who use a narrative/life history approach to explore the experiences of a wide range of people, reflecting on learning and education at significant moments in their lives.

In recent decades, there has been a substantial turn towards narrative and life history study. The embrace of narrative and life history work has accompanied the move to postmodernism and post-structuralism across a wide range of disciplines: sociological studies, gender studies, cultural studies, social history; literary theory; and, most recently, psychology. Written by leading international scholars from the main contributing perspectives and disciplines, The Routledge International Handbook on Narrative and Life History seeks to capture the range and scope as well as the considerable complexity of the field of narrative study and life history work by situating these fields of study within the historical and contemporary context. Topics covered include: • The historical emergences of life history and narrative study • Techniques for conducting life history and narrative study • Identity and politics • Generational history • Social and psycho-social approaches to narrative history With chapters from expert contributors, this volume will prove a comprehensive and authoritative resource to students, researchers and educators interested in narrative theory, analysis and interpretation.

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process—and helps readers conceptualize their own studies—by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so readers can develop their own proposals or reports as they work through the book. Provided are strategies for selecting a research topic, entering and exiting sites, and navigating the complexities of ethical issues and the researcher's role. Readers learn how to use a range of data collection methods—including observational strategies, interviewing, focus groups, e-mail and chat rooms, and arts-based media—and to manage, analyze, and report the resulting data. Useful pedagogical features include:*In-class and field activities to apply qualitative concepts.*Discussion questions, proposal development exercises, and reflexive journal activities.*Exemplary qualitative studies and two sample proposals.*Cautionary notes, or "Wild Cards," about possible research pitfalls.*Tables that summarize concepts and present helpful tips.

The concept of "funds of knowledge" is based on a simple premise: people are competent and have knowledge, and their life experiences have given them that knowledge. The claim in this book is that first-hand research experiences with families allow one to document this competence and knowledge, and that such engagement provides many possibilities for positive pedagogical actions. Drawing from both Vygotskian and neo-sociocultural perspectives in designing a methodology that views the everyday practices of language and action as constructing knowledge, the funds of knowledge approach facilitates a systematic and powerful way to represent communities in terms of the resources they possess and how to harness them for classroom teaching. This book accomplishes three objectives: It gives readers the basic methodology and techniques followed in the contributors' funds of knowledge research; it extends the boundaries of what these researchers have done; and it explores the applications to classroom practice that can result from teachers knowing the communities in which they work. In a time when national educational discourses focus on system reform and wholesale replicability across school sites, this book offers a counter-perspective stating that instruction must be linked to students' lives, and that details of effective pedagogy should be linked to local histories and community contexts. This approach should not be confused with parent participation programs, although that is often a fortuitous consequence of the work described. It is also not an attempt to teach parents "how to do school" although that could certainly be an outcome if the parents so desired. Instead, the funds of knowledge approach attempts to accomplish something that may be even more challenging: to alter the perceptions of working-class or poor communities by viewing their households primarily in terms of their strengths and resources, their defining pedagogical characteristics. Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms is a critically important volume for all teachers and teachers-to-be, and for researchers and graduate students of language, culture, and education.

What are the most effective methods for doing life-course research? In this volume, the field's founders and leaders answer this question, giving readers tips on: the art and method of the appropriate research design; the collection of life-history data; and the search for meaningful patterns to be found in the results.

This updated second edition unpacks the discussions surrounding the finest qualitative methods used in contemporary educational research. Bringing together scholars from around the world, this Handbook offers sophisticated insights into the theories and disciplinary approaches to qualitative study and the processes of data collection, analysis and representation, offering fresh ideas to inspire and re-invigorate researchers in educational research.

Narrative inquiry is being used more widely in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Northern European countries to conduct research across a range of disciplines. It is gaining popularity in Hong Kong, Macao and Mainland China, but research in these contexts continues to be dominated by quantitative and more traditional qualitative approaches. Narrative inquirers in these areas can, therefore, find it problematic to have the value of their work acknowledged. This book demonstrates creatively, accessibly and rigorously the ways in which narrative inquiry as a methodological approach, already more firmly established in Australia and New Zealand, is gaining a foothold in other parts of the Asia Pacific region. Contributors to the book write about their use of narrative inquiry in, for example, the Confucian heritage cultures (CHC) of Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Macao and the Anglo-Celtic cultures of Australia and New Zealand. Chapters in the book include: Creative Non-Fiction Across Cultures in Asia Pacific Contexts Riding the Wave of Education Reform: Using a Reflecting Team to Explore the Professional Identities of School Counsellors in Hong Kong Is the Silent Mode On? Re-searching Teachers' Voices in Macao through Narrative Research Narrative Inquiry and the Exploration of Culture for Improving Teacher Education This book will appeal to researchers across all sectors of education, in particular those who are exploring, the use of qualitative research methods in their context. Those interested in comparative education and cross-cultural studies will also find this book valuable.

Education has continued to grow in stature and significance as an academic discipline. In addition to world renowned research studies the growth of education has been seen in the methodology and methods underpinning its research. The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research provides a cutting edge account of the research and methodology that is creating new understandings for education research, policy and practice. Over two volumes, the handbook addresses educational research in six essential components: Section 1: Understanding Research Section 2: Planning Research Section 3: Approaches to Research Section 4: Acquiring Data Section 5: Analysing Data Section 6: Reporting, Disseminating and Evaluating Research Featuring contributions from more than 50 of the biggest names in the international field, The BERA/SAGE Handbook of Educational Research represents a very significant contribution to the development of education.