"In this bold and very important work, Peter Clough shows how the truths about educational issues can be told using fictional devices. This work legitimates the narrative turn in the human disciplines. He shows educational researchers how narrative inquiry can be used for progressive moral and political purposes". - Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign This compelling book takes a fresh approach to educational research, considering the role and use of literary and ethnographic approaches. There is growing interest in the use of narrative and fictional methods and this book sets out to: * locate narrative and fictional methods within the traditions of education research; * exemplify the use of narrative in studies of educational and social settings; * explain the processes of composing narrative and fictional research A distinctive feature of the book is the inclusion of five 'fictional' stories which demonstrate the use of narrative in reporting research. Detailed discussion of these five stories shows how they were created from actual events and the varied role of the author in their creation. The methodological implications of such an approach are considered along with its potential merits and difficulties and its possible uses.

The measured and passionate essays in this volume bring to contemporary debates about educational research both a first-hand familiarity with the practices and arguments of the educational research community and a clear grasp of the ways in which philosophical sources and analysis can inform them. It will be essential reading for researchers, masters and doctoral students who are coming to terms with 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.

An encyclopedia about various methods of qualitative research.

Using Narrative in Research by Christine Bold provides an accessible, easy-to-understand guide to the theory and practice of the use of narrative in research. Written with those new to narrative in mind, this book will enable readers to understand the origins of narrative traditions and to plan and carry out a narrative study of their own. Christine Bold′s book examines narrative approaches across a range of research contexts and disciplinary boundaries and will be of equal value to practitioners and academic students and researchers alike. Drawing on a range of real-life examples of narrative studies, Using Narrative in Research will enable readers to provide a sound justification for adopting a narrative-based approach and will help them to write about and write up narrative in research. This book examines: • How we design research projects with a narrative approach • Ethics • Narrative thinking • Collecting narrative data • Analysing narrative data • Representation in narrative analysis • Reporting and writing up narrative research.

What are the influences that govern how people view their worlds? What are the embedded values and practices that underpin the ways people think and act? Discourses We Live By approaches these questions through narrative research, in a process that uses words, images, activities or artefacts to ask people – either individually or collectively within social groupings – to examine, discuss, portray or otherwise make public their place in the world, their sense of belonging to (and identity within) the physical and cultural space they inhabit. This book is a rich and multifaceted collection of twenty-eight chapters that use varied lenses to examine the discourses that shape people’s lives. The contributors are themselves from many backgrounds – different academic disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, diverse professional practices and a range of countries and cultures. They represent a broad spectrum of age, status and outlook, and variously apply their research methods – but share a common interest in people, their lives, thoughts and actions. Gathering such eclectic experiences as those of student-teachers in Kenya, a released prisoner in Denmark, academics in Colombia, a group of migrants learning English, and gambling addiction support-workers in Italy, alongside more mainstream educational themes, the book presents a fascinating array of insights. Discourses We Live By will be essential reading for adult educators and practitioners, those involved with educational and professional practice, narrative researchers, and many sociologists. It will appeal to all who want to know how narratives shape the way we live and the way we talk about our lives.

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.

Understanding Narrative Inquiry: The Crafting and Analysis of Stories as Research is a comprehensive, thought-provoking introduction to narrative inquiry in the social and human sciences that guides readers through the entire narrative inquiry process—from locating narrative inquiry in the interdisciplinary context, through the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings, to narrative research design, data collection (excavating stories), data analysis and interpretation, and theorizing narrative meaning. Six extracts from exemplary studies, together with questions for discussion, are provided to show how to put theory into practice. Rich in stories from author Jeong-Hee Kim’s own research endeavors and incorporating chapter-opening vignettes that illustrate a graduate student's research dilemma, the book not only accompanies readers through the complex process of narrative inquiry with ample examples, but also helps raise their consciousness about what it means to be a qualitative researcher and a narrative inquirer in particular.