Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research [Hardcover]

D. Jean Clandinin (Author), F. Michael Connelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999 | ISBN-10: 0787943436 | ISBN-13: 978-0787943431 | Edition: 1

"The literature on narrative inquiry has been, until now, widely scattered and theoretically incomplete. Clandinin and Connelly have created a major tour de force. This book is lucid, fluid, beautifully argued, and rich in examples. Students will find a wealth of arguments to support their research, and teaching faculty will find everything they need to teach narrative inquiry theory and methods."--Yvonna S. Lincoln, professor, Department of Educational Administration, Texas A&M University

Understanding experience as lived and told stories--also known as narrative inquiry--has gained popularity and credence in qualitative research. Unlike more traditional methods, narrative inquiry successfully captures personal and human dimensions that cannot be quantified into dry facts and numerical data.

In this definitive guide, Jean Clandinin and Michael Connelly draw from more than twenty years of field experience to show how narrative inquiry can be used in educational and social science research. Tracing the origins of narrative inquiry in the social sciences, they offer new and practical ideas for conducting fieldwork, composing field notes, and conveying research results. Throughout the book, stories and examples reveal a wide range of narrative methods. Engaging and easy to read, Narrative Inquiry is a practical resource from experts who have long pioneered the use of narrative in qualitative research.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The literature on narrative inquiry has been, until now, widely scattered and theoretically incomplete. Clandinin and Connelly have created a major tour de force. This book is lucid, fluid, beautifully argued, and rich in examples. Students will find a wealth of arguments to support their research, and teaching faculty will find everything they need to teach narrative inquiry theory and methods." (Yvonna S. Lincoln, professor, Department of Educational Administration, Texas A&M University)

"This book reveals the journey of two scholars who, for the past two decades, have explored the way narrative deepens our understanding of educational experience. Their encounters with seemingly intractable issues provide a model of intellectual courage. Narrative Inquiry invites us to take their journey with them. And it is a journey highly worth sharing." (Elliot W. Eisner, professor of education and art, Stanford University)

"An illuminating story of coming to narrative, and of how to proceed with narrative inquiry. This book about the study of experience demonstrates how narrative has emerged from the margins into the center of academic discourse." (Amia Lieblich, professor, Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University)

"Their exemplary use of the method in the writing of this text is masterful." (Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2002)

Review

“Their exemplary use of the method in the writing of this text is masterful.” --Journal of Curriculum Studies, 2002

“The literature on narrative inquiry has been, until now, widely scattered and theoretically incomplete. Clandinin and Connelly have created a major tour de force. This book is lucid, fluid, beautifully argued, and rich in examples. Students will find a wealth of arguments to support their research, and teaching faculty will find everything they need to teach narrative inquiry theory and methods.” --Yvonna S. Lincoln, professor, Department of Educational Administration, Texas A&M University

“This book reveals the journey of two scholars who, for the past two decades, have explored the way narrative deepens our understanding of educational experience. Their encounters with seemingly intractable issues provide a model of intellectual courage. Narrative Inquiry invites us to take their journey with them. And it is a journey highly worth sharing."--Elliot W. Eisner, professor of education and art, Stanford University --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787943436
• ISBN-13: 978-0787943431
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, May 22, 2001

By 

Harvest Moon (Grand Prairie, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (Hardcover)

Based on the reviews of Lincoln and others, I had high expectations for this text. Specifically, I'd hoped that the text would prove useful in terms of my research into the construction of self through personal narrative. I was sorely disappointed.

The text is virtually atheoretical, does not provide much in the way of explorations of past and present paradigms for narrative inquiry (though paradigms in education are discussed ad nauseum), says little about the interpretation of texts, and neglects current thought on narrative from the disciplines of cultural studies, anthropology, semiotics, and sociology. A perfunctory glance at the references section reveals egregious omissions.

For those interested in exploring the intersections of (auto) biography, self, culture, and narrative forms, I would suggest Riessman's 1993 text Narrative Analysis, Dezin's Interpretive Biography, or Reed-Danahay's collection Auto/Ethnography. These are more accessible, lucid, and instructive.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars limited, July 23, 2004

By 

A Reader "A Reader" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (Hardcover)

I turned to this book hoping to find help in theorizing the biographical narrative I use as an education researcher. In an attempt to establish their research stance as viable, the authors attack both quantitative and formalist (e.g., deconstruction and post-stucturalist) positions. To do this, they take what is in reality a wide array of theorists and tools and lump them together, making huge generalizations and managing to misrepresent these other traditions in dramatic ways. My goal in writing this is not to defend these other positions, but to suggest that when we try to establish our own validity through straw men, we most often end up weakening our own position. Unless we are going to assume that our colleagues are stupid or evil for taking research and epistemological stances different than our own, it seems more realistic and useful to assume that we have room for a wide variety of tools and that a given tool will work well in some situations and more poorly in others. In the wake of the real threats posed to progressive practice and qualitative research from the National Reading Panel and No Child Left Behind, I find myself now seeking allies among quantitative researchers and I am better served trying to understand how we can work together. This book would have been more useful if the authors had spent more time defining and redefining their own position and less time attacking others. As it is, it is undertheorized and overwrought.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent -- The Answer to Many of my Research Dilemmas, July 11, 2000

By 

Roseanne - See all my reviews

This review is from: Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research (Hardcover)

I was in the midst of struggling through my thesis process when I picked up this book on Narrative Inquiry. It was such a relief to find that some one had so clearly articulated dimensions of the process that I hadn't had the good fortune to find elsewhere. The writing is very clear, accessible and incisive. The concepts put forward: the 3-dimensional inquiry space, the role of temporality and memory -- these are all extremely helpful and I found directly applicable to my own research. This book really provided me with a road map out of thesis despair -- I recommend it!