Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research

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

Understanding experience as lived and told stories--also known asnarrative inquiry--has gained popularity and credence inqualitative research. Unlike more traditional methods, narrativeinquiry successfully captures personal and human dimensions thatcannot be quantified into dry facts and numerical data.

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