Stories about learning in narrative biographical research

Abstract

This article discusses the relation between narrating a story and experiencing a learning process—for both the research subjects and the researcher—as an inherent feature of narrative biographical research. It is argued that in order to do justice to the particularity, the interpretation and the agency of the research subjects and thus to the revelatory character and transformative power of their life story, the researcher has to be personally and critically engaged in the research process. Besides acknowledging the learning process of the research subjects, it is necessary to reflect on the research process itself in terms of a narrative and a learning process. Radically living up to the starting points of narrative biographical research implies consequences for the position of the researcher in the research process, for the research results and for the research report.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the following people for their helpful contribution to this article: her former supervisor Danny Wildemeersch and her colleague Frank Cockx for their useful remarks and suggestions, her colleague Piet Verhesschen for the fruitful discussions concerning both their projects, her friend Stefan Timmermans for improving her English and the reviewers of earlier versions of this article for their constructive comments.

Notes

This manuscript was accepted by the Continental Europe Regional Editor, Roland Vandenberghe, Center for Educational Policy and innovation, University of Leuven, Vesaliustraat 2, B‐3000, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected].

Besides this research question, I explored what role different adult education organizations play in the learning processes of these women. This second theme does not fall within the scope of this article.

In this article I write about narrative biographical research. I realize however that both terms are neither exclusive nor interchangeable. The question of the definitions of both terms as well as of their distinctive elements is not a simple one. The answer depends on the research stage (data gathering, data analysis and time perspective) and on the scientific tradition. It is not my intention to contribute to this debate. With Verhesschen (2001) I understand narrative and biographical research as particular forms of qualitative interpretive research which focus on the meaning research subjects give to (aspects of and experiences in) their life and which believe that these meanings are best articulated in the stories people tell. Therefore these stories must be taken seriously as forms of knowledge.

An agent simultaneously is shaped by and actively shapes the surrounding social context. This position represents a middle road between structural determinism and individual freedom of choice and action and relates to attempts by several authors to escape one‐sided positions on either side of this continuum (Giddens, 1984; Bourdieu, 1990).

I found support for this interpretation in the work of Tennant (2000) on the role of narratives in self‐work, of Rossiter (1999) on the narrative understanding of adult development, and of Fenwick (1998) on establishing and reinventing self in work.

Abduction refers to a specific relation between theory and empirical data, which is not deductive or inductive. Via a constant comparison of empirical data and developing theoretical insights a theory comes about which can be adapted and broadened in confrontation with new data (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Jakob, 1997).

In this article I touch only very briefly on these theoretical insights. The focus is not so much on the product as on the process of the research. In Stroobants et al. (2001) the theoretical framework on biographical and transitional learning is further elaborated. I built further upon theories on biographical learning (Finger, 1988; Alheit, 1992, 1995; Dausien, 1996, Dominicé, 2000; West, 2000).

The names I use in this article are all pseudonyms.

I borrow this title from the PhD thesis of a colleague of mine (Verhesschen, 2001), with whom I collaboratively wrote an article about both our research projects (Stroobants & Verhesschen, 2002).

In this sense Komulainen (1999, p. 124) uses the expression that life stories are a form of future‐oriented retrospection.

Biographical reflexivity refers to the narrative process of giving meaning to and accounting for life experiences and choices in order to actively live in the present and face the future. Fantasy about how life could have been or can be is another aspect of biographical reflexivity. Biographical agency is about realizing unlived lives or alternative options for life.

In particular my contacts with the Biography and Life History Network of ESREA (European Society of Research in the Education of Adults) were inspiring.

Kvale (1995, p. 27) understands validity as quality of craftsmanship: ‘Validation comes to depend on the quality of craftsmanship in an investigation, which includes continually checking, questioning and theoretically interpreting the findings. In a craftsmanship approach to validation, the emphasis is moved from inspection at the end of the production line to quality control throughout the stages of knowledge production.’ An elaborate exploration of appropriate quality criteria for narrative biographical research falls beyond the scope of this article.

I borrow this term from Polkinghorne (1995) who distinguishes analysis of narratives from narrative analysis on the basis of the difference between paradigmatic knowledge and narrative knowledge.

To find an answer to my second research question on the role of different adult education initiatives in the learning processes of women I brought together several professionals to critically discuss my findings and to look at them from an interventionist point of view.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Veerle Stroobants *

This manuscript was accepted by the Continental Europe Regional Editor, Roland Vandenberghe, Center for Educational Policy and innovation, University of Leuven, Vesaliustraat 2, B‐3000, Leuven, Belgium, [email protected].