Re-Engaging Tensions within Narrative Threads: Ethical Obligations, Researcher Identity, and Methodological Meaning Making

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of narrative based inquiry with attention to tensions that arise among the universal and contextual experiences of personal narratives throughout the research endeavor. Drawing from our own research experiences, we describe a range of methodological decisions intending to demonstrate the evolution of reflexivity over time and the re-storying process that shapes our ongoing qualitative researcher identity development. We will conclude with a discussion of how these experiences offer opportunities for enhancing our understanding of constructive meaning-making processes and in turn remind us of the importance of developing skills as reflexive practitioners.

Keywords:

• Narrative based qualitative inquiry
• reflexivity
• inherent tensions
• ethical obligations
• narrative threads