Childcare choices and voices: using interpreted narratives and thematic meaning-making to analyse mothers’ life histories

Abstract

This paper focuses on the methodology of a study that asked what factors English mothers of very young babies consider when making employment decisions and childcare choices, and sought their views on the idea of carers in day care settings ‘loving’ their children. After a characterisation of life historical study, a four-staged process of analysis demonstrates how meaning was made from data created with six mothers. The discussion ‘voices’ their stories through excerpts from their expressions of emotion. The conclusion acknowledges insights generated into the dilemmas of mothers’ choices, but importantly points up how the careful listening and critical attending required by life historical study themselves generate stories that ‘go awry’ to reveal something of personal and of social importance. The paper concludes that using life story methods is a difficult process which may create discomfort for researcher and ‘researched’ long after the study is finished.

Keywords:

• life historical
• interpretation
• meaning-making
• narrative
• mothers
• voice

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the six women who participated in my study for their willingness to share their experiences. I am also indebted to the reviewers and editor of International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education for their advice and suggestions which have led to the improvement of this paper.

Notes

1. This latter is, of course, always in a state-of-becoming, and the present paper presents only obliquely at this stage the archeology of those ideas and phenomena which are characteristic of my work at present. A Work-in-Progress (Page, forthcoming) will critically acknowledge the confection of key influences which are to be found in my work to date.