Collecting narratives?

Abstract

The article challenges the idea of collecting narratives and addresses the apparent gap between the theoretical assumptions underlying the narrative perspective and the methodological reflections within this perspective. Theoretically, the narrative perspective holds that people actively construct a sense of order by engaging in sense making processes. Further, sense making processes are viewed as relational processes where meaning is constructed and negotiated in interaction with context. Methodologically, however, it seems like research encounters are still deprived of these sense making processes. In research encounters, narratives are collected, not constructed. In this article, I analyse three case studies in order to explore the relational aspects in research encounters. The analysis shows that the label “collecting” is insufficient to grasp the meaning constructing processes in research encounters. It also shows that different research relations construct different kinds of qualitative material. The article concludes that it is necessary to include analysis of relational patterns in research encounters in order to validate qualitative material.

Keywords::

• narratives
• sense making processes
• qualitative research
• case studies