QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

DATA COLLECTION METHODSLIFE HISTORIES

PRIMARY METHODS FOR DATA

COLLECTION

DIRECT OBSERVATION PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA COLLECTION

METHODS/SOURCES OF DATAFOCUS GROUPSNARRATIVE INQUIRYHISTORICAL ANALYSISINTERACTION ANALYSISQUESTIONNAIRESDILEMMA ANALYSISPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTSNARRATIVE INQUIRYPHOTOS, VIDEOS AND FILMLIFE HISTORIES

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA COLLECTION

METHODS/SOURCES OF DATALIFE HISTORIES

According to Gramling & Carr (2004), they are:“Data collection strategies that detail an individual's life.“

According to Marshall & Rossman (2006), along with narratives, they are:“methods that gather, analyze and interpret the stories people tell about their lives.“

LIFE HISTORIES

People live “storied” lives

Telling/retelling it

Understand/create a sense of themselves

ADVANTAGES They help audiences obtain first-hand information

about a culture or era in history. They emphasise on how individuals construct meaning

in societies and on how they deal with societies, not the other way round.

They can focus on critical/fateful moments. Particularly helpful in defining socialization and in

studying acculturation and socialization in societies or professions. (Marshall & Rossman, 2006, p. 116)

Useful to analyze cultural changes, cultural norms and transgressions, and to obtain insights into cultures.

Adds depth and illustration to studies. Fertile source of testable hypotheses useful for

subsequent studies.

Jones (1983) first criterion for Life Histories

1. Individual seen as a member of a culture.

Jones (1983) second criterion for Life Histories

2. The method should account for significant role others play in transmitting defined social knowledge.

Jones (1983) third criterion for Life Histories

3. Assumptions of the cultural world should be analyzed and described as they are revealed in rules and codes of conduct and myths and rituals.

Jones (1983) fourth criterion for Life Histories

4. Focus on the experience of an individual’s development over time to capture “processual development”.

Jones (1983) fifth criterion for Life Histories

5. The cultural world being studied should be continuously related to the individual’s story.

DISADVANTAGES

Makes generalizations difficult.

There are limited principles to choose participants

Guided by very few concepts of analysis.

REFERENCES Inside Installations. (2006). Inside Qualitative Research. [Review].

Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from http://www.inside-installations.org/OCMT/mydocs/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Booksummary_Designing_Qualitative_Research_SMAK_2.pdf.

Gramling, L. F. & Carr R. L. (2004). Lifelines: a life history methodology. [Abstract] Nursing research, 53 (3) Retrieved on Mrach 12, 2009 from http://www.nursingresearchonline.com/pt/re/nnr/abstract.00006199-200405000-00008.htm;jsessionid=J64JynJCvHZp92F3vp2nHhzyWFhvTP2js5Jtwv31tMt2n5hG1qTL!-2049359858!181195628!8091!-1.

Marschall C. & Rossman G (2006). Inside Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks (CA), USA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from http://books.google.com.co/books?id=Wt3Sn_w0JC0C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq="life+histories"+action+research&source=bl&ots=ppR-t6NPQL&sig=mdm5_CFk5ivezvhK0fa4Wj8G9oo&hl=es&ei=Jwe3SaWuA-HAtgemlem6CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA116,M1