Biographical Research Methods

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Biographical researchmethodsJohn King

No social study that does not come back to

the problems of biography, of history, and of

their interactions within a society, hascompleted its intellectual journey.

C. Wright Mills


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Definitions

Life story

The account given by an individual about his or her life

Life history

A personal account triangulated with external sources

Narrative approach Recognises that an individuals personal account is a tightly

edited account for an intended audience


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Life histories

The life history may be the best available technique for

studying such important social psychological processesas adult socialization, the emergence of group and

organizational structure, the rise and decline of social

relationships, and the situational response of the self to

daily interactional contingencies. Denzin 1970: 257


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Life stories

A life story does not consist of an atomistic chain of

experiences, whose meaning is created at the moment

of their articulation, but is rather a process taking placesimultaneously against the backdrop of a biographical

structure of meaning, which determines the selection of

the individual episodes presented, and within the

context of the interaction with a listener.

Rosenthal (1993:63)


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A history of life histories

Dilthey (1833-1911) viewed life story as a whole, an object

complete unto itself

Developed the comprehensive method later refined by Weber

Extensively employed by Robert Park and colleagues at the

Chicago School in the study of city life during the early

C20

Fell out of favour during the late 1930s and 1940s aspositivist methods gained favour

Began to revive from the 1960s

Narrative turn in social studies through the 1990s


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Areas of study in which life history has

made a substantive contribution

(Plummer 1985)

Subjective reality of the individual

Process, ambiguity and change in everyday life

The life history, more than any other technique except

perhaps participant observation, can give meaning to the

overworked notion of process (Becker 1970: 116)

The totality of the biographical experience Individual experience as within the context of the group and

wider social framework


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Classic study

Thomas & Znaniecki ([1918-20]1958) The Polish Peasant

in Europe and America

Sought to show that the problems of the immigrant community

were due to the transition from a very different society

The authors believed that the life-record could be used to

explain the appearance of new individual attitudes and newsocial values by looking at the interplay of existing attitudes

and values


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Issues

Corroboration

Voice

Theoretical interpretation


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Criticism of biographical methods

Do not permit hypothesis testing (Becker 1970)

Offers insights but not reliable generalisations

Fails to conform to scientific standards of validity

(corresponds to truth) and reliability (achieves the

same results each time)


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Alternatives to positivistic standards of

reliability, validity and generalisability

(Hatch & Wisniewski 1995) Adequacy at the level of meaning

Aesthetic finality

Accessibility

Authenticity

Credibility

Explanatory power

Persuasiveness


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Epistemological positions

Realist position - participants can know reality and report on it

Phenomenological position - participants can know their experiences

and report on them

Constructionist position - both participants perceptions and

researchers interpretations are shaped by cultural practices

Postmodernist position - narrative conventions and the process ofwriting up research mean that different interpretations of the text

are possible


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Theoretical approaches (Miller 2000)

Realist Neo-positivist Narrative

Inductive Deductive Abductive / adductive

Grounded theory, facts

emerge from empiricalmaterial

Theory tested against

empirical material

Aim is to understand

actors unique situations

Actors views represent

reality

Actors views are

interpretations of reality

Reality structured by

interplay between

interviewee and

interviewer

Saturation and reliability

are importantValidity is important Authenticity is important

Interview effects must

be controlled

Interview effects must

be controlled

Interview situation is the

core source of

information


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Roberts, B., 2002. Biographical research, Buckingham: Open University Press.

The researchers role and reflexivity

The intention in the study of lives is to gain an

understanding of individuals life experiences withintheir socio-historical context (Roberts 2002)

Shift from subject-object relationship to viewing the

researcher as reflexive collaborator


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Dealing with taken-for-granted

assumptions

People are commonly unable to articulate their basic

assumptions even though they behave in accordance

with them (Garfinkel 1967)

This includes the researcher!

Jones (1983) suggests setting up a series of oppositions

Within narrators accounts

Between narrators accounts

Between narrators accounts and the researchers

construction of the situation


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Methodological challenges

Choosing participants

Retrospective performance; memory effects

Contextual elements are not always accessible to thenarrator


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Collecting life stories

cf. Miller, R.L., 1999. Researching Life Stories and

Family Histories, London: SAGE.


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Sampling

Opportunistic sampling

Selective sampling (Schatzman and Strauss 1973)

Each narrator is chosen to represent a certain type or group

considered to be important on conceptual grounds

Snowball sampling

Probability sampling

More often used in quantitative research, but may be usedto create conceptual categories


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Arranging interviews

Secure fully informed co-operation

Number of interviews, interview length

Agree an informal contract

Establish any off limits topics

Establish whether repondents identity will be confidential,and how confidentiality is to be maintained


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Conducting interviews

Tell your life history or the story of your life... I will sayvery little, and if I ask you any questions it will bemainly about something not clear to me, if I dontunderstand something... take it in any order you want.

Use open-ended questions

Elicit stories; probe generalizations

Avoid why questions

Follow up using respondents ordering/phrasing

Dont interrupt; do not fear pauses

Watch for consistency in answers


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Narrative interview style

Focus is on the interviewer/interviewee interaction

Ones self cant be left behind, it can only be omitted fromdiscussions and written accounts of the research process.

(Stanley & Wise 1993)Transcripts of the first interviews can be shown torespondents

Second interview is a reflexive account of the first

Concerns for ethics and closing the gap betweeninterviewer and interviewee


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Narrator control

No control

Sight and comment on transcript accuracy

Sight and comment on interpretation

Sight and comment on publication

1)Minority report

2)Veto

3)Co-authorship


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Analysing life stories

cf. Miller, R.L., 1999. Researching Life Stories and

Family Histories, London: SAGE.


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Levels of analysis

Life history reconstruction

Factual details are clarified and temporally ordered

Thematic field analysis

Sections of text can be coded into:

1. Description

2. Narration

3. ArgumentationReconstruction of biographical meaning

Hermeneutic micro-analysis


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Contextualisation:

relating the part to the whole

Scheffs (1997) part/whole ladder

Single words and gestures

Sentences

Exchanges Conversations

Relationship of the two parties

Life histories of the two parties

All relationships of their type

The structure of the host society: all relationships

The history and future of the host civilisation

The history and destiny of the human species


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Grumet (1988) in Blumenfeld-Jones (1995)

Fidelity

Fidelity rather than truth is the measure of these tales Truth: what happened in a situation

Fidelity: what it means to the teller of the tale (think howdifficult it is to write exactly what we mean!)

Is not ones fidelity to objects really a fidelity to othersand oneself about objects? (William Earle, inGrumet)

Triangular relationship between the narrator, the narrativeand its objects, and the receiver of the narrative

Narrator, narratee and the object of the narrative can agreeon the quality of fidelity


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Wengraf, T., 2000. Uncovering the general from within the particular. In P. Chamberlayne, J. Bornat, & T. Wengraf,

eds. The turn to biographical methods in social science. Psychology Press, pp. 140164.

Wengrafs diamond model

lived life (history)

context

subjectivity

told story (text)

The hermeneutic process


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Empathy I:

the inside of actions

Existential

understanding

of situations

Poetics: root

metaphors,

narrative

conventions

Alvesson, M. & Skldberg, K., 2009. Reflexive Methodology, SAGE Publications Limited.

The hermeneutic process

WHOLE

PART

PREUNDER-

STANDING

UNDER-

STANDING

Sub-interpretation

DialogueText

Pattern of

interpretation

Source criticism:

authenticity, bias,

distance,

dependence The

hermeneutics ofsuspicion

The hidden basic

question of thetext

The fusion

of horizons

Asking:

knocking at

the text

Empathy II:

interpolation,

imaginary

reconstructiona priori


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Blumenfeld Jones, D., 1995. Fidelity as a criterion for practicing and evaluating narrative inquiry. In J. A. Hatch & R.

Wisniewski, eds. Life history and narrative. London: Falmer Press.

Challenges for researchers

Maintaining fidelity toward

The story of a person

What that person is unable to articulate about the story and its

meanings

Attaining believability

As a reasonable portrayal of the specific story

As the story resonates with the audiences experiences


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Types of presentation

Full unabridged presentation

Prominent use of interpretative framework with life story

interspersed

Subject matter and comprehensiveness

Full life, period in a life, career


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Blumenfeld Jones, D., 1995. Fidelity as a criterion for practicing and evaluating narrative inquiry. In J. A. Hatch & R.Wisniewski, eds. Life history and narrative. London: Falmer Press.

Re-presentation

Not simply about reorganising the details of a story

(presentation)

The narrator is bounded by his or her purposes in telling the

story

The researcher has intentions and is reconstructing as well

Details are filtered and selected through certain values

Beliefs about what is important and what is not

Ideas about how the juxtaposition of one particular with

another will produce new understandings


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Effects of stories

Transformation of individuals by challenging the

limitations of available narratives and offering newnarratives

Bringing together individuals and constructing new

identitities

This includes the researcher and researched!

Biographical Research Methods

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