Transcript Narrative methods in qualitative and quantitative research 22nd February 2006 Combining social research methods, data and analyses Jane Elliott Centre for Longitudinal Studies Institute of Education www.cls.ioe.ac.uk.

Narrative methods in qualitative and
quantitative research
22nd February 2006
Combining social research methods, data and analyses
Jane Elliott
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Institute of Education
www.cls.ioe.ac.uk
Main themes of workshop session
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Interest in exploring narrative elements of both qualitative and
quantitative research
Utility of the notion of narrative identity (Ezzy, Ricoeur)
Introduction to the British Birth Cohort Studies and in
particular the National Child Development Study
Analysis of qualitative essays written by eleven year olds in
1969
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What is a narrative?
A story with a beginning, a middle and an end!
Aristotle’s Poetics
A method of recapitulating past experiences by matching a
verbal sequence of clauses to the sequence of events that
actually occurred.’ (Labov and Waletzky, 1967)
“(A) discourse with a clear sequential order that connects events
in a meaningful way for a definite audience, and thus offers
insights about the world and/or people’s experiences of it.”
Hinchman and Hinchman (1997: xvi)
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Labov and Waletzky’s structural model
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Abstract
 Orientation
 Complicating action
 Evaluation
 Resolution
 Coda
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Why should social scientists be interested
in narrative?
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Temporal representation of events and experiences
Structure used to communicate the meaning of events and
experiences
Inherently social
 requires an audience
 narrative forms (genres) are shaped by social context
Implicated in the creation and maintenance of identity
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Narrative identity
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Narrative provides a practical means by which the individual
can understand themselves as living through time, a human
subject with a past, present, and future made whole by a
narrative plot with a beginning, middle and end.
Allows conceptualisation of individual as having a continuous
presence through time without becoming fixed or
essentialized
Identity as idem or ipse (identical or selfsame ‘soi-meme’) –
permanence through time without sameness through time
(Ricoeur).
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Narrative and identity
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Ontological narratives are shaped by the social world in two
important ways:
 available audiences for our narratives
 cultural repertoire of narratives/genres
It is also important to remember that individuals are active
agents who play a part in reproducing but also modifying
‘public narratives’.
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Narrative, Reflexivity and Writing
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During the last 20 years growing interest in the topic of
narrative among qualitative researchers
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Elliot Mishler (1986) Research Interviewing: context and
narrative
C.K. Riessman (1993) Narrative Analysis.
Narrative and Life History Journal launched 1991
The Narrative Study of Lives Josselson and Lieblich
Attention to narratives in qualitative interviews;
awareness of importance of researcher in eliciting
narratives; interest in concept of narrative identity;
awareness that researcher is a narrator
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British Birth Cohort Studies
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Fully representative samples of the British population
Based on one week’s births - approximately 17,000 babies
Followed up from birth into adulthood
Four British Birth Cohort Studies
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1946 : National Survey of Health and Development (MRC
funded)
 1958 : National Child Development Study
 1970 : British Cohort Study 1970
Housed at
 2000/1: Millennium Cohort Study
CLS
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1958 Birth Cohort Study
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Representative sample of over 17,000 infants born in March 1958
(Perinatal Mortality Study)
Sample followed at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42, 46 (prospective
study)
Multipurpose study: family life; education; employment; skills;
housing; health; finances; citizenship
Focused bio-medical study at age 44 (MRC funded)
Approximately 12,000 individuals are still participating
Now core funded by ESRC with data collected every four years
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NCDS follow-ups and sources of information
Notes
a: Target sample - Excludes emigrants, refusals & deaths. Includes immigrants at NCDS1-3.
b: Achieved sample - At least on survey instrument partially completed
c: Mother - Could be Cohort Member or spouse/partner
Hypothetical life history
Exam
results
Parents’ social
class
Training and
skills
Parental
divorce
Born
1958
x
Age 7
Age 11
Age 16
Voting
behaviour
Savings
Gets married
1st Child
2nd Child
1984
1981
Age 23
1987
1991
Age 33
2000
2004
Age 42
Age 46
Mother
smoking
Job 1
Parental
interest in
school work
Free school
meals
Job 2
Job 3
Psychological
well being
Maths and reading
tests
Domestic division
of labour
Working hours
preferences
Union membership
Teachers’ assessment of
child’s behaviour
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NCDS – 2004 Sweep (Age 46)
Telephone Interview
• Housing
• Partnerships – current and former
• Births and other pregnancies
• Periods of lone parenthood
• Absent children
• Children and the wider family
• Family income
• Employment status/employment history
• Academic education/vocational training/other courses
• Access to and use of computers
• Basic skills
• General health
• Smoking, drinking and exercise
• Experience of crime
• Social participation
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NCDS 11-year old Essays
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At age 11, in 1969 NCDS Cohort members completed a short
questionnaire (at school) about leisure interests, preferred
school subjects and expectations on leaving school
 They were also asked to write an essay on the following topic:
‘Imagine you are now 25 years old. Write about the life
you are leading, your interests, your home life and your work
at the age of 25. (You have 30 minutes to do this).’
 13669 essays completed, mean length 204 words
 Copies of the original essays (in children’s handwriting) are
available on microfiche at CLS
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Existing research on the essays
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A small sample of 521 essays have been coded for word
count
 Boys 180 words
 Girls 228 words
 All essays have been coded for employment aspirations, over
90% give a classifiable occupation
 No systematic coding and analysis of the essays has been
carried out to date
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Extract 1:
‘When I am 25 I will have a job as a engineer or macanic. I
hope to have a house in the country with a nice garden to dig
and plant vegetables. I will own a car (zepher) to go on
journeys around England or in paris. I hope to have a wife and
children who I respect. I will have a dog colliee or a house dog
both tame. On weekends I will take my family out for a ride or
once a month visit my parents. ‘
At age 11:
General ability (47/80 – a little above average); Lives in a
council house with natural parents; father is in a skilled manual
occupation
At age 40:
Married with children; lives in a three-bedroomed owneroccupied house, very satisfied with accommodation; parents
have both died; works as a foreman pattern maker.
Extract 2:
I am an Air-Hostest. I look after poeple I speck two langweges, and I meat
lots of poeple. Some are old, and some are young. The money is good.
When I am not on the plane I show people arond. Some people can not
speck English, sowe I speck to them in their own langwege. At the airport
there is a room were you can powder your nose hear and there. We have
a speica suit that we must wear. Before we go on our first trip we have to
lerne how to walk nicely, and how to wear our make up. We all ways have
to smail.
At age 11
General ability (44/80 –average); missing data about parents and
tenure of accommodation
At age 40: married with children, living in three-bedroomed owner
occupied house; fairly satisfied with accommodation; looking after
home and family, husband is customs and excise officer/immigration
officer.
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Research project funded by the Nuffield
foundation (Elliott and Morrow)
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Project is intended as a pilot study, possibly to be followed up by larger application
to ESRC
Aim to type up and code a sub-sample of 560 essays & conduct preliminary
descriptive analyses
Sample stratified to reflect: gender; ability; social class; family structure
Essays will be coded for themes such as:
 family life; leisure; employment; housing expectations; contact with parents;
pets; transport and travel; aspirations vs expectations
Both qualitative and quantitative analysis will be carried out using NVIVO and
SPSS to help organize, code, and analyze the data
Main research questions: how do gender and social class shape children’s
aspirations?
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Analysis of essays: possible questions to
address
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What are our initial impressions e.g. is the child optimistic/pessimistic;
positive/negative?
To what extent is each essay a narrative or a description?
What elements of narrative does each essay include?
What is there in the essay that is surprising (& why)?
What is in the essay that doesn’t surprise us (& why)?
Is there anything in the essay that is assumed but not explicitly stated
What is the role of time/ how is time used in the essay?
What markers of gender and social class are there in the essay?
How explicit is the age of the child and the historical context within the essay?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having over 13,000 qualitative
essays that could potentially be analysed?
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