Students, academics and professionals in qualitative research methods, interpersonal communication, sociolinguistics, sociology and anthropology

"The brief, practical texts in the Essentials of Qualitative Methods series introduce social science and psychology researchers to key approaches to capturing phenomena not easily measured quantitatively, offering exciting, nimble opportunities to gather in-depth qualitative data. In this book, Ruthellen Josselson and Phillip L. Hammack introduce readers to Narrative Analysis, a qualitative method that investigates how people make meaning of their lives and experiences in both social and cultural contexts. This method offers researchers a window into how individuals' stories are shaped by the categories they inhabit, such as gender, race, class, and sexual identity, and it preserves the voice of the individual through a close textual analysis of their storytelling. About the Essentials of Qualitative Methods book series: Even for experienced researchers, selecting and correctly applying the right method can be challenging. In this groundbreaking series, leading experts in qualitative methods provide clear, crisp, and comprehensive descriptions of their approach, including its methodological integrity, and its benefits and limitations. Each book includes numerous examples to enable readers to quickly and thoroughly grasp how to leverage these valuable methods"--

Featuring contributions from leading scholars in the field, The Handbook of Narrative Analysis is the first comprehensive collection of sociolinguistic scholarship on narrative analysis to be published. Organized thematically to provide an accessible guide for how to engage with narrative without prescribing a rigid analytic framework Represents established modes of narrative analysis juxtaposed with innovative new methods for conducting narrative research Includes coverage of the latest advances in narrative analysis, from work on social media to small stories research Introduces and exemplifies a practice-based approach to narrative analysis that separates narrative from text so as to broaden the field beyond the printed page

Narrative Analysis is organized around three approaches or "readings." Literary Readings focus on aesthetic, metaphorical, and other literary qualities inherent to narrative approaches. Social-Relational Readings build upon the idea that narrative discourse is personal but also echoes political, economic, and other material relationships in the environment. Readings through the Force of History explain how narrators come to know themselves and their worlds in terms of and in spite of the received explanations of time and place. Working in a range of ethnic, geographic, generational, class, and institutional communities, the authors demonstrate how they have used narrative inquiry to explore development in challenging social contexts.

An important recent development in the study of teaching is the use of narrative analysis to study teachers' lives, their work and anecdotes exchanged in the staffroom.; This book critically examines current approaches to the study of teachers' narratives and argues that, for narrative research to be effective, we need to see narrative in a multi- disciplinary perspective. The book examines models of narrative analysis currently proposed in linguistics, sociology, psycology, anthropology and literature and applies insights from these disciplines to the study of teachers' narratives. The author proposes an alternative approach to studying narratives which is then applied to original data, demonstrating how narrative analysis can be used to study primary teachers' perceptions of their work. lt is suggested that narrative analysis could be used to study the perceptions or culture of any professional group.

Offers practical illustrations from different disciplines and perspectives, showing how researchers from various backgrounds deal with narrative data.

A concise volume aimed at researchers and academics in sociology, anthropology, psychology and interpersonal communication.