Jessica Breen, PhD CandidateSchool of Social Work and Social Policy,

Trinity College Dublinjdbreen@tcd.ie

Seminar on Dementia, Disability & ReminiscenceTrinity College Dublin, NIID Seminar Room

16 January 2009

1) An introduction Biographical Research Methods and Life Histories

2) Reasons for use

3) How to conduct empirical research*

4) Applications/ Benefits for Practice

A specific type of qualitative research “which uses stories of individuals and other ‘personal materials’ to understand the individual life within its social context” (Roberts 2002:3).

“The intent of biographical research in its various guises is to collect and interpret the lives of others as part of human understanding” (Roberts 2002:15)

Emphasises the importance of subjective experience within historical & social contexts

Illuminates processes by which individuals negotiate both their identities and their interpretation/engagement with norms

Facilitates the researcher in “captur[ing], prob[ing], and render[ing] understandable problematic experience”. For this “[i]t is necessary to get as close to actual experience as possible”. (Denzin 1989: 69)

Recognises that “what we capture [in stories] is a mediation between the personal voice and wider cultural imperatives” (Goodson & Sikes 2001)

Two Broad Approaches (Denzin 1989):1) Traditional

Life Histories (Chicago School)Objective Natural History ApproachAccept norms related to validity, reliability, truth, falsity and generalisability

2) Interpretive Objective Hermeneutics (Schutze 1983; Oevermann 1979)Rejects traditional norms of evaluationRegards biographical materials from within a literary, fictional framework

•Research is participant-orientated.

•Research comes from an interpretive standpoint.

•Roots in early Sociology:•Thomas and Znaniecki’s The Polish Peasant (1918)•Shaw’s The Natural History of a Delinquent Career (1931).

•More recent interest in the structure and purpose of stories and narrative forms of talk

Source: Roberts 2002:3

Source: Bornat and Walmsley (2008:5)

Bottom Up

Practice

Top Down

Research

Recognises that the different parts of people’s lives are interconnected

Encompasses a range of strategies for collecting dataInterviews**Group WorkJournals, diaries, other autobiographical writingsDocuments

Can be combined with other research methods

Laborious

Time-consuming

Complicated (but so is life )

1) Access negotiation

2) Informed Consent (Written, verbal)

3) Interview Schedule

4) Supplementary Aids (i.e. photographs)

5) Mechanism for feedbacka. Copy of transcript

b. Report

c. Life Story Book

6) Be emotionally prepared to actively listen

Based around your area of research but generally include topics such as:

INITIAL QUESTION

EARLY LIFE HISTORY & FAMILY OF ORIGIN

EDUCATION

COMMUNITY AND CLASS

EMPLOYMENT

LEISURE/COURTING

MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN

LATER LIFE

TURNING POINTS

“As you know, I’m interested in……….[topic area]

In a minute I’m going to ask you to please tell me your life story,

All the experiences and the events which were important for you, up to now,

Start wherever you like

Please take the time you need

I’ll listen first, I won’t interrupt

I’ll just take some notes in case I have any further questions for after you’ve finished telling me about it all

OK. So can you please tell me your life story,

All the events and experiences that were important for you, personally, up to now. Start wherever you like.

Read/ ask your SQUIN

Non-verbal facilitation (facial expressions, encouraging sounds) but no direction or interruption (even to questions such as “Where do you want me to start?”)

Unspecified narrative questions if necessary/ specifically asked by participant

“Do you remember a particular time...?”

Note taking:Note key phrases to cue them back to parts of their life story for further probing

Once participants have told their story they will usually signal this with a coda something along the lines of “Yeah, that’s basically it” or “Well, that’s my story”.

Silence is NOT the same as an ending; resist the urge to interrupt the silence

Can you tell me what it was like for you to grow up in ________________?

 

What did you do for fun or entertainment?

  

What was it like growing up in your household?

What was your home life like?

What about your relationships with any brothers and sisters?

 

How would you describe your parents?

What did your father do for work? And your mother?

How would you describe your mother’s personality and emotional qualities? How would you describe your father’s?

   

Did you have any dreams or ambitions as a child? As an adolescent?

What were your hopes and dreams as you entered adulthood

 

When did you realize you had become an adult?

 

 

What do you remember most about school?

What is your best memory?

 

What was your parents’ attitude towards formal education?

 

Are you attending any courses or classes now?

When you look back on your life, are there any moments which you would identify as turning points? What are they?

When you think about the future what are you thoughts and feelings?

What are your hopes?How might these be achieved?

What are some of your fears or worries?

•You said “____________”, do you remember anything more about…

that period of time?particular incident?event?that experience?Specific examples?Recreation of the scene through sight, smell, audio…Negative instances

“Objective” data on life events Such data can be verified through other sources such as academic transcripts, court reports, medical files, public records such as newspapers, etc.

Accounts of the “Subjective” subjective experience of such events

Narrative accounts of past events reveal the narrator’s present interpretation of the context, emotions, motivations of their past self. This often leads to self-evaluation and self-theorising.

1983 Born Hartford, CT

1991 Move w/ Mother & sibs to new town; Father moves to AZ

1996 Parents Divorce

1999 Father Remarries

2001 Move to Colorado for College

2003 Paternal grandmother dies

2005 Move to Dublin for MSc

2006 Begin PhD

2008 Present on Biographical Methods

I remember one time- you asked me about my childhood, this is the best part of the school that I remember- I was picked out of the whole school and I was on “The School around the Corner”. It was a program that used to be on every Sunday. And I got picked out of the class and I think there was a boy picked out of the boys’ school and the show was “The School around the Corner”. You got ten shillings and six pence for going on. That was on the TV, television, big thing! And eh, I think I got a doll. You know they’d be asking you questions and em, “What did you do?”. Something like what’s going on now like about the inner city [referring to the interview process]. “What do you do to play? Keep yourself amused?” And we’d be saying [in a school girl’s voice] “Ah, sure I have a skipping rope”. So we [were] skipping for em [sings in a childish manner]:

“Police man, police man, don’t take me.

I have a wife and family.

How many children have you got?

Twenty-four and that’s a lot!”

So, you’d skip twenty-four [times].

Not necessarily empowering for participants (Bornat & Walmsley 2008)

Not all memories are good and not everyone wants to remember

Be as reflective and reflexive as possible during the research process

What is being left out?

Who owns the data?

Biographical methods enable us to study social reality as it is (constantly) re-interpreted by social actors

Focus on the subjective experience of the participant can contribute to more sensitive policies of care and support

Biographical methods can also help people to retain/ document their memories and engage in identity

(re-)construction/preservation work

Provide a record for relatives, other researchers, practitioners, educators, and the wider community