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Narrative research. An introduction of characteristics and challenges of a rapidly growing research field.
Narrative research. An introduction of characteristics and challenges of a rapidly growing research field.
This article provides a brief overview of different narrative approaches in social scientific inquiry. First different definitions, methodological and epistemological approaches are introduced. Then, the emergence of a narrative approach in the social sciences is situated in historical and societal contexts. Finally, some challenges and potentials of developing this rapidly growing approach are identified. In particular the use of technological developments and the advancement of the relational turn in narrative inquiry are addressed. In the discussion, arguments are presented concerning a more methodical approach and attention is drawn to the risks of losing the humanistic potential of narrative research.

De titel van De verhalen die wij leven. Narratieve psychologie als methode verwijst zowel naar een benadering in de narratieve psychologie als naar een concrete interventiemethode (dus niet onderzoeksmethode) voor de hulpverlening aan ouderen. Overeenkomst tussen de narratieve psychologie als wetenschappelijke benadering en de life-review-interventiemethode is dat beide de mens beschouwen als een verhalenverteller. De life-review-methode richt zich op het ontwikkelen van een coherent, constructief, perspectiefrijk verhaal over het eigen leven. De tweeledige betekenis van de titel geeft meteen aan dat het boek zowel een praktisch als theoretisch doel heeft, die ik hierna beide bespreek. Maar eerst zet ik uiteen hoe het boek is opgebouwd, wat het beoogde publiek is en hoe de 'narratieve toonzetting' (om een term te gebruiken die de auteur Ernst Bohlmeijer aan narratief psycholoog McAdams ontleent) gekarakteriseerd kan worden.

Early strategies of researching readers turned scholars to hermeneutic shortcuts like Iser's 'implied' or Fish's 'informed' reader. However, these shortcuts cannot be seen as studying 'actual' readers. One approach to studying actual readers has been turning to empirical methods. However, even though the institutions that do these types of research are located in culturally complex cities, the process of participant selection in empirical studies often does not take the city's make-up into account. Therefore, this article aims to present a participant sampling strategy for empirical reader response research with Antwerp as the location for a study of urban readers in a European context. Opting for a qualitative approach and thus a purposeful sampling strategy and taking the hyper-diverse nature of major cities into account, we suggest using social milieu rather than traditional descriptive markers by recruiting from different neighbourhoods. This as neighbourhoods have their own culture and play an important role in a person's identity. Turning to local libraries for participant recruitment means a step towards studying actual readers and will lead to a deeper insight into the effects of texts on readers. Moreover, apart from obtaining a richer variety of idiosyncratic responses, this can also result in a deeper understanding of (sub)cultural responses to narratives.

This article adopts a pragmatic‐communicative approach, derived from Gregory Bateson's cybernetic theory, to the Greek Referendum Vote of 2015. Applying this approach, we interpret the Referendum as a double‐bind situation. Our research question is twofold: (1) How do potential Greek voters discursively construct the Referendum? (2) How do they respond to the communicative situation posed? A total of 124 written narratives, "Letters from the Future," written by 99 participants, were collected during the days prior to the vote. Their letters focused on a desired future situation after a YES or a NO vote outcome. Qualitative analysis showed how the letters were used to appropriate the Referendum query in a unique and deeply personalized manner. Moreover, we identified four types of responses to the ambivalent query: confirmation, rejection, disconfirmation, and meta‐communication. These responses are indicative of the psychological and emotional burden posed by the query and of ways people responded to the query. In conclusion, we reflect on the importance of recognizing the psychological dimension of the vote, the role of narratives from the future for personal and social transformation, and the wider relevance of the proposed future‐making, pragmatic approach to other Referendum situations.

The aim of this article is to explore how teams make sense of their effectiveness over time by telling their team story. We selected five team stories from health care teams perceived by the organization as effective. We analyzed their stories using three-level narrative analysis, which addresses the temporal, social, and normative complexities of narrating effective teamwork. Two story types were identified: developing effectiveness stories, which represent stories about a transition from ineffective to effective, and continuous improvement stories, which represent relatively consistent high performance. This distinction seems to indicate differences in the way teams engage in and profit from narrative reflection, and how they relate to the organizational context. Our findings showed that narrative reflection provides insights into incongruence between teamwork elements, invites members to exchange perspectives, and reveals lessons learned for future recycling. Future research could explore how composite stories might provide insights for other teams to reflect on.