Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry

TLDR

Narrative inquiry, rooted in a long intellectual tradition, examines how humans experience the world through storytelling and views education as the construction and reconstruction of personal and social narratives. The paper surveys narrative inquiry methods and proposes a two‑part research agenda for curriculum and teacher studies. It outlines criteria, methods, and writing forms—beginning, living, and selecting stories—and discusses potential risks and abuses.

Abstract

Although narrative inquiry has a long intellectual history both in and out of education, it is increasingly used in studies of educational experience. One theory in educational research holds that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. Thus, the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world. This general concept is refined into the view that education and educational research is the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories; learners, teachers, and researchers are storytellers and characters in their own and other's stories. In this paper we briefly survey forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies and outline certain criteria, methods, and writing forms, which we describe in terms of beginning the story, living the story, and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots. Certain risks, dangers, and abuses possible in narrative studies are discussed. We conclude by describing a two-part research agenda for curriculum and teacher studies flowing from stories of experience and narrative inquiry.