The use of narrative inquiry as an approach for exploring student accounts about their own learning

Author / Creator

Baughan, Patrick, author

Available as

Online

Summary

Narrative inquiry is a research approach used for the collection of personal accounts about an issue or experience among a pre-selected group of informants (participants) and assumes that we are al...

Narrative inquiry is a research approach used for the collection of personal accounts about an issue or experience among a pre-selected group of informants (participants) and assumes that we are all "storied individuals"holding our own narratives and life stories about our experiences. As part of the PhD in educational research that I am undertaking at Lancaster University, I used narrative inquiry to explore student accounts of their own learning, comparing knowledge that they were expected to gain, as set out in specification documents, with knowledge they did gain, in their own interpretations. In this case study, I summarize key aspects of the project, foregrounding the narrative approach that I adopted. After explaining relevant terminology and guiding the reader through the different stages of my own project, I offer a set of advisory points for the newer researcher, based on my experience of using narrative inquiry.

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