Step-by-Step Approach to Narrative Analysis

Here’s a deceptively simple summary of an approach borrowed from Douglas Ezzy’s 2002 book, Qualitative Analysis:

1. Compile the stories.

2. On the first of several reads through your collection, note and bracket your responses to the story: what you believe, what you doubt, and what touches you. (Here’s an example of what I mean: Conversations with Suzanna.)

3. Analyze the explicit content, the discourse, and the context of each story focusing on insights and understandings.

4. Consider the latent content that lies unsaid between the lines (see Braun & Clarke article under Narrative Research Methods for more).

5. Compare and contrast stories for similarities and differences in content, style, and interpretation.

6. Consider the effects of background variables (ie: history, geography, gender, age).

7. Identify stories or content that illustrates your themes, insights, and understandings.

8. Increasingly, social science researchers are using themes and approaches from literary theory to develop rich, fine-grained analyses of discourse. Here, I think Derrida’s question, “What is this text responding to?” can be extremely helpful.

You’ll find more in-depth consideration of narrative methods (and a more detailed discussion of various approaches) in my paper titled, “Refining the Narrative Turn: When does story-telling become research.”

You can find other resources listed and reviewed here.