Page 342 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

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representing structured meaning. Narratives
Narrative aNalysis are structured about a story plot or plots
illustrated by characters (actors) and events.
Narratives as stories are characterized by
Narrative analysis is a specific analytic a sense of internal chronology (either tem-
approach in the more general field of narra- poral or thematic) and connectedness that
tive research or narrative inquiry. Narrative brings about coherence and sense making.
analysis is defined as an analytic process Narratives differ from discourse in that nar-
involving structuring, interpretation, and ratives contain descriptions of chronologi-
recontextualization applied to human stories cally articulated events along with sketches
constructed by narrators who are situated in of characters within the stories.
specific personal and social contexts of their As narratives are human linguistic prod-
lives. Narrative analysis does not refer to ucts, their constructions are closely tied to
one specific analytic technique or strategy as “storytelling,” that is, the processes involved
there is a variety of ways stories are analyzed in producing them. In narrative analysis, sto-
and interpreted, which are sometimes sug- rytelling is often the object of analysis, along
gested for consolidation in application for an with narratives themselves.
in-depth understanding of the work of nar- The heterogeneity of narratives, the rep-
ratives and narratives themselves (Mishler, resentative disciplinary plurality, and the
1986, 1995; Riessman, 1993, 2001). Narrative varieties in narrative theories have been
analysis has a grounding in many different evidenced in various approaches and ori-
disciplines and is being applied in various entations in narrative analysis. There are
research traditions: literary studies, linguis- at least three diverse orientations within
tics, anthropology, psychology, sociology, narrative analysis: (a) structural orientation,
theology, history, and practice disciplines (b) storytelling orientation, and (c) interpre-
such as nursing, medicine, occupational tive orientation (for other ways of catego-
therapy, and social work. Narrative analysis rizing narrative analysis, see Mishler, 1995;
has been gaining popularity among nurse Polkinghorne, 1988; Riessman, 1993).
researchers during the past two decades as Structural orientation can be identified
one approach to study human experiences of with structuralists such as Barthes (1975)
both clients and nurses, especially from the and sociolinguists such as Labov (1972) and
perspective of interpretivism. Gee (1991). In this orientation, narratives are
All sorts of oral and written represen- thought to be organized about a specific set
tations are considered narratives—fables, of structural units that bring about coher-
folktales, short stories, case histories, exem- ence and connectivity in the narratives.
plars, news reports, personal stories, his- Attention to narrative structures is analyti-
toriography, and interview data. Although cally juxtaposed to such aspects as functions
there are controversies, the term narrative in that different structural units perform, sense
narrative analysis refers to a story that con- making in story, and narrativity. Narrative
tains two or more sequentially ordered units, analysis in the structuralist tradition within
with a beginning, middle, and ending, and literary studies and linguistics focuses on