Page 344 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

NATIONAL INSTITuTe OF NuRSING ReSeARCH n 311

favored the use of poetic structures as the understanding of human experiences that
mode of structuring narratives as interpre- are fundamental to nursing practice.
tive; however, the use of any specific struc- N
turing model is less critical for the analysis Hesook Suzie Kim
than is interpretation.
Within the interpretive orientation in
narrative analysis, critical narrative analy-
sis has emerged within the last decade NatioNal iNstitute of
(Holstein & Gubrium, 2000). Critical narra-
tive analysis is aligned with critical philos- NursiNg research
ophy and is based on the assumptions that
knowledge is ideologically, historically, and
culturally embedded (Gergen, 1994), and The National Institute of Nursing Research
language use and meanings in language (NINR) is one of 27 institutes and centers
are socially constructed entrenched with that comprise the National Institutes of
power (Foucault, 1972). Critical narrative Health (NIH). The NIH is one of 12 operating
analysis, therefore, focuses on critiquing divisions of the u.S. Department of Health
how patterns of power and social practices and Human Services. Headquartered in
shape and construct narratives as well as Bethesda, Maryland, the NIH is the nation’s
storytelling (emerson & Frosh, 2004). medical research agency—making impor-
Although there are distinct differences tant medical discoveries that improve health
among these orientations, there are many and save lives. Thanks in large part to NIH-
hybrid forms of narrative analysis used in funded research, Americans today are liv-
actual research practice. Hybrid forms often ing longer and healthier. Life expectancy in
combine analysis of process or meaning with the united States has jumped from 47 years
structural analysis. In nursing research, nar- in 1900 to 77 years today, and disability in
rative analysis has been applied with various people older than 65 years has dropped
orientations and in different hybrid forms. dramatically in the past three decades. In
The literature in nursing reveals some con- recent years, nationwide rates of new diag-
fusion in the use of narrative analysis as a noses and deaths from all cancers combined
research method, such as in (a) using it inap- have fallen significantly. More than 80% of
propriately instead of discourse analysis, (b) the NIH’s budget goes to more than 300,000
applying to research with textual data but research personnel at over 3,000 universities
without focus on stories, or (c) using in com- and research institutions. In addition, about
bination with techniques within grounded 6,000 scientists work in NIH’s own labora-
theory, phenomenological analysis, or eth- tories, most of which are on the NIH main
nography without either theoretical or meth- campus. The campus is also home to the NIH
odological justification. Although many Clinical Center, the largest hospital in the
scholars including Mishler (1995) suggested world totally dedicated to clinical research.
for each individual researcher in narrative In the fall of 2010, NINR commemo-
research to design and apply a set of specific rated the 25th anniversary of its establish-
strategies for narrative analysis, there is a ment at the NIH. Originally designated as
need for a rigor in specifying one’s theoretical the National Center for Nursing Research by
and methodological commitments regarding Public Law 99–158 in 1986, it attained insti-
narratives and narrative knowledge in such tute status through the NIH Revitalization
methodological formulation. Research of Act of 1993. Its budget of $16 million in 1986
narrative accounts of clients and nurses, as has grown to $145 million in 2010. The origi-
well as their interactions, can produce deep nal staff of 9 members has increased to nearly