The Narrative Practice Research Network is excited to share this special issue of The Qualitative Report showcasing NPRN members’ innovative work at the intersections of narrative therapy/community work and qualitative research.
NPRN spent 12 months working with researchers and practitioners to develop this collection, beginning with a symposium at Dulwich Centre in November 2023.
The Qualitative Report is a Q1 peer-reviewed journal dedicated to developing qualitative, critical and collaborative research. It has a long history of engagement with family therapy and narrative practice.
These papers are available on an Open Access basis here and on TQR’s website. More papers will be added as they are published throughout December 2024.
Narrative practice and research: A special issue of The Qualitative Report
Narrative Practice Research Network special issue introduction: Qualitative research meets narrative therapy and community work: A confluence of practice and politics (Denborough et al., 2024)
Denborough, D., Nettle, C., St. George, S., & Wulff, D. (2024). Narrative Practice Research Network special issue introduction: Qualitative research meets narrative therapy and community work: A confluence of practice and politics. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 9-21. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7825
Abstract:
This special issue, a collaboration between The Qualitative Report and the Narrative Practice Research Network, is a rich and diverse collection of papers linking Narrative Therapy/Community Work and qualitative research. In four sections, authors explore narrative practice research innovations, practitioners doing research and influencing practice via Research as Daily Practice, insider knowledge/insider research towards broader social movement politics, and research in service of broader change. The special issue organizers and contributors hope this collection leads to more conversation and collaboration.
Time travelling with Ron Chenail, Sally St. George, Dan Wulff, and David Denborough: An interview about connecting histories of family therapy, narrative therapy and qualitative research (Denborough, 2024)
Denborough, D. (2024). Time travelling with Ron Chenail, Sally St. George, Dan Wulff, and David Denborough: An interview about connecting histories of family therapy, narrative therapy and qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7799
Abstract:
Dear Readers, we have a question for you: Do you know about the origins and history of the journals you decide to submit your manuscripts to for publication? We are most pleased to present to you an interview with the three Co-Editors-in-Chief of TQR (Ron Chenail, Sally St. George, and Dan Wulff) and David Denborough of Dulwich Centre delving into the origins of TQR in the early 1990s. The roots of TQR were intertwined with family therapy authors and practitioners (Tom Andersen, Michael White, and many others) and that continues today. We think that you will find these historical relationships and influences to be fascinating and instructive in understanding how one qualitative research journal came into being and how it is positioning itself to go forward. We are using this interview to introduce this special issue on practice-based research, in particular, narrative therapy and research.
Continuing to become other: Responding to the complexities of the shifting subject in qualitative research through a narrative therapy lens (Penwarden, 2024)
Penwarden, S. (2024). Continuing to become other: Responding to the complexities of the shifting subject in qualitative research through a narrative therapy lens. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 22-35. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7800
Abstract:
According to anthropologist Bruner (1987), “stories may have endings, but stories are never over” (p. 17). This notion, of people continuing to tell and retell their life stories to craft preferred ways of living, is a key concept within narrative therapy (Denborough, 2014). However, this concept of the subject whose stories change over time is, at face value, a challenge to the validity of qualitative research data which is seen as enduring over time. Bearing in mind St. Pierre’s (2021) call to continue to reinvent qualitative research in line with the poststructuralist moment, I consider what it might offer qualitative research to view a participant not as static and fixed, but as unfinalized across time. In this regard, I utilize narrative therapy’s view of a person as shifting over time (Combs & Freedman, 2016). I propose three sets of implications for a fluid view of a person for qualitative research: methodological implications in viewing interviews as a slice of life, or as part of longitudinal stories; implications for a researcher in how they relate to their limited knowledge claims with epistemic humility; and practice innovations to invite participants to acknowledge their own unfinalizability and potential to change over time. These implications invite a researcher to ally with the implicitly therapeutic possibilities of qualitative research, which not only describe what is, but opens potential to know what may be.
The experience and identity interview: Narrative therapy in research interviewing (Conti et al., 2024)
Conti, J. E., Calder, J. T. M., & Rankin, R. (2024). The experience and identity interview: Narrative therapy in research interviewing. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 36-61. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7801
Abstract:
In this paper we introduce “The Experience and Identity Interview” (EII) and demonstrate ways that this qualitative research interview can be used to engage participants in talk that scaffolds between their experiences, the meanings they ascribe to these, and their identity (re)negotiations. In doing so, there is scope to generate rich interview data that addresses a range of research questions. Drawing on the paradigm of narrative therapy, the EII generates a collaborative dialogical space wherein both researchers and research participants may co-contribute to the unpacking of normative discourses that shape participants’ usual ways of speaking about their lived experiences, thereby revealing previously hidden identities. In this paper we demonstrate the key phases of the EII and illustrate its efficacy in generating rich qualitative research data. Importantly, we propose that the EII also upholds a crucial ethical principle in qualitative interviewing: to empower participants as active agents in telling the stories of their lives. This is uniquely achieved in the EII through interview questions that invite participants to engage in (re)authoring conversations that reconnect them to key identity narratives that have been lost to dominant storylines. In doing so, researchers are well-placed to mitigate the risk of potential harm through minimizing the reproduction of problematic narratives that can have real effects on participants’ lives.
Exploring the incommensurability of the interview in postqualitative research: A narrative practice-informed approach (Strauven, 2024)
Strauven, S. (2024). Exploring the incommensurability of the interview in postqualitative research: A narrative practice-informed approach. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 62-81. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7802
Abstract:
My starting point in this paper is the question of whether the interview, as a method to contribute knowledge, has become incommensurable and thus superfluous within post-qualitative research frameworks. I take seriously the critiques posited by scholars in the field of post-qualitative inquiry and seek to clarify the generative possibilities of aligning interviews with a post-structural paradigm. My incorporation of narrative practices into this exploration not only grounds the discussion in a narrative practice-based methodology but also offers readers practical ideas for addressing the challenges of paradigmatic congruency. This approach signals a methodological innovation, and I propose a practical process for scholars, researchers, and practitioners interested in reflecting on their interview practices and methodological responsibilities. In doing so, I hope this paper can serve as a resource for those seeking to navigate the intricate landscape of qualitative research methodologies, contributing to ongoing discussions and advancing the field with narrative-practice informed research practices.
How might one practice? Producing possibilities through co-research as a daily practice of a minor science (Mullkoff, 2024)
Mullkoff, M. (2024). How might one practice? Producing possibilities through co-research as a daily practice of a minor science. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 82-95. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7803
Abstract:
Narrative practice is a broad field which includes therapy, community work, and research methods, all of which are less rigidly defined as they are connected through resonant ethics. In this paper I explore a practice I have developed in my early years as a narrative therapist asking the question, “If coming to talk to me were part of a Project— although not necessarily the first part, nor the most important part—what would that Project be called?” Through a reflexive process of aspiring towards narrative research principles of co-research, committing to relational ethics (which is grounded and contextual, rather than codified), and engaging with alternative theories of research (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987; Epston, 1999; Epston & White, 1992; St. George et al., 2015), I come to the understanding of my therapy practice as “Co-Research as Daily Practice of a Minor Science.” I present the “findings” of this research, as it pertains to the Project Question, and explore the ways that conducting the research will impact the way I use the Project Question in therapy sessions. Rather than the modernist notion that evidence-based practices are how one ought to practice, this process produces possibilities for how one might practice.
Designing research to produce usable knowledge from archives that have significant ethical and privacy constraints (Semeschuk, 2024)
Semeschuk, K. (2024). Designing research to produce usable knowledge from archives that have significant ethical and privacy constraints. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7804
Abstract:
Archives are sometimes imagined to be dusty repositories of historical documents. The considerations of care and ethical practice at the heart of qualitative research with active participants may not seem relevant. However, when archives contain sensitive information about people, living or no longer living, and those people cannot be consulted about the use of the materials, significant ethical issues arise. This paper offers innovative ways of balancing a desire to explore the treasures of a highly sensitive archive with rigorous attention to the rights and interests of those whose stories the archive holds. Based on research with a video archive of recorded therapy sessions left by Michael White, the co-originator of narrative therapy, my paper sets out a series of innovative responses to ethical considerations about the right to privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity. These include strategies to anonymize data while retaining context, re-presenting material in the archive so that it could be shared, creating a role for an advocate on behalf of people recorded in the archive, and using subjective learnings from the archive as a basis for collective practice-based research. This enabled the generation of research findings that are directly applicable to practitioners. The practices described make possible an “opening” of a previously locked archive. They also set out a possible pathway for others seeking to conduct research with highly sensitive archives.
A review of the edited collection, Narrative research now: Critical perspectives on the promise of stories (Lainson, 2024)
Lainson, K. (2024). A review of the edited collection, Narrative research now: Critical perspectives on the promise of stories. The Qualitative Report, 29(12), 107-111. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7805
Abstract:
Narrative Research Now: Critical Perspectives on the Promise of Stories, edited by Ashley Barnwell and Signe Ravn (2024), is a compelling and engagingly written collection of research projects, or stories, that showcase use of narrative in research. This review, written through the lens of a narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researcher, asks what resonances and points of interest the collection may hold for the narrative therapy and practice research field. Congruent themes highlighted include nuanced ethical caretaking, concern for matters of social justice, bringing forth subordinated knowledge, centering lived experience, paying attention to the politics of representation, and researcher transparency when grappling with complex decision-making. Traversing diverse social, ethical, and creative terrains, while carrying people at its heart, this wonderfully crafted collection is an exciting offering. This review proposes that in its interlacing of storytelling, academic endeavor, and context-relevant ethics to produce meaningful, transformative research innovations, Narrative Research Now has much to offer narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researchers by way of inspiration, companionship, consultation, and possibility.
Sarah Penwarden introduces her paper, “Continuing to become other: Responding to the complexities of the shifting subject in qualitative research through a narrative therapy lens,” which is included in the special issue of The Qualitative Report.
