If you’re new to research, the host of qualitative analysis methods available to you can be a little overwhelming. In this post, we’llunpack the sometimes slippery topic of narrative analysis. We’ll explain what it is, consider its strengths and weaknesses, and look at when and when not to use this analysis method.
What Is Narrative Analysis?
Simply put, narrative analysis is a qualitative analysis method focused on interpreting human experiences and motivations by looking closely at the stories (the narratives) people tell in a particular context.
In other words, a narrative analysis interprets long-form participant responses or written stories as data, to uncover themes and meanings. That data could be taken from interviews, monologues, written stories, or even recordings. In other words, narrative analysis can be used on both primary and secondary data to provide evidence from the experiences described.
That’s all quite conceptual, so let’s look at an example of how narrative analysis could be used.
Let’s say you’re interested in researching the beliefs of a particular author on popular culture. In that case, you might identify the characters, plotlines, symbols and motifs used in their stories. You could then use narrative analysis to analyse these in combination and against the backdrop of the relevant context.
This would allow you to interpret the underlying meanings and implications in their writing, and what they reveal about the beliefs of the author. In other words, you’d look to understand the views of the author by analysing the narratives that run through their work.
The Two Overarching Approaches
Generally speaking, there are two approaches that one can take to narrative analysis. Specifically, an inductive approach or a deductive approach. Each one will have a meaningful impact on how you interpret your data and the conclusions you can draw, so it’s important that you understand the difference.
First up is the inductive approach to narrative analysis.
The inductive approach takes a bottom-up view, allowing the data to speak for itself, without the influence of any preconceived notions. With this approach, you begin by looking at the data and deriving patterns and themes that can be used to explain the story, as opposed to viewing the data through the lens of pre-existing hypotheses, theories or frameworks. In other words, the analysis is led by the data.
For example, with an inductive approach, you might notice patterns or themes in the way an author presents their characters or develops their plot. You’d then observe these patterns, develop an interpretation of what they might reveal in the context of the story, and draw conclusions relative to the aims of your research.
Contrasted to this is the deductive approach.
With the deductive approach to narrative analysis, you begin by using existing theories that a narrative can be tested against. Here, the analysis adopts particular theoretical assumptions and/or provides hypotheses, and then looks for evidence in a story that will either verify or disprove them.
For example, your analysis might begin with a theory that wealthy authors only tell stories to get the sympathy of their readers. A deductive analysis might then look at the narratives of wealthy authors for evidence that will substantiate (or refute) the theory and then draw conclusions about its accuracy, and suggest explanations for why that might or might not be the case.
Which approach you should take depends on your research aims, objectives and research questions. If these are more exploratory in nature, you’ll likely take an inductive approach. Conversely, if they are more confirmatory in nature, you’ll likely opt for the deductive approach.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Now that we have a clearer view of what narrative analysis is and the two approaches to it, it’s important to understand its strengths and weaknesses, so that you can make the right choices in your research project.
A primary strength of narrative analysis is the rich insight it can generate by uncovering the underlying meanings and interpretations of human experience. The focus on an individual narrative highlights the nuances and complexities of their experience, revealing details that might be missed or considered insignificant by other methods.
Another strength of narrative analysis is the range of topics it can be used for. The focus on human experience means that a narrative analysis can democratise your data analysis, by revealing the value of individuals’ own interpretation of their experience in contrast to broader social, cultural, and political factors.
All that said, just like all analysis methods, narrative analysis has its weaknesses. It’s important to understand these so that you can choose the most appropriate method for your particular research project.
The first drawback of narrative analysis is the problem of subjectivity and interpretation. In other words, a drawback of the focus on stories and their details is that they’re open to being understood differently depending on who’s reading them. This means that a strong understanding of the author’s cultural context is crucial to developing your interpretation of the data. At the same time, it’s important that you remain open-minded in how you interpret your chosen narrative and avoid making any assumptions.
A second weakness of narrative analysis is the issue of reliability and generalisation. Since narrative analysis depends almost entirely on a subjective narrative and your interpretation, the findings and conclusions can’t usually be generalised or empirically verified. Although some conclusions can be drawn about the cultural context, they’re still based on what will almost always be anecdotal data and not suitable for the basis of a theory, for example.
Last but not least, the focus on long-form data expressed as stories means that narrative analysis can be very time-consuming. In addition to the source data itself, you will have to be well informed on the author’s cultural context as well as other interpretations of the narrative, where possible, to ensure you have a holistic view. So, if you’re going to undertake narrative analysis, make sure that you allocate a generous amount of time to work through the data.
When To Use Narrative Analysis
As a qualitative method focused on analysing and interpreting narratives describing human experiences, narrative analysis is usually most appropriate for research topics focused on social, personal, cultural, or even ideological events or phenomena and how they’re understood at an individual level.
For example, if you were interested in understanding the experiences and beliefs of individuals suffering social marginalisation, you could use narrative analysis to look at the narratives and stories told by people in marginalised groups to identify patterns, symbols, or motifs that shed light on how they rationalise their experiences.
In this example, narrative analysis presents a good natural fit as it’s focused on analysing people’s stories to understand their views and beliefs at an individual level. Conversely, if your research was geared towards understanding broader themes and patterns regarding an event or phenomena, analysis methods such as content analysis or thematic analysis may be better suited, depending on your research aim.
Let’s recap
In this post, we’ve explored the basics of narrative analysis in qualitative research. The key takeaways are:
- Narrative analysis is a qualitative analysis method focused on interpreting human experience in the form of stories or narratives.
- There are two overarching approaches to narrative analysis: the inductive (exploratory) approach and the deductive (confirmatory) approach.
- Like all analysis methods, narrative analysis has a particular set of strengths and weaknesses.
- Narrative analysis is generally most appropriate for research focused on interpreting individual, human experiences as expressed in detailed, long-form accounts.
If you’d like to learn more about narrative analysis and qualitative analysis methods in general, be sure to check out the rest of the Grad Coach blog here. Alternatively, if you’re looking for hands-on help with your project, take a look at our 1-on-1 private coaching service.
