Theoretical reflections on narrative in action research

Abstract

Narrative is an important tool for developing and writing up action research experiences. Its power lies in the fact that narrative construction and narrative recounting are fundamental human communication practices. Narratives are also knowledge producing devices, since they make sense of personal experiences and share that sense-giving with others. However, the twinned duality of narrative knowing (sense making) and narrative telling (communicating that sense) has often made its role as methodological approach be disregarded or misunderstood. Our objective is to reflect on how we can best use the narrative method in action research by paying due attention to these issues. We consider ontologies, epistemologies and key characteristics. We argue that what has been seen as a weakness in narrative method, its deep subjectivity, can actually be employed as an analytical strength in action research. We show how examining the explanations of context, inherent in narrative processes, can provide rich insights into the meanings of phenomenon.