Reflexive Narrative

Book excerpt: Reflexive Narrative: Self-Inquiry Toward Self-Realization and Its Performance is latest addition to the Qualitative Research Methods series. Author Christopher Johns describes this unique method and its developmental approach to research to enable researchers’ self-realization however that might be expressed. This method focuses on systematizing the reflective process and providing structure while still remaining flexible to the needs of individual researchers and projects. Researchers collect data through reflections on everyday experiences and then selectively use the evidence of researcher’s insights. The text starts out with a brief introduction to narrative research and reflexivity, situating the method within the larger context of organizational practices. The next chapters introduce the steps for reflexive narrative research and walk readers through the movements of the reflexive narrative process, writing, reflection, dialogue, guidance, weaving, and audiencing. Additional coverage of ethics and research examples provide a foundation for application of the method to individual research. A chapter on structuring the method for a doctoral thesis furthers the applied nature of this method. Three extracts from studies provide research examples across several social science disciplines, including nursing and education. For students and researchers alike looking for new approaches to reflexive methods and looking to expand their ideas about self-research in a qualitative context, Reflexive Narrative provides a starting place for their own examination of self in the context of research.