Narrative Inquiry

Stories are a way of representing and making meaningful our experiences. Participants in narrative studies can see their stories in a larger context.

Narrative inquiry makes no claim to objectivity. It is important to recognize that stories are shaped as much by the listener as by the storyteller.

We created a typology of the research participants’ stories as a way to understand similarities and differences in their experiences of moral distress.

A typology is a means of organizing and classifying stories into types based on common features. An effective typology bridges a personal story to common experience and in turn gives us insight into the storyteller’s world. To make a typology, the investigator must become immersed in the stories. A few ways of orienting thought about the stories include:

• What reasons does the story offer for characters’ acting in certain ways as opposed to others? What moral lessons does the story offer?

• How do people recognize themselves and what they value? How do they know others? How do they demonstrate this to one another?

• Stories are expressions of what people share, and storytelling is crucial to the development and maintenance of relationships.

• Stories generally have a telos—a desired end to which the characters strive irrespective of their meeting that end.