Downs, Yvonne (2009) Ethics and Narrative Research – A Contradiction in Terms? In: Narrative, Memory and Identities. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, pp. 21-30.
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Abstract
In April 2007 I began my dissertation towards an MA in Educational Research at the University of Sheffield. Entitled ‘An evaluation of the experience of doing life history research: A case study’ its purpose was to confirm (or otherwise) my ‘hunch’ that life history would allow fidelity to my professed research philosophy. I will elaborate on this later but the thinking that underlies all my research endeavours is to do feminist research with an ethical aim, a moral purpose and a reflexive impetus. I had been introduced to the notion of ‘narrative research’ in the taught components of the above MA and felt that that this was for me. By ‘narrative’ I mean a particular type of discourse, that is ‘the story’, ‘the type of discourse that draws together diverse events, happenings and actions of human lives’ (Polkinghorne, 1996:5). On this understanding it dawned on me that I had already unconsciously undertaken such research years earlier for an MA in Women’s Studies (Novakovic, 1993) but had failed to grasp this fact because I was working with letters rather than with oral accounts.
So I will first spend some time setting out why I was powerfully drawn to doing narrative research. Then I will mark the points where this brought me into potential conflict with concerns over research ethics, including a more fundamental consideration of the compatibility of narrative research with ethical practice. Finally I will sketch out how a life history methodology provided a way to address, but not definitively resolve, these issues.
Item Type: | Book Chapter |
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Additional Information: | Copyright for chapters remain with individual authors at all times and permission should be sought from the author for any reproduction other than for personal use. |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics |
Schools: | School of Human and Health Sciences School of Human and Health Sciences > Narrative and Memory Research Group > Narrative and Memory Research Group Annual Conference |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | Cherry Edmunds |
Date Deposited: | 01 Jul 2009 08:36 |
Last Modified: | 28 Aug 2021 22:55 |
URI: | http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/4860 |
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