The Role of the Researcher in Interview Narratives

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the role of the researcher in interview contexts in which narratives and methodologies of narrative analysis play a role. It is mostly concerned with conditions of narrative and narrative outcomes in the context of a commonly deployed form of data collection, the research interview. The chapter explains how and where do narrative approaches come in, and what role does the researcher play in this context. It dwells on that role in two senses: the researcher as a (cotemporaneous) interactant with a strategic investment in the unfolding interview and the researcher as a (post hoc) analyst of interview data that has been obtained. For a number of turns in the interview, the interviewer's role seems to become more backgrounded, with contributions subservient to the goals of narration, including displays of supporting the narrative. The chapter discusses the various ways to elicit a narrative.

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