The Life Story Interview (Qualitative Research Methods)

About this book

First-person narratives are a fundamental tool of the qualitative researcher. One of the latest volumes in the Qualitative Research Methods series The Life Story Interview provides specific suggestions and guidelines for preparing and executing a life story interview. Author Robert Atkinson Director of the Center for the Study of Lives at the University of Southern Maine places the life story interview into a wider research context before moving on to planning and conducting the interview. Atkinson carefully covers the classic functions of stories the research uses of life stories generating data from a life story and the art and science of life story interviewing. He also thoroughly examines the potential benefits of sharing a life story getting the information desired and questions to ask and transcribing and interpreting the interview. To provide further support for the reader the book concludes with a sample life story interview. As the use and study of narratives continues to grow in importance throughout the research enterprise The Life Story Interview becomes an even-more valuable tool for qualitative researchers in all disciplines.