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Life stories the biographic method. The Biographical Interpretive Method Life History Interviews Life Story Interviews. Life History - Life Story biographic interviews. unfocused, open-ended In-depth broad area of experiences detailed accounting
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Life storiesthe biographic method The Biographical Interpretive Method Life History Interviews Life Story Interviews
Life History - Life Storybiographic interviews • unfocused, open-ended • In-depth • broad area of experiences • detailed accounting • in its own right - as background for life events • psychoanalytic - user-focused empowerment politics
Chamberlain (2002) Hollway & Jefferson (2000) Rosenthal (1983, 2003) Wengraf (2001) Hermans (1992) Holstein & Gubrium (2000) McAdams (1985) Miller (2000) Mishler (1986, 1999) different approaches to biography as method
Rosenthal (2003)the narrative-conversation-guide ---usually TWO interviews ---first interview: several hours • Opening question: “Please tell me your family story and your personal life story; I am interested in your whole life. Anything that occurs to you. You have as much time as you like to tell it. I won’t ask you any questions for now. I just will make some notes on the things that we would like to ask you more about later; if we haven’t got enough time today, perhaps in a secvond interview”
Rosenthal (2003) <continued> • PHASE I: MAIN Narration • Attentive and supportive – no interruptions, no questions except supportive questions when stuck (“and then what happened”?) [using the ‘active listener guide <“that must have felt terrible?”>] • PHASE II: INTERNAL Narrative Questions • “Could you tell me more about time X”? or ”Could you recall a situation when your father behaved in an authoritative way”? • PHASE III: EXTERNAL Narrative Questions: • Regarding topics that have not been mentioned in the interview
Rosenthal (2003) <continued> • GOALS of the interview • ‘to come close to an integral reproduction of what at that time happened or the past experience’s gestalt’ (p. 922) • maintaining the gestalt of the interviewee’s story • Analysis of the interview • reconstructing sequences of actions • ‘abducting’ the ‘gestalt’ • theoretical generalization <WHY did THIS happen?> • Relevancies • For the interviewee, the interviewer + the public