This article discusses the uses and benefits of an innovative method of graphic elicitation; timelining. The method was developed in the context of a narrative-based research project on fatness and weight loss. Participants’ weight over time was plotted on a graph, informed and elaborated by a variety of material objects such as photographs, diaries, and medical records. The timeline provided a focus for participants and prompted their stories of weight loss experiences over time. While initially intended as a simple heuristic tool for eliciting talk, over the course of the research the process of timelining became a central feature of the project. Timelining is a subtle and malleable research method. While keeping time in view, timelining documents, records, extends and deepens understandings of participants’ past experiences. It encourages the construction of rich temporal narratives. It also provides opportunity for a deeper researcher-participant relationship to develop. This form of graphic elicitation has particular value for narrative forms of research.

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Qualitative research extensively utilises interviews to gain insight into the intricacy and texture of lived experience. However, there is growing recognition of the limitations of interviewing as a data-gathering method. Popular alternatives include a move to visual methods, such as photo-production, to enhance the interviewing process. In this article, we argue for the power of materiality in this process. We propose that material objects, such as photographs, items of clothing, and personal journals, have power to simultaneously provide proof of the past, produce increased narrative depth, force change in narratives, and change the interview process and the relationships caught up within it. We illustrate these issues by drawing on data from a research project about weight loss. We conclude by considering the implications and value of using material things in research.

CharactersJAN, battle-scarred academic RUTH, visiting scholar DYLAN, eternal student, pub quiz champion HUGO, ex-counsellor turned academic ARIEL, Gemini, new to the game JACK S. HATCHER, always has the last word TimeThe present. SettingA rather bare research room in a university, table and chairs, whiteboard and cluttered noticeboard on walls, half-empty bookcase with books and filing boxes, two computers and a telephone on another table in a back corner. Scene OneThe stage is in darkness. Around the table, motionless, sit JAN, HUGO, RUTH and DYLAN. Cups and glasses, books, journal articles, pens and papers are scattered over the table, along with an open laptop computer. JACK S. HATCHER enters through the audience, shadowed by a soft spotlight, carrying a voice recorder and notepad. He walks slowly on stage, goes behind the table, checks his notepad and watch, takes a breath, and goes to within a few feet of the table. He turns on the voice recorder and speaks into it.