Critical Narrative Inquiry: An Examination of a Methodological Approach

Abstract

While stories are a central focus in narrative inquiry to examine phenomena, storytelling deconstruct values, assumptions, and beliefs to challenge taken-for-granted meanings. The objective of this paper is to examine storytelling from the perspective of knowledge paradigms, methodology, quality criteria, and reflexivity. By recognizing the elements of stories sociality, temporality, and place, the scope of a qualitative narrative study is framed where factors are expressed, shaped, and enacted. Considerations of these elements can be linked with the critical paradigm and self-reflexivity for representing and designing narrative inquiry grounded in a set of ontological and epistemological assumptions. A significant contribution of this paper is to address a methodological approach in the form of narrative inquiry to better understand the meaning of stories as rooted expressions of participants’ lived experiences. The implications of this study are to bring critical lens to worldviews that would better inform policy.

The Influence of Familial Relationships: Multiracial Students’ Experiences with Racism at a Historically White Institution

“…Multiracial students have unique life experiences and narratives that deserve to be told. Qualitative methodologies that are critical in approach encouraged as an approach to further interrogate multiracial student stories because their life stories matter (Jones et al 2014;Pino Gavidia and Adu 2022).…”

Equity, inclusion and belonging for teachers in early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand

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“…The participants’ narratives are more than just stories; they are retellings and interpretations of experiences embedded in sociopolitical and historical moments. As such, each narrative is mediated within power relations that forge the creation of practices, systems and situations of marginalisation (Pino Gavidia and Adu, 2022). In critical narrative inquiry, each shared story is understood to be purposefully selected and retold as an opportunity to make sense of the past, promote a particular representation of reality, and engage in social action.…”

Co‐creating knowledge with undocumented Filipino students: Kuwentuhan as a research method

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