Research Methods for Studying Narrative Identity: A Primer

Abstract

Robyn Fivush is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology at Emory University, Associated Faculty with the Department of Women's Studies, and a Senior Fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Her research focuses on the social construction of autobiographical memory and the relations among memory, narrative, identity, trauma, and coping.Jennifer P. Lilgendahl Haverford College jlilgend@haverford.edu Jennifer Pals Lilgendahl is an associate professor of psychology at Haverford College. Her research examines processes of self-definition and identity construction in adolescence and adulthood, with a specific focus on how people connect memories of past events to the present self through the narration of a life story.

The narrative identity approach and romantic relationships

“…Narrative identity has most often been considered within social, personality, and developmental psychology (e.g., Adler et al, ; McAdams, ; McAdams & McLean, ) as well as within the field of autobiographical memory (Berntsen & Rubin, ; Bluck, ; Bluck, Alea, Habermas, & Rubin, ; Conway & Pleydell‐Pearce, ). Here as well, McAdams (, ) deserves much of the credit, as he argued that narrative identity constitutes a distinct level of personality.…”

“…When measuring narrative identity, researchers commonly prompt participants for narrative descriptions of key autobiographical scenes or self‐defining memories. Both reflect a person's coherent sense of self over time, as represented by a salient memory from one's life (e.g., Adler et al, ; Conway, Singer, & Tagini, ; Singer, ; Singer & Blagov, ; Singer & Salovey, ). However, whereas key autobiographical scenes are specific, emotionally salient moments in life (e.g., high points, low points, and turning points), self‐defining memories are less constrained insofar as they represent emotionally salient experiences, regardless of their valence or designation as turning points.…”

“…The former relies on oral responses, whereas the latter solicits typed or written responses. Given that the prompts contained in the LSI serve as “the gold standard” (Adler et al, , p. 147) for collecting narrative descriptions, these prompts are often repurposed when assessing aspects of narrative identity via non‐interview methodologies (e.g., online questionnaires). The LSI takes between 1 to 3 hr to complete, and the resulting data are typically transcribed verbatim.…”

“…These coders are then tasked with rating the data in accordance with either preexisting or novel coding systems. In either case, the training is not complete until a high degree of interrater reliability is established (for discussion, see Adler et al, ; Cicchetti, ). On the basis of the nature of the coding system (e.g., ratings on a Likert scale, nominal presence/absence scale), the interrater reliability may be quantified using intra‐class correlations, Cohen's κ, category agreement, or delta (for further guidance regarding coding, see also Adler et al, ; Adler et al, ).…”

Contextualizing personality: Personality within and across social roles and conceptual levels

“…Once formed, narrators attempt to “live in” to the resulting psychosocial constructions (Adler, ; Dunlop, ; McAdams, ; Singer, ). Most often, narrative identity is measured via the administration of a series of prompts for specific key autobiographical scenes, such as life high points, low points, and turning points (see Adler et al, ). Once collected, both goals and narratives are then quantified via any number of nomothetic categories (see Adler et al, ; Dunlop, Bannon, & McAdams, ).…”