Although qualitative approaches to psychological research have a long history in the discipline, they have also been, and remain, marginalized from the canon of mainstream scientific psychology. At the current moment, however, there is growing recognition of the importance of qualitative methods and a movement toward a more inclusive and eclectic stance on psychological research. This volume reflects upon the historical and contemporary place of qualitative methods in psychology and considers future possibilities for further integration of these methods in the discipline. Scholars representing a wide-range of perspectives in qualitative and theoretical psychology reflect on the historical and contemporary positions of qualitative methods in psychology with an eye to the future of research and theory in the discipline. This book encourages a more critical and inclusive stance on research, recognizing both the limits and contributions that different methodological approaches can make to the project of psychological knowledge.

Although qualitative approaches to psychological research have a long history in the discipline, they have also been, and remain, marginalized from the canon of mainstream scientific psychology. At the current moment, however, there is growing recognition of the importance of qualitative methods and a movement toward a more inclusive and eclectic stance on psychological research. This volume reflects upon the historical and contemporary place of qualitative methods in psychology and considers future possibilities for further integration of these methods in the discipline. Scholars representing a wide-range of perspectives in qualitative and theoretical psychology reflect on the historical and contemporary positions of qualitative methods in psychology with an eye to the future of research and theory in the discipline. This book encourages a more critical and inclusive stance on research, recognizing both the limits and contributions that different methodological approaches can make to the project of psychological knowledge.

How can a narrative perspective help us advance our understanding of the fundamental problems of human psychology and better appreciate persons in diverse social and cultural contexts? In A New Narrative for Psychology, author Brian Schiff offers researchers and scholars a new way to study and think about people and the goals of psychological understanding today. By providing a challenging critique of contemporary methods and addressing what these approaches to psychological research leave unexplored, Schiff presents readers with a cutting-edge approach for getting at the thorny problem of meaning making in human lives. While serving as a helpful guide for psychology scholars, this volume is also an excellent place to start for readers who might be unfamiliar with narrative psychology. Here, Schiff carefully considers the history of the field and its place within contemporary psychology by offering a fresh and innovative theoretical perspective on narrative as an active interpretative process present in most aspects of our everyday lives. Further, Schiff expertly grounds this research for readers in clear, vivid illustrations of what can be learned from the intensive study of how people narrate their experiences, selves, social relationships, and the world today. A New Narrative for Psychology is an invitation to a fascinating conversation about the critical questions of the discipline, the most effective strategies for approaching them, and an exciting glimpse into the future of narrative psychology.

The challenge of life and literary narrative is the central and perennial mystery of how people encounter, manage, and inhabit a self and a world of their own - and others' - creations. With a nod to the eminent scholar and psychologist Jerome Bruner, Life and Narrative: The Risks and Responsibilities of Storying Experience explores the circulation of meaning between experience and the recounting of that experience to others. A variety of arguments center around the kind of relationship life and narrative share with one another. In this volume, rather than choosing to argue that this relationship is either continuous or discontinuous, editors Brian Schiff, A. Elizabeth McKim, and Sylvie Patron and their contributing authors reject the simple binary and masterfully incorporate a more nuanced approach that has more descriptive appeal and theoretical traction for readers. Exploring such diverse and fascinating topics as 'Narrative and the Law,' 'Narrative Fiction, the Short Story, and Life,' 'The Body as Biography,' and 'The Politics of Memory,' Life and Narrative features important research and perspectives from both up-and-coming researchers and prominent scholars in the field - many of which who are widely acknowledged for moving the needle forward on the study of narrative in their respective disciplines and beyond.