Cathy Riessman is the leading figure in narrative research and her new book is a delight. Covering basic issues of transcription and research credibility as well as visual data and engagingly written, it is a goldmine for students and researchers alike. If we want to make narrative research serious and revealing, it is to this book that we should turn. David Silverman, Professor Emeritus, Goldsmiths' College, University of London

"Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences provides an accessible framework for researchers to analyse narrative texts with confidence, empathy, and humility. NARRATIVE INQUIRY This is a terrific book. Cathy Riessman has an encyclopedic knowledge of this field and of the participants in it. This breadth and depth of knowledge is abundantly clear throughout the book. Susan Bell, Bowdoin College

This book has been a great source of inspiration to me and my students, not only for its methodological clarity, but also for the spirit of social activism it engenders. Ian Baptiste, "The Pennsylvania State University""Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences is an essential starting point for both students and experienced researchers interested in using narrative analysis in applied or other contexts. Written with admirable clarity, an engaging style, and supported by detailed examples of analysis, the book outlines the main methodological issues and approaches within the exciting and fast-developing field of narrative research. Even researchers already familiar with narrative methods should find the presentation of thematic, structural, dialogic/performance, and visual forms of analysis a fruitful stimulus to new research endeavours. Brian Roberts, "University of Central Lancashire," "U.K." I just had to thank you for paving the path for us new and 'hopeful' narrative researchers. I have been a student of both your books on narrative analysis, and want to thank you for your guidance from your work, and also your latest book Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. This work and the references you have chosen for us have helped me immensely during this time in my doctoral program, especially as I enter into the analysis phase. Maria T. Yelle, nursing doctoral candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences provides a lively overview of research based on constructing and interpreting narrative. Designed to improve research practice, itgives a detailed discussion of four analytic methods that students can adapt. Author Catherine Kohler Riessman explains how to conduct the four kinds of narrative analysis using model studies from sociology, anthropology, psychology, education and nursing. Throughout the book, she compares different approaches including thematic analysis, structural analysis, dialogic/performance analysis, and visual narrative analysis. The book helps students confront specific issues in their research practice, including how to construct a transcript in an interview study; complexities of working with materials translated from another language; defining narrative segments; relating text and context; locating oneself as the researcher in a responsible way in an inquiry; and arguing for the credibility of the case-based approach.

Broad in scope, Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences also offers concrete guidance in individual chapters for students and established scholars wanting to join the narrative turn in social research.

Key Features

Focuses on four particular methods of narrative analysis: This text provides specific diverse exemplars of good narrative research, as practiced in several social science and human service disciplines. Offers guidance for narrative interviewing: The author discusses the complexities between spoken language and any written transcript. In the process, she encourages students to be mindful of the texts they construct from dialogues among speakers.

Presents arguments about validation in case-based research: Riessman presents several ways to think about credibility in narrative studies, contextualizing validity in relation to epistemology and theoretical orientation of a study.

Explores the differences between grounded theory methods and narrative analysis: The author clarifies distinctions between inductive thematic coding in grounded theory, and other interpretive approaches, and narrative analysis.

Presents social linguistic methods for analyzing oral narrative: This text makes the approach accessible to readers not trained in social linguistics in part by providing rich examples from a number of different disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

Employs visual methods of analysis: Riessman takes narrative research beyond the spoken or written texts by showing how exemplary researchers have connected participants words and images made during the research process. She also discusses other research that incorporates found images (in archives) in a narrative inquiry.

This text is designed as a supplement to the qualitative research course taught in graduate departments across the social and behavioral sciences, and as a core book in the narrative course."

Sociology and psychology are experiencing an increase of interest in qualitative methods, yet existing literature emphasizes quantitative methods. Qualitative Studies in Social Work Research provides actual examples of social work investigators working systematically with data in alternative ways. A diversity of qualitative approaches are represented including field observations, interviews, organizational documents, and literary narratives. The studies--all by social workers--range from examining surface content to analysis of deep structures of discourse. Among the social work problems examined are isolation of the chronically ill, child welfare, sexual abuse, and what happens when the homeless apply for welfare. This much-needed volume is perfect for students. Qualitative Studies in Social Work Research will also be of interest to practitioners looking for empirically-based insights. "This edited collection is a first-rate celebration of the diversity of methods used in qualitative research. What I found most unique about this collection is that the articles do not simply present findings; instead, they locate the findings within the oftentimes frustrating process of doing research and making sense out of it. I strongly recommend this book for qualitative methods courses in sociology." --Rosanna Hertz, Wellesley College and Coeditor, Qualitative Sociology "Reading this innovative compilation of social work studies provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the strengths and perhaps underexamined limitations of qualitative reports. The reports are vibrant and directly convey the language of the participants. Affect comes across vividly. Characters stand out. We do understand participants' unique experiences. . . . Social workers now have a basis for the exploration of their own qualitative studies. It is an important and timely contribution." --Smith College Studies in Social Work "This useful volume offers alternatives to the dominant quantitative paradigm in social research. It provides exemplary studies of social work problems using a diversity of qualitative approaches." --Fokus på Familien [Focus on the Family]

Cathy Riessman is the leading figure in narrative research and her new book is a delight. Covering basic issues of transcription and research credibility as well as visual data and engagingly written, it is a goldmine for students and researchers alike. If we want to make narrative research serious and revealing, it is to this book that we should turn. David Silverman, Professor Emeritus, Goldsmiths' College, University of London

"Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences provides an accessible framework for researchers to analyse narrative texts with confidence, empathy, and humility. NARRATIVE INQUIRY This is a terrific book. Cathy Riessman has an encyclopedic knowledge of this field and of the participants in it. This breadth and depth of knowledge is abundantly clear throughout the book. Susan Bell, Bowdoin College

This book has been a great source of inspiration to me and my students, not only for its methodological clarity, but also for the spirit of social activism it engenders. Ian Baptiste, "The Pennsylvania State University""Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences is an essential starting point for both students and experienced researchers interested in using narrative analysis in applied or other contexts. Written with admirable clarity, an engaging style, and supported by detailed examples of analysis, the book outlines the main methodological issues and approaches within the exciting and fast-developing field of narrative research. Even researchers already familiar with narrative methods should find the presentation of thematic, structural, dialogic/performance, and visual forms of analysis a fruitful stimulus to new research endeavours. Brian Roberts, "University of Central Lancashire," "U.K." I just had to thank you for paving the path for us new and 'hopeful' narrative researchers. I have been a student of both your books on narrative analysis, and want to thank you for your guidance from your work, and also your latest book Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. This work and the references you have chosen for us have helped me immensely during this time in my doctoral program, especially as I enter into the analysis phase. Maria T. Yelle, nursing doctoral candidate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences provides a lively overview of research based on constructing and interpreting narrative. Designed to improve research practice, itgives a detailed discussion of four analytic methods that students can adapt. Author Catherine Kohler Riessman explains how to conduct the four kinds of narrative analysis using model studies from sociology, anthropology, psychology, education and nursing. Throughout the book, she compares different approaches including thematic analysis, structural analysis, dialogic/performance analysis, and visual narrative analysis. The book helps students confront specific issues in their research practice, including how to construct a transcript in an interview study; complexities of working with materials translated from another language; defining narrative segments; relating text and context; locating oneself as the researcher in a responsible way in an inquiry; and arguing for the credibility of the case-based approach.

Broad in scope, Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences also offers concrete guidance in individual chapters for students and established scholars wanting to join the narrative turn in social research.

Key Features

Focuses on four particular methods of narrative analysis: This text provides specific diverse exemplars of good narrative research, as practiced in several social science and human service disciplines. Offers guidance for narrative interviewing: The author discusses the complexities between spoken language and any written transcript. In the process, she encourages students to be mindful of the texts they construct from dialogues among speakers.

Presents arguments about validation in case-based research: Riessman presents several ways to think about credibility in narrative studies, contextualizing validity in relation to epistemology and theoretical orientation of a study.

Explores the differences between grounded theory methods and narrative analysis: The author clarifies distinctions between inductive thematic coding in grounded theory, and other interpretive approaches, and narrative analysis.

Presents social linguistic methods for analyzing oral narrative: This text makes the approach accessible to readers not trained in social linguistics in part by providing rich examples from a number of different disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.

Employs visual methods of analysis: Riessman takes narrative research beyond the spoken or written texts by showing how exemplary researchers have connected participants words and images made during the research process. She also discusses other research that incorporates found images (in archives) in a narrative inquiry.

This text is designed as a supplement to the qualitative research course taught in graduate departments across the social and behavioral sciences, and as a core book in the narrative course."

Recipient of the 1994 Critics' Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association

"This exposition of the principles of narrative analysis is a crisp and thankfully accessible introduction to a range of more or less formal techniques for the interpretation of first-person oral narratives. . . . Riessman organizes her discussion in a down-to-earth way. . . ."

--Patricia Uberoi in Contributions to Indian Sociology

"Her concise and well-organized book, Narrative Analysis, contributes important insights to the qualitative methods literature. It is directed toward scholars and graduate students of various disciplines, as a methodological guide for analyzing transcripts of first-person stories or experiences. The book is also relevant for researchers interested in the substantive areas of women's lives and medical sociology . . . . Riessman's book provides a useful guide for marketing researchers; particularly those aligned with the interpretive camp . . . . because marketing researchers are increasingly interested in studying both consumers' and managers' stories. . . Narrative Analysis should be useful to an even wider audience."   

--George M. Zinkhan & Denise E. Delorme in Journal of Marketing

"Catherine Kohler Riessman's handbook not only provides a basic introduction to the social scientist using narrative as a tool, but also offers a strand of feminist research as her central example . . . . It is a useful text to include in course offerings on discourse analysis."  

--Discourse and Society

"The book offers communication researchers some of the best recent work on qualitative inquiry in the human disciplines . . . . Published by Sage, the leading publisher of qualitative research in the social sciences today . . . . The heart of her tightly argued text turns on forms of narrative (linked stories, conversations, life stories) and their analysis . . . . This work should be read against and alongside Atkinson and Silverman . . . . This work brings the communication scholar up-to-date on where qualitative methods are in current sociological and educational discourse." --Norman K. Denzin in Journal of Communication "[This book] does what it intends to do and does that clearly and with lively and interesting examples. I think both students and teachers will find it compelling and useful. I plan to assign it in my seminar on narrative and description next semester."  

--Jay Gubrium, University of Florida

"In this text, Catherine Kohler Riessman discusses many of the important questions that face narrative scholars. As such, the book is a good introductory text for narrative methodology. For those who have read within the field previously, this work reminds the reader of some of the important questions that need to be addressed in narrative work . . . . This text is a valuable effort in an attempt to synthesize some of the main aspects of narrative methodology."  

--Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

"An excellent resource for individuals interested in the systematic use of narrative in social science research."  

--The American Journal of Family Therapy

People tell stories to help organize and make sense of their lives. In the past, their narratives have often been torn apart by social scientists looking for themes, variables, and specific answers to specific questions. But in recent years, the development of narrative analysis has given life to the study of the narrative as a form of information for social research. Why are they constructed as they are? How does one dissect a narrative to understand the lived experience of the narrator? What steps can the researcher take to translate these tales and life stories into usable research? Catherine Kohler Riessman provides a detailed primer on the use of narrative analysis, its theoretical underpinnings and worldview, and the methods it uses. Replete with examples and transcriptions from previous narrative studies, her book is a useful introduction to this growing body of literature.

"A terrific book--treats an issue of the utmost importance and relevance with fresh insight and compassion. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of gender difference, of marriage and divorce, and of contemporary society."--Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University Taking a new look at divorce in America, Catherine Reissman shows how divorce is socially shared, and how it takes crucially different forms for women and men. Drawing on interviews with adults who are divorcing, she treats their accounts as texts to be interpreted, as templates for understanding contemporary beliefs about personal relationships. Riessman looks at the ideology of the companionate marriage: husband and wife should be each other's closest companion, and in marriage one should achieve emotial intimacy and sexual fulfillment. These beliefs imply a level of equality that rarely exists. In reality, most wives are subordinate to their husbands, most husbands want neither "deep talk" nor small talk that women want, and many husbands resent their wife's ties to kin and friends. To explain divorce, women and men construct gendered visions of what marriage should provide, and at the same time they mourn gender divisions and blame their divorces on them. Riessman examines the stories people tell about their marriages--the protagonists, inciting conditions, and culminating events--and how these narrative structures provide ways to persuade both teller and listener that divorce was justified. Although divorce is invariably stressful, many people believe that men suffer less than women. This is an artifact of what Riessman calls the "feminization of psychological distress"--traditional ways of measuring distress reflect women's idioms, not men's. Departing from a literature that casts divorce in only negative terms, she finds paradoxically that women sense rewards, even as they report hardship. There is a shakeup in gender roles, and women more than men feel they gain a fuller idea of who they are. The author allows us to enter the points of view of her subjects, while her analytic approach makes links between the self and society.

Sociology and psychology are experiencing an increase of interest in qualitative methods, yet existing literature emphasizes quantitative methods. Qualitative Studies in Social Work Research provides actual examples of social work investigators working systematically with data in alternative ways. A diversity of qualitative approaches are represented including field observations, interviews, organizational documents, and literary narratives. The studies--all by social workers--range from examining surface content to analysis of deep structures of discourse. Among the social work problems examined are isolation of the chronically ill, child welfare, sexual abuse, and what happens when the homeless apply for welfare. This much-needed volume is perfect for students. Qualitative Studies in Social Work Research will also be of interest to practitioners looking for empirically-based insights. "This edited collection is a first-rate celebration of the diversity of methods used in qualitative research. What I found most unique about this collection is that the articles do not simply present findings; instead, they locate the findings within the oftentimes frustrating process of doing research and making sense out of it. I strongly recommend this book for qualitative methods courses in sociology." --Rosanna Hertz, Wellesley College and Coeditor, Qualitative Sociology "Reading this innovative compilation of social work studies provides a wonderful opportunity to explore the strengths and perhaps underexamined limitations of qualitative reports. The reports are vibrant and directly convey the language of the participants. Affect comes across vividly. Characters stand out. We do understand participants' unique experiences. . . . Social workers now have a basis for the exploration of their own qualitative studies. It is an important and timely contribution." --Smith College Studies in Social Work "This useful volume offers alternatives to the dominant quantitative paradigm in social research. It provides exemplary studies of social work problems using a diversity of qualitative approaches." --Fokus på Familien [Focus on the Family]