An Introduction to Narrative Inquiry

This chapter introduces the topic of narrative inquiry. It provides a rationale for the use of narrative research methods within social work and related professions, and it notes the relative dearth of narrative research within social work. It considers the intellectual developments within the human sciences that have given rise to the emergence of narrative inquiry. It reviews how narrative has been conceptualized across the disciplines, and locates approaches to narrative analysis within the dominant methods of language analysis within the social sciences. It clarifies the focus of the volume—first-person oral narratives obtained for the purposes of research—and highlights the specific approaches to the analysis of narratives to be covered.