You are here

The Life Story Interview
Share
Share

The Life Story Interview


Volume: 44

January 1998 | 104 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

First-person narratives are a fundamental tool of the qualitative researcher. One of the latest volumes in the Qualitative Research Methods series, The Life Story Interview provides specific suggestions and guidelines for preparing and executing a life story interview. Author Robert Atkinson, Director of the Center for the Study of Lives at the University of Southern Maine, places the life story interview into a wider research context before moving on to planning and conducting the interview. Atkinson carefully covers the classic functions of stories, the research uses of life stories, generating data from a life story, and the art and science of life story interviewing. He also thoroughly examines the potential benefits of sharing a life story, getting the information desired and questions to ask, and transcribing and interpreting the interview. To provide further support for the reader, the book concludes with a sample life story interview.

As the use and study of narratives continues to grow in importance throughout the research enterprise, The Life Story Interview becomes an even-more valuable tool for qualitative researchers in all disciplines.


 
PART ONE: CONTEXTS AND USES OF LIFE STORIES
 
Stories in Context
 
The Life Story in Disciplinary Context
 
What a Life Story Is
 
The Classic Functions of Stories
 
The Research Uses of Life Stories
 
Generating Data from a Life Story
 
The Art and Science of Life Story Interviewing
 
PART TWO: PLANNING THE INTERVIEW
 
The Potential Benefits of Sharing a Life Story
 
Basic Interview Guidelines
 
The Morals of the Story
 
PART THREE: DOING THE INTERVIEW
 
Getting the Information You Want
 
Questions To Ask
 
PART FOUR: INTERPRETING THE INTERVIEW
 
Transcription
 
Interpretation
 
PART FIVE: CONCLUSION

Very valuable text for students undertaking the life story approach. Essential reading.

Dr Anne Mills
other, Bournemouth University
October 22, 2013

It's a succinct, yet mostly thorough, overview of the life history interview. This thrifty blue book even manages to fit an example edited interview near the end of the text. I have used it on a number of occasions for introductory anthropology courses.

Mr Patrick Knight
Anthropology Dept, University of Illinois - Chicago
July 29, 2013

Life story and narrative are Becoming more. Widely used. Methods -this. Is. A. Good. Text for. Helping. Students. Understand. The. Methos

Dr Linda Barlow-Meade
Faculty of Health, Social Work & Educ, Northumbria University
January 15, 2013

Sage College Publishing

You can purchase or sample this product on our Sage College Publishing site:

Go To College Site

This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods, the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.