Narrative Analysis

Abstract

Abstract The ‘deliberative turn’ in normative political theory has coincided with something of a ‘narrative turn’ in empirical social science. Scholars in communication studies, psychology, sociology, politics, public administration, and beyond have increasingly focused their attention on the role that narratives play in social interaction. There is increasing awareness of the importance of narrative for those interested in assessing deliberation. After all, normative ideas about the way people ought to make sense of and stake claims about personal, social, and political phenomena can only be strengthened by closer engagement with empirical accounts of how they actually do so. While narrative analysis has much to offer scholars of deliberation, the growing interest in, and adoption of, this approach in social science research presents some complexities and confusions. Like deliberation itself, narrative means different things to different analysts. It is operationalized in different ways to different ends. The aims of this chapter, then, are twofold. First, it seeks to put forward a version of narrative analysis that is grounded in the traditions of interpretive policy analysis. It makes a case for why this version can answer unresolved questions for scholars of deliberation. Second, this chapter draws on examples from the author’s own research experience to open up about the often-hidden interpretive craft of narrative analysis and demonstrate what it entails in the work of assessing deliberation in practice.