Narrative Inquiry Space Research Articles

The emotional geography of faculty members engaging in virtual teacher professional development (VTPD): evidence from Indonesia

PurposeDrawing from emotional geography framework promoted by Hargreaves (2000), our research sought to depict the emotional geography of two faculty members who engaged in a virtual teacher professional development (VTPD) sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to focus on capturing participants’ emotional closeness or distance while they were engaging in VTPD.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed narrative inquiry by exploring three-dimensional narrative inquiry space: temporality, personal-social interaction and place (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000). Following this step, the participants were interviewed online through Zoom meetings and WhatsApp to capture critical incidents of their emotional experience. All collected data were transcribed, and some data from Bahasa Indonesia were translated into English. Member checking was also done several times to ensure the accuracy of the data as well as to avoid misinterpretation. The data were analysed inductively to generate coding categories using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) language appraisal (Martin and White, 2007) and emotional geography parameter (Hargreaves, 2001b).FindingsThe findings of the study revealed that both participants experienced greater positive feeling than negative ones. The participants experienced positive feelings such as seriousness, happiness, successfulness and satisfaction. They also experienced negative feelings such as insecurity, unhappiness, dissatisfaction and impatience. Such positive and negative feelings create closeness and distance among participants, mentor and workshop organiser. This study indicates that maintaining positive feelings is a passport to succeed in VTPD.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has two limitations. First, its findings cannot be overgeneralised since the analysis was restricted to data gathered from a small number of participants. Second, the scope of investigation was limited in virtual situations.Practical implicationsThe present study empirically showed that faculty members need to engage in constructing or maintaining positive emotional bond with the mentor and other participants and create conducive situations to understand their own and others’ emotions (Mayer, 2011). Practically, a mentor in VTPD may ask faculty members to voice and share their emotional experience as an evaluation tool to make VTPD programmes more successful. Future participants can benefit from these findings by engaging in emotional understanding and building a conducive situation during VTPD to develop their academic competence, agency and identity.Originality/valueWhile previous research into VTPD in the context of higher education mainly focused on designs, attention to pedagogy of online teacher learning environments, trends toward innovation in teacher collaboration and communities of practice in online settings, the present study specifically looked into how participants emotionally engaged in VTPD, which is inevitably linked to physical, moral, sociocultural, professional and political geographies.

외국인 유학생의 대학생활적응에 대한 질적 문헌분석

Objectives In this study, we aim to comprehensively examine the experiences of foreign international students studying in South Korea and explore the direction of future research on foreign international students.
 Methods A qualitative literature review was conducted on papers published from January 1st, 2012 to February 14th, 2023. The literature analysis was based on Dewey's theory of experience and categorized according to temporally, spatially, and sociality in the narrative inquiry space. The topic analysis referred to Baker and Siryk's concept of college life adjustment, which includes academic adaptation, social adaptation, personal-emotional adaptation, and adaptation to the college environment.
 Results There have been efforts to shift the perspective on foreign international students from language learning to a more individualized approach at the national level. For international students, the classroom was a complex space intertwined with various relationships, and the campus was like a home within Korea that provided psychological stability. However, to live as a part of South Korea, life adjustment to the world outside the campus was also necessary. On the other hand, foreign international students also experienced dilemmas depending on their personal and social situations.
 Conclusions Language education should be approached in a multidimensional manner, and a systematic and organic learning support system for foreign international students is required throughout the university. In addition, there is a need for systems and education that allow Korean students to grow as peer learners with international students.

Narrative Inquiry as a Viable Method in Language Teaching Research: A Short Analytical Study

This paper portrays my personal experience articulating narrative inquiry as a viable research approach to language pedagogy. It brings a personal nostalgia to the epistemic understanding of narrative inquiry. For this, I employed a qualitative research approach in my paper. For the successful accomplishment of the paper, I employed secondary sources; particularly data collected from research articles, books, dissertations, different websites and reports related to narrative research, etc. Within the qualitative continuum, I used the document analysis method and connected it with my own research experiences of using secondary sources of data in narrative research. More specifically, it explored how the research's paradigm was undergoing to bring the narratives as information to systematize the random experiences in research. In particular, this paper offers a metaphorical three-dimensional narrative inquiry space as a way to explore the aesthetic and artistic dimensions of narrative inquiry. Furthermore, narrative inquiry research paves the way to understanding what researchers know and what they believed about their research practices. The core process of narrative research is to systematize its design and set its conceptual framework. The principal attraction of narrative as a method is its capacity to render life experiences, both personal and social, in relevant and meaningful ways. It shows that researchers must learn to assume possible research procedures linearly to address their actions and performance. Moreover, narrative inquiry as a method serves as a pioneering foundation to replicate human experiences and establish itself as a prior research method in educational research.

Can I Get a Witness? Speculative Fiction as Testimony and Counterstory

Drawing on Black feminist/womanist storytelling and the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space, this article showcases how one Black girl uses speculative fiction as testimony and counterstory, calling for readers to bear witness to her experiences and inviting witnesses to respond to the negative experiences she faces as a Black girl in the United States. I argue that situating speculative fiction as counterstory creates space for Black girls to challenge dominant narratives and create new realities. Furthermore, I argue that considering speculative fiction as testimony provides another way for readers to engage in a dialogic process with Black girls, affirming their words as legitimate sources of knowledge. Witnessing Black girls’ stories is an essential component to literacy and social justice contexts that tout a humanizing approach to research. They are also vital for dismantling a system bent on the castigation and obliteration of Black girls’ pasts, presents, and futures.

The Narratives of an Indigenous Cree, a Brazilian, and a Canadian about Vulnerability, Privilege, and Responsibility in Anti-Racist Teacher Education

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors aim at presenting a lived experience and the meaning-making constructed by them as they participate in a simulation of the history of contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the country now named Canada and inquire into their stories within the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space. Considering relational ethics, the teacher educators and researchers lived, told, retold, and relived the stories of their own experiences, co-composing stories of anti-racist teacher education, playfulness, inclusion, privilege, and responsibility, through the eyes of an Indigenous Cree, a Brazilian, and a Canadian woman, towards increasing understanding of decolonizing education.

Addressing Internalized Weight Bias and Changing Damaged Social Identities for People Living With Obesity.

Obesity is a stigmatized disease due to pervasive personal, professional, institutional, and cultural weight bias. Individuals with obesity experience weight bias across their lifespan and settings, which can affect their life chances and significantly impact health and social outcomes. The objectives of this study were to: (a) explore weight bias and stigma experiences of people living with obesity; (b) develop counterstories that can reduce weight bias and stigma; and (c) reflect on current obesity master narratives and identify opportunities for personal, professional, and social change.Methods: Using purposive sampling, we lived alongside and engaged persons with obesity (n = 10) in a narrative inquiry on weight bias and obesity stigma. We co-developed interim narrative accounts while applying the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space: (a) temporality; (b) sociality; and (c) place, to find meaning in participants’ experiences. We also applied the narrative repair model to co-create counterstories to resist oppressive master narratives for participants and for people living with obesity in general.Results: We present 10 counterstories, which provide a window into the personal, familial, professional, and social contexts in which weight bias and obesity stigma take place.Discussion: A fundamental driver of participants’ experiences with weight bias is a lack of understanding of obesity, which can lead to internalized weight bias and stigma. Weight bias internalization impacted participants’ emotional responses and triggered feelings of shame, blame, vulnerability, stress, depression, and even suicidal thoughts and acts. Participants’ stories revealed behavioral responses such as avoidance of health promoting behaviors and social isolation. Weight bias internalization also hindered participants’ obesity management process as well as their rehabilitation and recovery strategies. Participants embraced recovery from internalized weight bias by developing self-compassion and self-acceptance and by actively engaging in efforts to resist damaged social identities and demanding respect, dignity, and fair treatment.Conclusion: Narrative inquiry combined with the narrative repair model can be a transformative way to address internalized weight bias and to resist damaged social identities for people living with obesity. By examining experiences, beliefs, values, practices, and relationships that contribute to dominant obesity narratives, we can begin to address some of the socially and institutionally generated negative views of individuals with obesity.

Exploring knowledge landscapes: A narrative inquiry of midwives’ experiences of working in diverse settings in Ghana

Objective: This paper focuses on exploring the experiences of midwives in Ghana who have worked in diverse settings over time. It explores how midwives’ personal experiences across time, place and in diverse contexts impact their care for women during childbirth. The paper describes the forms of knowledge held by midwives. It presents how the experiences of midwives reflect their professional and personal practical knowledge landscape.Methods: Using narrative inquiry, the experiences of four midwives working in private maternity homes were explored. Being guided by the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space of temporality, sociality and place, and the concept of relational ethics, a meaningful relationship was built with participants over a period of five months. Several tape-recorded conversations were held with each participant, multiple other interactions were recorded as field notes and in a journal. Each tape-recorded conversation was transcribed and used to construct narrative accounts that reflected participants’ experiences as lived and told. Interim narrative accounts were shared with participants to ensure that the accounts reflected their experiences. Analysis: To identify resonant threads across all four narrative accounts, each account was read multiple times with intentionality and with the research objectives in mind.Results: Three distinct professional knowledge landscapes for midwives were identified. These were the professional knowledge landscape of working in rural communities, urban communities, and private maternity homes. Two concepts of knowledge: knowledge for midwives and midwives’ knowledge, were identified on each of these professional knowledge landscapes.Conclusions: Education of midwives should consciously take into consideration the different knowledge landscapes in which midwives in Ghana practice.

Mothers' Experiences of Supporting Adolescent Children Through Long-Term Treatment for Substance Use Disorder.

Substance use disorder is a complex phenomenon that affects people in many different contexts. Adolescent substance abuse within families is a particular problem that merits ongoing study. In particular, the experiences of mothers in this context are not fully explored. In this narrative inquiry study, we explored the experiences of four mothers parenting children through long-term substance abuse treatment. Participants were recruited from a family-orientated long-term adolescent treatment center in Alberta, Canada. The mothers' experiences were explored within a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space of temporal, social, and situated experience. Four narrative accounts were co-composed, revealing personal, familial, social, and substance abuse-related complexities in mothers' experiences. Four narrative threads were also theorized: navigating complexities; loud silences; places, spaces, and the in-between; and living within one another's stories. These narrative threads are discussed in relation to health and social care practices. Recommendations for practice and research are made.

Ghanaian fathers' experiences of caring for preterm infants; a journey of exclusion

AimTo explore Ghanaian fathers' experiences of caring for preterm infants in the neonatal unit and after discharge. MethodParticipants were part of a larger study to explore parents’ experiences of caring for preterm infants after discharge. Narrative inquiry methodology was used to interview nine fathers of preterm infants of gestational age 26–36 weeks at three stages-one week, one month and four months-after discharge from four level II and III neonatal units in Ghana. Data was analysed using thematic analysis guided by the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space. Ethical approval and consent from fathers were obtained before interviewing them at their residence. ResultThree themes emerged from the data showing the chronological journey of fathers from the neonatal unit till four months after discharge–1. In the neonatal unit – “there's no room for me; 2. Pre-discharge preparation – “I was not involved in discharge education” and 3. Home care/post discharge – “I'm scared of my preterm infant”. Fathers reported being continuously excluded from the care of their preterm infants. This exclusion resulted in increased stress and lack of confidence in caring for their preterm infants after discharge. ConclusionFathers' experiences of caring for preterm infants is a journey characterized by exclusion and lack of caring confidence after discharge. Recognising and addressing the needs of fathers of preterm infants in the neonatal unit is essential in building their caring confidence after discharge.

A narrative evaluation of a community-based nurse navigation role in an urban at-risk community.

To explore community members' stories of their experiences with a Nurse Navigator programme serving an urban neighbourhood and primary care practice to address persistent health and social barriers adversely affecting health equity and well-being. In response to striking health and social inequalities existing across neighbourhoods in a large southern city in Ontario, Canada, a pilot programme was designed to improve health and social outcomes in a specific "at-risk" neighbourhood. The programme includes nurse-led navigation support for individuals and families and networking to facilitate improved service integration at a systems level. A narrative inquiry approach based on the Three-Dimensional Narrative Inquiry Space method, as described by Clandinin & Connelly (Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research, ). A thematic analysis of nine community members' life stories from narrative semi-structured interviews (January-June 2014) in conjunction with field notes, observations and documents. Participants' life stories created a common narrative of the experience of navigation in a community setting. There were four main themes: "opening the door"; "more than just a conversation"; "making connections"; and "on a new trajectory". Participants valued the development of a therapeutic relationship, which optimized social inclusion, barrier reduction and connectivity to supportive health and social services. The relational process of navigation as an antecedent to barrier reduction has direct implications for programme development, continuing education of navigators and quality improvement of existing navigation services. Study findings have implications for development of navigation competencies for nurses working with priority populations to address health inequities.

Medication management in the older adult: A narrative exploration.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the meaning nurse practitioners (NPs) ascribed to personal experiences providing care to older adults who take multiple medications to manage complex conditions. The study illuminated the NP experience in caring for the older adult while addressing the complexities of medication management through narrative stories in practice. NPs self-identifying as caring for older adults were interviewed (N=15). Narrative inquiry and the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space were used to guide the researcher during data collection and analysis. Three common themes emerged from the narratives. These themes illuminated the complexities NPs face in managing patients with multiple comorbidities, taking multiple medications, and seeing multiple providers. Identified themes were "mastering the art of the puzzle," "it takes a village," and "power in knowledge." Tools to assist NPs identify and manage polypharmacy were identified including the 2015 updated Beers Criteria, ARMOR (Assess, Review, Minimize, Optimize, and Reassess), STOPP (screening tool of older people's potentially inappropriate prescriptions), and START (screening tool to alert providers to the right treatment) tools.

A narrative inquiry into the experience of negotiating the dominant stories of physical education: living, telling, re-telling and re-living

This paper explores the tensions that surfaced as a teacher of physical education (PE) shifted his ‘stories to live by’ [Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1999). Storying and restorying ourselves: Narrative and reflection. In A. Y. Chen & J. Van Maanen (Eds.), The reflective spin: Case studies of teachers in higher education transforming action (pp. 15–23). Singapore: World Scientific] around PE. The tensions became explicit when his shifting ‘stories to live by’ bumped against dominant narratives of PE that shaped his professional knowledge landscape. Our inquiry is framed by Dewey's pragmatic ontology [(1938). Experience and education. New York, NY: Collier Books] and Clandinin and Connelly's [(1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes. New York, NY: Teachers College Press] narrative conception of experience as the living and telling, re-telling and re-living, of stories of experience. We also draw on Connelly and Clandinin's [(1999). Storied identities: Storied landscapes. New York, NY: Teachers College Press] narrative conception of identity as ‘stories to live by’ which is an embodied, fluid and context-dependent view of identity as situated at the interface between personal practical knowledge and professional knowledge landscapes. We begin with situating this work within the broader spectrum of narrative research. We then describe the relational processes of re-telling the stories through narrative inquiry and finally explore the re-living of these stories in order to show the tensions that surfaced as Ashley's ‘stories to live by’ shifted. We engage in the narrative inquiry process of re-telling using the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space (with dimensions of place, sociality, temporality), to show tensions and shifting identities. We conceptualize these tensions as moments of autobiographical revisions [Carr, D. (1986). Time narrative and history. Bloomington: Indiana University Press]. These revisions are seen as a part of a person's struggle for narrative coherence; a struggle to compose a life in the professional knowledge landscape that is meaningful to each individual. In these moments of autobiographical revision we show the reflexive relationship between living, telling, re-telling and re-living of stories. We end by considering what we have learned about our own stories to live by through this process and theoretically and practically suggest ways other teacher educators and physical educators might benefit from engaging in narrative inquiry work.

Liminal Lives: Navigating the Spaces Between (Poet and Scholar)

This paper focuses on the importance of narrative beginnings to narrative inquiry, arguing that an examination of narrative beginnings is essential to positioning the researcher within the research. Through a series of personal poems, I unpack the significance of my own autobiographical beginnings from a narrative perspective, and from my proposed research on life and learning on the edges of community. In this paper, I also highlight the efficacy of employing poetic representation within a narrative inquiry. Through poetic representation, I demonstrate the liminal nature of understanding field texts and interim field texts as determined by the context of the three-dimensional narrative inquiry space, encompassing temporality, sociality, and place. Keywords: narrative inquiry; poetic representation; poetic inquiry; three-dimensional narrative inquiry space; marginalization; community; identity

A recipe for mealtime resilience for families living with dementia.

To date, research delving into the narratives of persons living with dementia is limited. Taking part in usual mealtime activities such as preparing food can sustain the identity of persons living with dementia. Yet if capacity for mealtime activities changes, this can put a strain or demand on the family, which must adjust and adapt to these changes. The aim of this study was to develop an in-depth story of resilience in one family living with dementia that was experiencing mealtime changes. Thematic narrative analysis following the elements of Clandinin and Connelly's (2000) 3D narrative inquiry space was used. One family's dementia journey was highlighted using the metaphor of a baking recipe to reflect their story of resilience. Developing positive strategies and continuing to learn and adapt were the two approaches used by this resilient family. Reminiscing, incorporating humour, having hope and optimism, and establishing social support were specific strategies. This family continued to learn and adapt by focusing on their positive gains and personal growth, accumulating life experiences, and balancing past pleasures while adapting to the new normal. Future work needs to further conceptualise resilience and how it can be supported in families living with dementia.

A Return to Methodological Commitment: Reflections on Narrative Inquiry

In the 25 years since narrative inquiry emerged as a social science research methodology, it has been rapidly taken up in the social sciences. In what is sometimes called a “narrative revolution,” researchers with diverse understandings have co-opted the concept of narrative inquiry and used narrative inquiry or narrative research to name their methodology. In this paper, we lay out more clearly the ontological and epistemological commitments that underlay the methodological commitments of narrative inquiry. Within narrative inquiry, experience is viewed narratively and necessitates considerations of relational knowing and being, attention to the artistry of and within experience, and sensitivity to the overlapping stories that bring people together in research relationships. Working within the relational three-dimensional narrative inquiry space with dimensions of temporality, sociality, and place, we attend to the living, telling, retelling, and reliving of stories of experience.

Silent stories of resistance to doing employment

PurposeExploring experiences of participants on an Irish active labour market programme, the purpose of this paper is to examine accounts of everyday forms of resistance to the subject positions offered in the dominant discourse of “doing employment” espoused on such schemes.Design/methodology/approachEmploying narrative research, the process of individual opposition to established work routines is illustrated at the level of meaning, identity and self‐reflection by using the three‐dimensional narrative inquiry space to chronicle three participants’ stories. Their newly formed subjectivities (created by changes encountered in their past lives and the situations they are experiencing in their present realities) challenge the power of the dominant discourse of ‘doing employment’ on these schemes. The paper illustrates how the individuals respond when confronted with feelings of difference between the subject positions offered within the dominant discourse and their own preferred interest.FindingsTheir stories suggest different forms of micro‐political resistance, from subtle acts and behaviours through to contesting subjectivities and meanings. The article describes how they exercise power in imposing their own meanings through challenge and reinscription, thus rendering the dominant discourse less robust. This creates space for further challenge and reinscription, possibly enabling others to think differently, such as the author, who has moved from unquestioning acceptance of the dominant discourse to an emerging micro‐political resistance to “doing employment”.Originality/valueThese accounts highlight the relevance of using narrative research to reveal, heretofore, silent stories of how individual work routines disrupt prevailing institutional discourse, depicting situations where a story by challenges a story of.

Making Education Law Meaningful to Beginning Teachers: A Narrative Inquiry

Teacher education classes are contested spaces. Professors interested in reforming content, pedagogy and assessment must wrestle with their own internal tensions and the culture of their institutions in order to make a difference. In this paper, a teacher educator uses narrative inquiry to frame his efforts to become a constructivist professor of education law. Critical tensions are examined using a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space: looking inward, outward, backward, and forward. Critical reflections, written over several years, are used to situate the tensions experienced in this case into the broader context of the author’s career journey.Keywords: teacher education; reform; narrative inquiry; constructivist; education law

Us & Them? Entering a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space with white pre-service teachers to explore race, racism, and anti-racism

In this article, two white teacher educators illustrate entering into a three-dimensional narrative space with a white pre-service teacher. The authors explore how their histories have led them to practice teacher education pedagogies that are rooted in ideas of social justice and critical race theory. In order to support the goals and aims of social justice and critical race teaching, teacher educators must be willing to be ‘part of the parade’ of teacher education with pre-service teachers, sharing their stories of racialized experiences alongside the stories of white pre-service teachers. As a result of entering a three-dimensional narrative space with white pre-service teachers, the authors encourage teacher educators to become more cognizant of their roles in shaping pre-service teachers’ understandings of race and racism. To do so, teacher educators must assume a narrative inquiry stance in their teaching.

Storied experiences of nurse practitioners managing prehypertension in primary care

The purpose of this study was to explore the nurse practitioner (NP) experience with caring for prehypertensive patients. Lifestyle modifications are the primary recommendation for management of prehypertension. Given the historical foundation of health promotion and disease prevention as a fundamental component of NP professional identity, gaining insight into the experience of caring for prehypertensive patients in the current healthcare environment is valuable to the profession, patients, and communities. Therefore, the NP role in health promotion and disease prevention related to prehypertension was explored as well. Narrative inquiry was the chosen methodology to gather narrative accounts of eight NPs caring for prehypertensive patients in primary care. The three-dimensional narrative inquiry space was used to guide the researcher during data analysis. Three themes emerged from the NPs' narratives: realities of practice, ambiguous role identity, and bridging models. Time constraints, financial considerations, and bridging the nursing and medical models while adapting to practice environments were barriers identified as components of the NP experience caring for patients with prehypertension. This study revealed that caring for prehypertensive patients is a complex and multilayered experience.

A Culturally Consonant Tone: African American Teacher Theorizing on Character Education Policy

In this article, I describe the influence race, historicity, and culture had on an African American social studies teacher's agency and negotiation of character education policy. Situated in a teacher personal theorizing framework, I use a three-dimensional narrative inquiry space (temporal, personal/existential, and place) to excavate this teacher's culturally consonant character theory and practice. Data collection was comprised of interviews, conversations, observations, field notes, and archival data. Findings suggested that Black womanist values steered this character educator's : (a) curricular/instructional decision-making, (b) motivation, and (c) teaching and learning expectations. She did, though, incorporate aspects of contemporary character education policy (neo-classical, communitarian, and feminist) in her practice.