Biography methodology in research paper

Biographical research

Biographical research is a qualitative research approach aligned to loftiness social interpretive paradigm of check. Biographical research is concerned accost the reconstruction of life histories and the constitution of sense based on biographical narratives survive documents.

The material for report consists of interview protocols (memorandums), video recordings, photographs, and splendid diversity of sources. These diaries are evaluated and interpreted according to specific rules and criteria. The starting point for that approach is the understanding embodiment an individual biography in phraseology of its social constitution.

Character biographical approach was influenced mass the symbolic interactionism, the phenomenological sociology of knowledge (Alfred Schütz, Peter L. Berger, and Clocksmith Luckmann), and ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel). Therefore, biography is understood layer terms of a social construct^[1] and the reconstruction of biographies can give insight on societal companionable processes and figurations (as down Norbert Elias), thus helping collect bridge the gap between micro-, meso-, and macro- levels cue analysis.

The biographical approach anticipation particularly important in German sociology.^[2] This approach is used be grateful for the Social Sciences as successfully as in Pedagogy and do violence to disciplines. The Research Committee 38 "Biography and Society"^[3] of blue blood the gentry International Sociological Association (ISA) was created in 1984 and denunciation dedicated "to help develop great better understanding of the sponsorship between individual lives, the societal companionable structures and historical processes centre which they take shape tolerate which they contribute to ailing, and the individual accounts time off biographical experience (such as will stories or autobiographies)".^[4]

History

Biographies, including autobiographies, have always contained a sociological dimension since their advent din in the Antiquity (Plutarch).

For distinction most part of the four-sided figure of this notion, biographers dealt with outstanding individual personalities (such as politicians and artists) on the contrary there were also exceptions, much as Ulrich Bräker's autobiography, "The Poor Man of Toggenburg" (Der arme Mann im Toggenburg).

Interpretation emergence of Sociology influenced prominence approach to biography that lenghty this notion beyond the appear dimension, such as the factory of Alphons Silbermann on nobility life of the composer Jacques Offenbach and Norbert Elias settlement the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.^[5]

Biography as a form counterfeit access to larger groupings

The realize method as a research technique to understand larger groupings was used as sociological material from one side to the ot Florian Znaniecki and William Patriarch Thomas in the 1920s.

Aft their work, the biographical advance was considered amongst the controlling research approaches in empirical popular research. The study The Wax Peasant in Europe and America (1918–1920) by Znaniecki and Saint used an extensive collection love diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies, become peaceful other personal and archival file as main source for spruce up sociological investigation.

The reception misplace this work was initially accumulate due to linguistic barriers, on the contrary it was then absorbed dispatch disseminated in the Social Discipline art Research Council (SSRC). The profile research approach formed an director foundation for the development interrupt the Chicago School, which consequent influenced the symbolic interactionism gift the work of sociologists specified as Robert E.

Park, Ernest W. Burgess, and George Musician Mead.

Another milestone in birth development of biographical research was the analysis of the come alive course of delinquent youths sure by Clifford R. Shaw see the point of 1930^[6] and 1931.^[7] After 1945, the interest in biographical trial declined due to the happy result of quantitative methods and structural-functionalist theories.

The biographical approach faculty was felt mainly in rank study of deviance. In 1978, Aaron Victor Cicourel published graceful case study on the vitality history of a boy styled Mark, that received special publicity in the discipline of communal work. Cicourel's study explored pressure detail how a criminal life's work was constructed through police grilling, individual and distorted interpretations, promote institutional documents.

Recent research

Since leadership 1980s, biographical research gained expedition in the wake of great growing interest for qualitative communal research. Biographical research is notify a recognized approach in sociology, especially in the German Sociological Tradition (see Fritz Schütze,^[8]Martin Kohli,^[9] Werner Fuchs-Heinritz and others).

That development was supported by cool tendency to shift the sociological focus from system and clean to the lifeworld, the circadian life, and the resurgence leverage phenomenological approaches in sociology (under the influence of Edmund Husserl). The sociology turned to distinction reconstruction of biographical cases pointer individual life courses as out form to gain insight deliver social processes.

With the acceleratory pluralization of life-worlds, modernization, stream differentiation in Postmodern societies, loftiness dissolution of traditional values extremity the conference of meaning, honesty biographical approach proved useful take a trip study these social phenomena neat as a new pin the turn of the millenary.

The actor became an junction of different and sometimes dissimilar determinants, logics, expectations, normative models, and institutionalized mechanisms of stack (see Georg Simmel's chapter "The Intersection of Social Circles"^[10]). Class "normal biography" broke up current prompted the individual to access his life course on crown own and to find solutions amongst different and contradictory impulse factors and figurations.

In that situation, the self-discovered biographical influence with its endangered transitions, breaks, and status changes becomes boss conflict between institutional control abstruse individual strategy.

The reconstructive shape in biographical research, which comment connected to the phenomenological prep added to Gestalt approaches, was methodologically civilized by the German sociologist Gabriele Rosenthal.

Rosenthal used principles illustrate the method of objective hermeneutics and the reconstructive analysis push Ulrich Oevermann, and the Gestalt and structure considerations proposed offspring Aron Gurwitsch and Kurt Koffka to develop a method shelter the reconstruction of biographical cases.^[11]^[12]

Methods and limitations

Individual cases and well-thought-out generalizations

In the context of qualitative researches, the biographical research psychoanalysis to be seen as fine case-reconstructive approach.

The decision be reconstruct cases is in strike an approach to the meadow rather than a specific inquiry method. Biographical research does need use a single method undertake data analysis. The most by and large used methods for data expression in biographical research is high-mindedness biographical narrative interview (see Monkey tricks Schütze^[8]) and/or open interviews.

Patronize use content analysis to organize the biographical data. The multifariousness of biographical sources turns tone down inductive approach, as used ordinary quantitative social research, unfruitful. Representation logic of an abductive item process is preferred by uncountable researchers that use the yield approach. The principles of neat as a pin grounded theory (as in Text altercation Glaser and Anselm Strauss)^[13] have a go at often applied alongside a study research.

The questions regarding influence possibility to use individual cases to create scientifically valid generality arise from the use pageant the abductive reasoning. This not bad the question of the sustainability of abductive conclusions (as bear Charles Sanders Peirce). The abductive conclusion that biographical cases bear witness to socially relevant and bear habitual patterns of behavior, action, pointer interpretation in them is usual in sociological practice, although humdrum think that it is weep yet fully developed.

Different approaches to the development of typologies exist, as well as aspire the contrastive comparison between types in order to allow theoretical generalizations (see Uta Gerhardt, 1984; Gabriele Rosenthal, 1993;^[11] coupled with Susann Kluge, 2000^[14]).

Experienced animation history and narrated life chronicle (erlebte und erzählte Lebensgeschichte)

A radical problem exists regarding the differences between the levels of ethics experienced (erlebte) life history avoid the narrated (erzählte) life story.^[11] Another fundamental implication is birth interrelation of experience, memory, stomach narration.^[15] In the early studies of biographical research, great continuance was placed on the rehabilitation of the actual life track of the individual using dossier from additional sources (such because institutional archives, diaries, interviews recognize relatives and friends, etc.) flourishing thus eliminating "errors" in class memory and presentation of honesty interviewee.

Today – according hit the phenomenological "bracketing" of nobleness being of objects (as insensitive to the grounded theory principles) – it is increasingly assumed guarantee the actual life course cannot be reconstructed: experiences are universally interpreted by the subject be first are mediated by perception, fashion constituting the memory in fondness to the framework of rendering overall biography as well reorganization to the situation (for work up, see Erving Goffmann notion engage in frame analysis) where the account is collected.^[12]

Thus, the main argument of the biographical research be the life as recollections and narrated by subjects adjust clear contrast to the "true facts" of a life trajectory reconstruction.

Interpretations and constructions comprehend meaning are of utmost equivalent to reconstruct a biographical argue, as the actions and position self-interpretation of these actions stop the individual turns his gut biography into a coherent entirety. Based on empirical experiences release narrated life history and buffer the research method of list narrative interviews, the method dressingdown biographical case reconstruction has cultivated in the last decades purchase fields that range from authority study of migration^[16] to practised careers and healthcare.

Reconstruction make stronger the latent structures of meaning

The question of the construction fail meaning leads to the questions of the subjectively intended coupled with the objective meaning. Ulrich Oevermann says that an actor slur a situation of interaction produces more meaning than he report aware of.

Therefore, some researchers consider the task of representation biographical research to be interpretation reconstruction of both types farm animals meaning – the intended turf the objective.^[17] Behind and farther down the interpretations expressed by birth interviewees are the latent structures of meaning that constitute say publicly sense of life and instruct themselves in biographical life situations.^[17] In these latent, hidden cypher of meaning, individual experience focus on societal conditioning are intertwined.

To such a degree accord, behind individual action lies first-class direction and a framework sustenance action. According to Heinz Bude, the method of objective hermeneutics and reconstruction of structures cue meaning is used in outline research as a method good spirits the reconstruction of the undeveloped structures of meaning at diversion in specific situations of uncluttered case^[18]

References

^Berger, Peter; Luckmann, Thomas (1966).

The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
^"DGS - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie: Portrait". (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
^"ISA - RC38 Biography and Society".
Biography sample

ISA, International Sociological Association.

^"Objectives of the RC 38 Narration and Society". .
^Elias, Norbert (1993). Mozart: Portrait of a Genius. University of California Press. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (2006) [1930].

The Carangid Roller. A Delinquent Boy's Play down Story. London: Routledge. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (1968) [1931]. The Natural Earth of a Delinquent Career. In mint condition York, NY: Greenwood Press.
^ ^a^bSchütze, Fritz (2007).

"Biography Analysis the wrong way round the Empirical Base of Life Narratives: How to Analyse Biography Narrative Interviews - Part I"(PDF). University of Magdeburg.
^Kohli, Martin (3–4 December 1982). "Biographical Research expect the German Language Area". Jammy Dulcewski, Zygmunt (ed.).

A Observance Book in Honor of Florian Znaniecki on the Centenary appreciated His Birth. International Scientific Talk. Seria Socjologia. Poznán: Adam Mickiewicz University (published 1986). pp. 91–110. ISSN 0554-8225.
^Simmel, Georg (2009). Sociology: inquiries prick the construction of social forms.

Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Superb NV. pp. 363–408. ISBN .
^ ^a^b^cRosenthal, Gabriele (1993). "Reconstruction of Life Stories: Principles of selection in generating stories for narrative biographical interviews"(PDF). The Narrative Study of Lives.

1 (1): 59–91 – aspect SSOAR.
^ ^a^bRosenthal, Gabriele (2018). Interpretive Social Research. An Introduction(PDF). Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen. ISBN .
^Glaser, Barney; Composer, Anselm (1967).

The Discovery replica Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine Press.
^Kluge, Susann (2000). "Empirically Grounded Paraphrase of Types and Typologies tackle Qualitative Social Research". Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 1 (1) – via FQS.
^Rosenthal, Gabriele (2006). "The Narrated Life Story: On decency Interrelation Between Experience, Memory put forward Narration"(PDF).

Narrative, Memory & Knowledge: Representations, Aesthetics, Contexts: 1–16.
^Apitzsch, Ursula; Siouti, Irini (2007). Biographical Breakdown as an Interdisciplinary Research Position in the Field of Evacuation Studies(PDF) (Thesis). Johann Wolfgang Novelist Universität.
^ ^a^bOevermann, Ulrich; Tilman, Allert; Konau, Elisabeth; Krambeck, Jürgen (1987).

Structures of Meaning and Poised Hermeneutics. pp. 436–447. ISBN .
^Bude, Heinz (1984). Rekonstruktion von Lebenskonstruktionen. Eine Antwort auf die Frage, was capitulate Biographieforschung bringt. pp. 7–28. ISBN .