This document discusses life histories as a qualitative research method for data collection. It identifies life histories as methods that gather, analyze, and interpret the stories people tell about their lives. The document outlines several primary and supplemental qualitative data collection methods, including life histories, direct observation, participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and historical analysis. It also discusses advantages and disadvantages of using life histories as a data collection method.

1. QUALITATIVERESEARCHDATA COLLECTIONMETHODS LIFE HISTORIES

3. PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION

5. NARRATIVE INQUIRY

6. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

7. INTERACTION ANALYSIS

8. QUESTIONNAIRES

9. DILEMMA ANALYSIS

10. PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS

11. NARRATIVE INQUIRY

12. PHOTOS, VIDEOS AND FILM

14. LIFE HISTORIES People live “storied” lives Telling/retelling it Understand/create a sense of themselves

15. ADVANTAGES They help audiences obtain first-hand information about a culture or era in history. They emphasise on how individuals construct meaning in societies and on how they deal with societies, not the other way round. They can focus on critical/fateful moments. Particularly helpful in defining socialization and in studying acculturation and socialization in societies or professions. (Marshall & Rossman, 2006, p. 116) Useful to analyze cultural changes, cultural norms and transgressions, and to obtain insights into cultures. Adds depth and illustration to studies. Fertile source of testable hypotheses  useful for subsequent studies.

16. Jones (1983) firstcriterionforLife Histories Individual seen as a member of a culture.

17. Jones (1983) secondcriterionforLife Histories The method should account for significant role others play in transmitting defined social knowledge.

18. Jones (1983) thirdcriterionforLife Histories Assumptions of the cultural world should be analyzed and described as they are revealed in rules and codes of conduct and myths and rituals.

19. Jones (1983) fourthcriterionforLife Histories Focus on the experience of an individual’s development over time to capture “processual development”.

20. Jones (1983) fifthcriterionforLife Histories The cultural world being studied should be continuously related to the individual’s story.

21. DISADVANTAGES Makes generalizations difficult. There are limited principles to choose participants Guided by very few concepts of analysis.

22. REFERENCES Inside Installations. (2006). Inside Qualitative Research. [Review]. Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from http://www.inside-installations.org/OCMT/mydocs/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Booksummary_Designing_Qualitative_Research_SMAK_2.pdf. Gramling, L. F. & Carr R. L. (2004). Lifelines: a life history methodology. [Abstract] Nursing research, 53 (3) Retrieved on Mrach 12, 2009 from http://www.nursingresearchonline.com/pt/re/nnr/abstract.00006199-200405000-00008.htm;jsessionid=J64JynJCvHZp92F3vp2nHhzyWFhvTP2js5Jtwv31tMt2n5hG1qTL!-2049359858!181195628!8091!-1. Marschall C. & Rossman G (2006). Inside Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks (CA), USA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved on March 12, 2009 from http://books.google.com.co/books?id=Wt3Sn_w0JC0C&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq="life+histories"+action+research&source=bl&ots=ppR-t6NPQL&sig=mdm5_CFk5ivezvhK0fa4Wj8G9oo&hl=es&ei=Jwe3SaWuA-HAtgemlem6CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA116,M1