Using Biographical Methods in Social Research
- Barbara Merrill - University of Warwick, UK
- Linden West - Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
Barbara Merrill and Linden West consider important questions about what research is for, what makes it valid, to the practical business of interviewing, analyzing and writing up of biographical data. The authors draw on their sociological and psychological orientations to provide a truly interdisciplinary approach to the subject, and provide numerous examples of biographical research across the social sciences.
This book will equip students with all the skills necessary to undertake biographical research as well as to fully understand what they are doing, and the implications of the assumptions they make about the nature of truth, knowledge, story telling, and being human. It will be useful for students and researchers using biographical methods in a range of disciplines, including sociology, social policy, social psychology, and education.
'Merrill and West deliver what they promise - a comprehensive, accessible, and practical guide to conducting biographical research. They artfully develop the story of the method by blending theoretical and disciplinary material with their own auto/biographical experiences...[They] provide a compelling portrait of the strength, power, and humanity involved in biographical research'
This book provides a good discussion of the background of the method, the context in which it has developed, and the theoretical orientations the author use. Based on their own fields of expertise in sociology and psychology, Merrill and West share their personal and professional experiences as a way of engaging the reader in meaningful learning about biographical research, which they describe as a way of "connecting disparate social phenomena and personal experience and weaving understanding between them in new and sometimes surprising ways" (2).
Natalee Popadiuk
Biography
This may be for you if, like me, you have ever found yourself profoundly alienated from positivist notions of research, while at the same time being fascinated by the complex and vibrant stories you hear, and also the stories these encounters bring forth in you. Barbara Merrill and Linden West are concerned with the question of how biographical interviewing can be best used as a source of knowledge generation in social research. This text positions the biographical genre as offering particular insight into the production of selfhood seen as a dynamic interplay between social structure and individual lives.
David McCormack
British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
The textbook Merril and West, as we have seen, focuses on a very specific area of qualitative research, the use of biography as a method of inquiry and understanding the world... Researchers inserted in the use of biographies will benefit from a book that offers insights, anecdotes, recommendations, and suggestive questionning of the role of researcher and cultural background in a study.
Vanessa Garcia Diaz
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
Whether an academic veteran with years of research experience, or a graduate student just beginning the scientific journey, anyone can benefit from reading Merrill and West's study of biographical methods focused on people's lives and their unique stories... Merrill and West paint a vivid portrait explaining the difficulties, the challenges, and the diligence required to be a professional in this field. The authors are to be commended for an extremely well-written manuscript with a clearly articulated message. This book will undeniably contribute positively and significantly to the ongoing academic discourse regarding the validity of biographical methods in qualitative research.
Gregory S Gomez III
Qualitative Research
Pulls together a certain history of ideas in this area and offers some interesting perspectives with useful practical activities and examples.
Useful text for those students seeking to use a biographical appraoch in their research.
I have recommended that my students who are working with biographical research read the book. this means that several students have worked with it their project work. It is too specific to adopt as essential reading in the course.
I enjoyed this book and it provides an very useful introduction to biographical methods, and to key debates in using biographical methods in research. Only a small number of students doing the undergraduate research course in education will want to use biographical approaches and I will steer those students specifically in the direction of this book.
When I started to read this book, I felt compelled to continue. The book is written in a style that is engaging. It is very informative and provides relevant and useful examples. It provides an excellent guide for researchers who are seeking to embark on a journey of biographical research for the first time. The book will be recommended reading for both undergraduate and post graduate students and a request will be made to the university's library to order this book
I am recommending this for two core courses and suggesting it forms the basis of one of a choice of assigments. It has some excellent formative information and discussion useful for students starting their research projects in terms of positioning and relationship to topic. Practical discussion topics and activities are useful.
Useful supplement to narrative research approaches.
This a very helpful text which is accessible and offers ways to think about integrating personal story into research.
A superb book which makes accessible to a wide readership the conttext and methodologies of narrative and auto/biographical research. Written in a style which is non nonsence with clear examples of some of the theories and approaches being discussed.
