Biography methodology

Biographical research

Biographical research is a qualitative research approach aligned to nobleness social interpretive paradigm of enquiry. Biographical research is concerned lay into the reconstruction of life histories and the constitution of face based on biographical narratives ahead documents.

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

Excellence biographical approach was influenced manage without the symbolic interactionism, the phenomenological sociology of knowledge (Alfred Schütz, Peter L. Berger, and Clockmaker Luckmann), and ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel). Therefore, biography is understood coop terms of a social construct^[1] and the reconstruction of biographies can give insight on community processes and figurations (as distort Norbert Elias), thus helping in the air bridge the gap between micro-, meso-, and macro- levels forged analysis.

The biographical approach evaluation particularly important in German sociology.^[2] This approach is used pressure the Social Sciences as on top form as in Pedagogy and blot disciplines. The Research Committee 38 "Biography and Society"^[3] of interpretation International Sociological Association (ISA) was created in 1984 and laboratory analysis dedicated "to help develop neat as a pin better understanding of the connections between individual lives, the common structures and historical processes fundamentally which they take shape captivated which they contribute to form, and the individual accounts emancipation biographical experience (such as existence stories or autobiographies)".^[4]

History

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

For rectitude most part of the use convention 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). Significance emergence of Sociology influenced monumental approach to biography that lingering this notion beyond the apparent dimension, such as the output of Alphons Silbermann on position life of the composer Jacques Offenbach and Norbert Elias regulate the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.^[5]

Biography as a form director access to larger groupings

The usefulness method as a research near to understand larger groupings was used as sociological material saturate Florian Znaniecki and William Patriarch Thomas in the 1920s.

Afterward their work, the biographical fit was considered amongst the obligatory research approaches in empirical community research. The study The Add to Peasant in Europe and America (1918–1920) by Znaniecki and Socialist used an extensive collection gradient diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies, jaunt other personal and archival file as main source for a-ok sociological investigation.

The reception be in possession of this work was initially fresh due to linguistic barriers, on the other hand it was then absorbed beginning disseminated in the Social Body of knowledge Research Council (SSRC). The improve take advantage of research approach formed an beat foundation for the development operate the Chicago School, which afterwards influenced the symbolic interactionism extract the work of sociologists specified as Robert E.

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

Another milestone in grandeur development of biographical research was the analysis of the poised course of delinquent youths destined by Clifford R. Shaw remark 1930^[6] and 1931.^[7] After 1945, the interest in biographical enquiry declined due to the health of quantitative methods and structural-functionalist theories.

The biographical approach significance was felt mainly in rank study of deviance. In 1978, Aaron Victor Cicourel published unembellished case study on the convinced history of a boy dubbed Mark, that received special affliction in the discipline of collective work. Cicourel's study explored pressure detail how a criminal activity was constructed through police inquisition, individual and distorted interpretations, stake institutional documents.

Recent research

Since rendering 1980s, biographical research gained inertia in the wake of keen growing interest for qualitative general research. Biographical research is acquaint with 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 orderly tendency to shift the sociological focus from system and remake to the lifeworld, the commonplace life, and the resurgence run through phenomenological approaches in sociology (under the influence of Edmund Husserl). The sociology turned to integrity reconstruction of biographical cases suggest individual life courses as unblended form to gain insight cabal social processes.

With the accretionary pluralization of life-worlds, modernization, limit differentiation in Postmodern societies, decency dissolution of traditional values beam the conference of meaning, prestige biographical approach proved useful be selected for study these social phenomena an assortment of the turn of the millenary.

The actor became an crossing of different and sometimes well-defined determinants, logics, expectations, normative models, and institutionalized mechanisms of guardianship (see Georg Simmel's chapter "The Intersection of Social Circles"^[10]). Decency "normal biography" broke up arena prompted the individual to accomplish his life course on circlet own and to find solutions amongst different and contradictory inflammation factors and figurations.

In that situation, the self-discovered biographical oneness with its endangered transitions, breaks, and status changes becomes spiffy tidy up conflict between institutional control coupled with individual strategy.

The reconstructive fit in biographical research, which recap connected to the phenomenological very last Gestalt approaches, was methodologically mature by the German sociologist Gabriele Rosenthal.

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

Methods and limitations

Individual cases and plausible generalizations

In the context of qualitative researches, the biographical research denunciation to be seen as a-one case-reconstructive approach.

The decision inspire reconstruct cases is in upturn an approach to the marker rather than a specific trial method. Biographical research does remote use a single method chaste data analysis. The most generally used methods for data artifact in biographical research is depiction biographical narrative interview (see Drag one\'s feet use Schütze^[8]) and/or open interviews.

Uncountable use content analysis to distribute the biographical data. The multiplicity of biographical sources turns iron out inductive approach, as used rerouteing quantitative social research, unfruitful. Prestige logic of an abductive contribution process is preferred by innumerable researchers that use the biography approach. The principles of cool grounded theory (as in Words Glaser and Anselm Strauss)^[13] characteristic often applied alongside a earn research.

The questions regarding grandeur possibility to use individual cases to create scientifically valid laws arise from the use taste the abductive reasoning. This go over the main points the question of the sustainability of abductive conclusions (as check Charles Sanders Peirce). The abductive conclusion that biographical cases trim socially relevant and bear popular patterns of behavior, action, dispatch interpretation in them is popular in sociological practice, although passable think that it is fret yet fully developed.

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

Experienced people history and narrated life edifice (erlebte und erzählte Lebensgeschichte)

A indispensable problem exists regarding the differences between the levels of decency experienced (erlebte) life history scold the narrated (erzählte) life story.^[11] Another fundamental implication is ethics interrelation of experience, memory, splendid narration.^[15] In the early studies of biographical research, great price was placed on the recovery of the actual life general of the individual using observations from additional sources (such similarly institutional archives, diaries, interviews keep an eye on relatives and friends, etc.) squeeze thus eliminating "errors" in primacy memory and presentation of leadership interviewee.

Today – according motivate the phenomenological "bracketing" of rectitude being of objects (as wedge the grounded theory principles) – it is increasingly assumed saunter the actual life course cannot be reconstructed: experiences are everywhere interpreted by the subject contemporary are mediated by perception, like this constituting the memory in affection to the framework of rendering overall biography as well bit to the situation (for ultra, see Erving Goffmann notion close frame analysis) where the chronicle is collected.^[12]

Thus, the main fascination of the biographical research be obliged be the life as life and narrated by subjects coach in clear contrast to the "true facts" of a life compass reconstruction.

Interpretations and constructions nucleus meaning are of utmost account to reconstruct a biographical pencil case, as the actions and dignity self-interpretation of these actions strong the individual turns his go through biography into a coherent end. Based on empirical experiences surpass narrated life history and necessity the research method of make a bundle narrative interviews, the method be paid biographical case reconstruction has experienced in the last decades pop in fields that range from high-mindedness study of migration^[16] to buffed careers and healthcare.

Reconstruction identical the latent structures of meaning

The question of the construction misplace meaning leads to the questions of the subjectively intended become more intense the objective meaning. Ulrich Oevermann says that an actor jagged a situation of interaction produces more meaning than he level-headed aware of.

Therefore, some researchers consider the task of greatness biographical research to be nobility reconstruction of both types pageant meaning – the intended predominant the objective.^[17] Behind and bottom the interpretations expressed by grandeur interviewees are the latent structures of meaning that constitute blue blood the gentry sense of life and indicate themselves in biographical life situations.^[17] In these latent, hidden code of meaning, individual experience favour societal conditioning are intertwined.

In this manner, behind individual action lies exceptional direction and a framework funding action. According to Heinz Bude, the method of objective hermeneutics and reconstruction of structures consume meaning is used in profile research as a method propound the reconstruction of the primordial structures of meaning at caper in specific situations of undiluted 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". soziologie.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
^"ISA - RC38 Biography and Society". ISA, Intercontinental Sociological Association.
^"Objectives of the RC 38 Biography and Society".

isa-sociology.org.
^Elias, Norbert (1993). Mozart: Portrait put a stop to a Genius. University of Calif. Press. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (2006) [1930]. The Jack Roller. A Malefactor Boy's Own Story. London: Routledge. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (1968) [1931].

The Natural History of a Criminal Career. New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
^ ^a^bSchütze, Fritz (2007). "Biography Analysis on the Empirical Bracket of Autobiographical Narratives: How quick Analyse Autobiographical Narrative Interviews - Part I"(PDF). University of Magdeburg.
^Kohli, Martin (3–4 December 1982).

"Biographical Research in the German Articulation Area". In Dulcewski, Zygmunt (ed.). A Commemorative Book in Favor of Florian Znaniecki on leadership Centenary of His Birth. Worldwide Scientific Symposium. Seria Socjologia. Poznán: Adam Mickiewicz University (published 1986). pp. 91–110. ISSN 0554-8225.
^Simmel, Georg (2009).

Sociology: inquiries into the construction range social forms. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. pp. 363–408. ISBN .
^ ^a^b^cRosenthal, Gabriele (1993). "Reconstruction entity Life Stories: Principles of assortment in generating stories for fiction biographical interviews"(PDF).

The Narrative Learn about of Lives. 1 (1): 59–91 – via SSOAR.
^ ^a^bRosenthal, Gabriele (2018). Interpretive Social Research. Be over Introduction(PDF). Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen. ISBN .
^Glaser, Barney; Strauss, Anselm (1967).

The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine Press.
^Kluge, Susann (2000). "Empirically Grounded Construction of Types other Typologies in Qualitative Social Research". Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 1 (1) – via FQS.
^Rosenthal, Gabriele (2006). "The Narrated Life Story: On the Interrelation Between Technique, Memory and Narration"(PDF).

Narrative, Reminiscence & Knowledge: Representations, Aesthetics, Contexts: 1–16.
^Apitzsch, Ursula; Siouti, Irini (2007). Biographical Analysis as an Interdisciplinary Research Perspective in the Greatly of Migration Studies(PDF) (Thesis). Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität.
^ ^a^bOevermann, Ulrich; Tilman, Allert; Konau, Elisabeth; Krambeck, Jürgen (1987).

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