Life history research in educational settings : learning from lives

Title:

Personal Author:

Goodson, Ivor

Series:

Doing qualitative research in educational settings

Publication Information:

Buckingham : Open University Press, 2001

ISBN:

9780335207145

Subject Term:

Biography -- Research -- Methodology

Biography as a literary form -- Study and teaching

Added Author:

Sikes, Patricia J.

Available:*

Library	Item Barcode	Call Number	Material Type	Item Category 1	Status
Searching... PSZ JB	30000003594854	CT22 G66 2001	Open Access Book	Book	Searching... Unknown

It has long been recognised that life history method has a great deal to offer to those engaged in social research. Indeed, right from the start of the twentieth century, eminent sociologists such as W.I. Thomas, C. Wright Mills and Herbert Blumer have suggested that it is the best, the perfect, approach for studying any aspect of social life. In recent years, life history has become increasingly popular with researchers investigating educational topics of all kinds, including: teachers' perceptions and experiences of different areas of their lives and careers; curriculum and subject development; pedagogical practice; and managerial concerns. Life History Research in Educational Settings sets out to explore and consider the various reasons for this popularity and makes the case that the approach has a major and unique contribution to make to understandings of schools, schooling and educational experience however characterised. The book draws extensively on examples of life history research in order to illustrate theoretical, methodological, ethical and practical issues.

Series editor's preface	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
1 Developing life histories	p. 6
The story of life history: origins of the life history method	p. 6
Reasons for the decline of life history in early sociological study	p. 11
From modernism to postmodernism	p. 14
2 Techniques for doing life history	p. 19
Introduction	p. 19
Reasons for choosing research approaches and methods	p. 20
Research populations	p. 22
Negotiating access and participation	p. 25
Strategies for collecting data	p. 27
Working with life history data	p. 32
Analysis using computer programs	p. 35
Data presentation	p. 37
In conclusion	p. 37
3 What have you got when you've got a life story? Epistemological considerations	p. 39
Introduction	p. 39
Life history from the perspective of the life story teller	p. 41
Life history from the perspective of the life historian	p. 48
In conclusion	p. 56
4 Studying teachers' life histories and professional practice	p. 57
Introduction	p. 57
Our starting points	p. 57
Introducing computers into a teacher's life: issues of professional practice and development	p. 62
Raising issues	p. 70
Life history as a strategy for personal professional development	p. 72
In conclusion	p. 74
5 Life stories and social context: storylines and scripts	p. 75
Introduction	p. 75
A script to live and work from	p. 75
Scholarship scripts	p. 77
In conclusion	p. 86
6 Questions of ethics and power in life history research	p. 89
Introduction	p. 89
Research design and conduct	p. 91
The nature of the topics that life historians tend to study allied with the nature of the methodology	p. 96
Claims that life history research can be emancipatory and empowering	p. 99
Further considerations	p. 103
7 Confronting the dilemmas	p. 105
Introduction	p. 105
The dilemmas	p. 106
Alternative lives	p. 110
Finally	p. 112
Bibliography	p. 113
Index	p. 122

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Table of Contents