Review: Jane Elliot (2005). Using Narrative in Social Research. Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Abstract

With Using Narrative in Social Research Jane ELLIOTT has made an original and very accessible contribution to the methodological literature in social research. The originality of the work lies most of all in its double aim. ELLIOTT not only presents both qualitative and quantitative approaches to narrative analysis but also uses the concept of narrative as a sensitizing tool to explore and to deconstruct the boundaries between qualitative and quantitative social research. Actually, this second aim receives more attention than the first. Consequently, the book offers less practical guidance to the analysis of narratives than its title suggests. Most of all it provides advanced students and researchers with a sound reflection on the qualitative-quantitative divide and on possible ways to overcome it. Although insightful for every social scientist, the book tries in the first place to win the "quantitative audience" for an interpretive turn. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0602192