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Tenth
(March 2007) Intensive BNIM Short Course
in the
Biographic-Narrative-Interpretive Method (BNIM)
5 days
for 6 people: March 8th and 9th, 12th-14th
2007 in
The value of open-narrative
interviewing and insightful interpretation is widely recognised, but rather than
having to invent the wheel for themselves, many people welcome a systematic
immersion into principles and procedures that have been shown to generate
high-quality work. An excerpt from an email we received from one university may
be suggestive:
“… a number
of the trainees who graduated this year got top awards in
their doctorate projects... BNIM and narrative
projects were considered to be of a particularly high standard by both
internal and external examiners, and were very well received. The course
director was very impressed and has told me that the standard of the
research of those undertaking these projects (using BNIM) has
improved the standard of the whole cohort.”
For
over eight years in the
Elvin – A richness
beyond what I could imagine.
Mark – I could go
away and practice now. I liked the balance of how and why. I really got my head
round that and could explain it to someone else.
Recently completed PhDs
and clinical doctorates by researchers using BNIM range over topics such as:
reintegration of Guatamalan refugees; identity in informal care; men coping
with sexual abuse; psychosomatic study of breast cancer; love and intimacy;
motivation in occupational therapy; South African migrants to NZ; transitions
in hearing voices’ life stories; nurses’ and health visitors’
learning and professional practice; relationship experiences in psychosis and
hospitalisation. We know of 18 more PhDs and clinical doctorates in process.
Universities include
BNIM assumes that
“narrative” expresses both conscious concerns and unconscious
cultural, societal and individual presuppositions and processes. It supports
research into the lived experience of individuals and collectives, facilitating
understanding both the ‘inner’ and the ‘outer’ worlds
of ‘historically-evolving persons-in-historically-evolving
situations’, and particularly the interactivity
of inner and outer world dynamics. It especially serves researchers who need a tool that supports
understanding spanning sociological and psychological dynamics and structures,
and these treated not statically but as situated historically and
biographically. Such research provides an
innovative base for policy.
Theoretical
and methodological developments from recent research practice are raised for
discussion. When you do the course, you automatically become a
member of the <Biographic-narrative-BNIM>
email list where news, questions and discussion circulate.
Methodology can be lonely without a secure base and like-minded people working
in the same way as you. The course, the textbook, the Short Guide and the email list offer you
support in using part or all of the BNIM tool-kit.
Designed for PhD students and
professional researchers, the course provides a thorough training in doing BNIM
biographic narrative interviews, together with ‘hands-on
experience’ of following BNIM interpretation procedures. Students
develop a sense of how their own research projects might use such aspects
and components. The cost is £600 if paid in full by February 1st.
If paid later, the cost is £700. Taught by
You will be expected to have looked
at (not read!) chapters 6 and 12 of Tom’s textbook, Qualitative research interviewing: biographic
narrative and semi-structured method (2001: Sage
Publications), Preliminary and supplementary material will be
provided. More recent debates and developments in theory and method are
integrated into the programme. Before the
course starts, you are expected to have studied the most recent
version of the Short Guide to BNIM
which will be sent to your email address.
Programme (subject to
revision)
Thursday 8th– Friday 9h
March 2007
We start with a short introduction
to the Biographic-narrative-interpretive method, a very brief history of
its development in
Monday 12th to
Wednesday 14th March 2007
We outline the principles and you
engage in the key practices of BNIM interpretive work . We
explain the twin-tracks of ‘lived life’ and ‘told
story’ analysis, and micro-analysis, and how you convert the raw
transcript into two series of processed data for each track. You learn the
significance of the future-blind chunk-by-chunk approach peculiar to BNIM by
practice – by doing parts of a narrative text analysis, a
micro-analysis and biographical data analysis. Finally, on
the basis of case-presentations, you practice case-comparison and the
comparative theorising towards which BNIM work is typically oriented. The
course ends with our looking again at how you might best use all or part of the
BNIM approach for your individual research projects, and how to defend your
choice to use this biographical research method with a low-N in-depth sample in
arguments with sceptical research and applied policy audiences.
For an example of BNIM
case studies we recommend the European Union seven-country SOSTRIS project
(edited) Biography and social exclusion in
Europe: experiences and life-journeys (2002: Bristol, Policy
Press). Other books, articles and reports are listed in the full
bibliographies of the constantly updated Short
Guide to BNIM.
To get a copy of the ‘Short Guide’, to ask any questions or
to book a place, contact [log in to unmask]. To reserve a place,
you need to send us a deposit of £100. To get an early-bird discount, you need
to pay full cost by February 1st. Of the 6 places on the course,
there are currently 2 still available.