Staking a small claim for fictional narratives in social and educational research

Abstract

The use of narrative has become widespread in social and educational research, as both the phenomenon under study and as a method of analysis. However, this general acceptance of narrative as focus of research may not extend to the use of fictional narratives and related genres such as semi-fiction and creative non-fiction, nor to use of novels as ‘data’. This article examines the uses of fiction as data, analytical tool and representational mode in social and educational research. The purpose is to present an overview of the current uses being made of these approaches, illustrating different facets of engagement with fictional narratives, and to consider what can be gained (and also perhaps what might be lost) through their adoption.