Data Analysis in Biographical-Narrative Approaches: From Methods to an Analytic Intentionality

Authors

  • Marcela Cornejo Cancino Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  • Ximena Faúndez Universidad de Valparaíso
  • Carolina Besoain Universidad Alberto Hurtado

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-18.1.2491

Keywords:

data analysis, biographical-narrative approaches, listening devices, analytic intentionality

Abstract

Data analysis is crucial in qualitative research, influencing the quality and applicability of the results. Texts on data analysis typically describe general principles to be followed but lack detailed illustrations of the procedures involved. Qualitative researchers favor the dissemination of research results, providing an outline of how the analysis was done, and summarizing the epistemological foundations that sustained it.

In this article, three investigations are briefly presented, each of which utilized analytical procedures from biographical-narrative approaches: collective memory of the Chilean dictatorship, transgenerational transmission of trauma in grandchildren of victims of political imprisonment and torture during dictatorship, and processes of transformation over time of the subjectivities of the residents of poor neighborhoods in Santiago. Detailed descriptions are presented of how data analysis was designed, executed, and reproduced during the investigations, problematizing from an epistemological and a methodological point of view the decisions made at each step.

Analytical intentionality is proposed as a way to deal with analysis considering three dimensions: the reflexivity of the researcher and research team, a polyphonic listening in the BAKHTINian sense that opens new and multiple options for analysis, and a systematic writing exercise as a way of building and disseminating knowledge. These dimensions can help to make sense of the work of data analysis in qualitative research.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1701160

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Author Biographies

Marcela Cornejo Cancino, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Marcela CORNEJO, Ph.D. en ciencias psicológicas por la Universidad de Lovaina (Bélgica), es académica en la Escuela de Psicología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Sus líneas de investigación transitan por los traumas psicosociales producto de la violencia política; los procesos de elaboración psíquica individuales y colectivos; la memoria colectiva; la clave analítica generacional; los enfoques biográficos-narrativos; la fotografía y la memoria; y la investigación social cualitativa.

Ximena Faúndez, Universidad de Valparaíso

Ximena FAÚNDEZ, Ph.D. en psicología por la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, es profesora de la Escuela de Psicología, e Investigadora del Convenio de Desempeño para las Humanidades, Artes y Ciencias Sociales y del Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios sobre Cultura Política Memoria y Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Valparaíso. Sus líneas de investigación son trauma psicosocial producto de violencia política, quehacer de los investigadores sociales cualitativos, bienestar subjetivo, arte y memoria.

Carolina Besoain, Universidad Alberto Hurtado

Carolina BESOAIN, Ph.D. en psicología por la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, es profesora, investigadora y supervisora clínica en la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Alberto Hurtado. Sus líneas de investigación son procesos de subjetivación urbanos, intimidad y hábitat popular, psicoterapia relacional sistémica, psicoanálisis relacional, perspectivas dialógicas y narrativas en psicoterapia, e investigación social cualitativa.

Published

2017-01-24

How to Cite

Cornejo Cancino, M., Faúndez, X., & Besoain, C. (2017). Data Analysis in Biographical-Narrative Approaches: From Methods to an Analytic Intentionality. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-18.1.2491