Thinking About Family Methodology: Visions, Versions, and Vexations

• In Event: 28.060 - Exploring Methods and Methodology in Biographical and Documentary Research

Abstract

The work of life-writing remains fertile territory in contemporary educational research (e.g. see Kridel, 1998; Mulvilhill & Swaminathan, 2017)—the opportunity to explore educator’s lives, and “lives that are educative” (ISEB website). Methodologies for life writing continue to proliferate, from traditional biographies to creative autoethnography, arts-based research, and narrative inquiry. Years ago, Kridel (1998) argued that there are “pervasive influences of biographical inquiry in education” and that “the self-examination of a biographer…. can enhance and enrich the practice of educational research” (p. 5). In this paper, we echo Kridel’s advocacy of diverse biographies for education to explore a project focused on family research. We describe the complexities of undertaking a collaborative exploration of a type of life writing with/on family members.

Authors

• Lucy E. Bailey, Oklahoma State University

• Naomi E. Norquay, York University