Brief encounters with qualitative methods in health research: narrative analysis

Narrative research is a recently-developed approach to qualitative investigation in health settings, and is growing in popularity. The methods and analytic procedures used, however, are diverse, have developed in very different disciplines and are often not well prescribed in the literature. This can make it difficult for those new to this approach to assess what narrative research actually is. The aim of this article, therefore, is to introduce the process of narrative research and open a discussion on what constitutes a ‘narrative,’ and the defining features of narrative analysis. Some examples of narrative research in health will then be presented.