Contemporary Biography and Life Story Research Design

Within contemporary biography and life story research design, researchers have to develop a clear stance on their view of the world as it pertains to studying lives. In addition, they have to create a research design with well-articulated research questions, and they must identify the most appropriate theoretical framework for studying a life. The design methodology and the data collection methods are often closely aligned in biography and life story research in their incorporation of the same view of the world and nature of knowledge. What distinguishes them is that methodology is a way of designing a study of lives and thinking about the intricacies and compelling dynamics of lives, whereas the methods are the procedures and tools used to collect and analyze biography and life story data. Biography and life story research methods are often diverse in that the choice of the particular data collection strategies and tools is dependent on what data and insights emerge about a life throughout the research process. In other words, in addition to choosing the research methods identified as part of the design methodology at the outset, the researcher typically adopts further appropriate methods or techniques throughout the entire process as needed.

Nature of Knowledge, Worldview, and Research Approach

Within all forms of research, having a well-specified and meaningful research design framework is critically important. Aligning worldview, driving theory, research questions, strategies of inquiry, and research methods is a daunting conceptual task. As with all strong designs in social scientific research, biography and life story research design begins with researchers' identifying the assumptions and worldview they bring to the research enterprise. Within the context of research design, worldview can be defined as a general orientation toward the world and beliefs about the nature of knowledge. This includes the following epistemological questions: What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? What do people know? How do we know what we know? (see Lincoln & Guba, 2000). Although it is often taken for granted, when researchers choose a particular research design and specific methods of data collection, they are adopting a view about the nature of knowledge and sometimes go so far as to suggest which types of knowledge are most valuable for advancing the knowledge base on a particular topic within a specific field (see Creswell, 2009). The worldview researchers adopt shapes their selection of either a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research methodology, which in turn guides the types of specific research strategies and methods of inquiry they use to study a life.

Although the designs used in biography and life story research are variable in terms of the types of data collected, most tend to use a qualitative research approach. The researcher's selection of a qualitative research framework is a research design decision to focus on the language and meaning of people's constructions of their attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and emotions as the central units of analysis. In selecting this focus, the researcher is making a decision to adopt a worldview that includes a philosophy of constructivism about the nature of knowledge and human experience. Constructivism emphasizes that individuals reflect on their own experiences to construct an understanding of the world in which they live (Mahoney, 2004). In other words, individuals create subjective meanings of their experiences and the world that are negotiated within the social, cultural, and historical context in which their lives are embedded.

Biography and life story researchers do occasionally develop a research design that includes using a quantitative approach. However, when researchers include the collection of quantitative data in their research, this is most often done using a mixed-methods design. There are a range of definitions of mixed-methods design, but what all definitions have in common is that such a design blends quantitative and qualitative research approaches through mixing that occurs at various stages in the research process. For example, a researcher can decide to blend the methods at the data collection stage, collecting both types of data simultaneously, or can combine the methods within the results or discussion stage of the research process (Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, & Turner, 2007).

For example, Nasby and Read (1997) conducted a case study of Dodge Morgan, who in 1986 completed a solo circumnavigation of the world in 150 days. Their goal was to study Morgan's life and the experience of his voyage, as well as other dimensions of his personality. These researchers used a battery of valid and reliable psychological scales to measure personality traits, needs, motives, emotional predispositions and states, interpersonal adjustment, and cognitive abilities before he went on his voyage. In addition, they collected data on mood during the voyage and analyzed his life experiences, which they collected from Morgan's memoir and correspondence.

After the biography and life story researchers make these initial design decisions about worldview and their corresponding approach, theory selection and the development of well-articulated research questions are important next steps in the process of research design.

Selection of Theory and Research Questions

In terms of psychology, most of the research questions that are developed within contemporary biography and life story research evolve from the theoretical underpinnings of various narrative theories of personality. There are some exceptions in which researchers focus more on classic theories of achievement motivation, power motivation, and intimacy motivation to guide their conduct of biography and life story research (see Smith, 1992). For example, Winter (1987, 1996) has examined theories of power motivation, the recurrent preference for having an impact on people's behaviors, by examining the lives and inaugural addresses of American presidents.

As was previously discussed, there are several general theoretical underpinnings that are associated with studying a life related to narrative, story, and time. Narrative theories of personality are more specific in nature and are defined as theories about the storied nature of lives that describe and explain individuals' capacity to narrate and interpret the meaning of their life experiences (Singer, 2004). The most frequently used narrative theories of personality employed in biography and life story research are script theory (Tomkins, 1979); the life-story model of identity (McAdams, 1985); self-defining memories (Singer & Salovey, 1993); and dialogical self theory (Hermans, 1988).

The specific narrative theory of personality the researcher decides to use in a study will lead to specific types of research questions, as well as the use of a particular biography and life story research methodology. For example, a researcher using McAdams's life-story model of identity (1985) would ask the following type of research question: Is there continuity and change in individuals' internalized and evolving narrative of self over time? (McAdams et al., 2006). His model explains that individuals living in modern societies construct and internalize integrative life narratives beginning during adolescence and continuing throughout the life course. From this perspective, McAdams views identity itself as a life story that integrates disparate roles and brings together the reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future in order to provide the person with a purposeful identity in modern life as a psychosocial construction. These integrative life narratives or life stories reflect an individual's narrative understanding of self in culture, an understanding coauthored by the person and by cultural influences providing the historical, religious, ethical, economic, and political contexts within which the person's life is situated (McAdams, Reynolds, Lewis, Patten, & Bowman 2001). Psychosocial construction is a process that individuals use to integrate personal psychological and social experiences in developing their autobiographical memories and internalized narratives of self.

A second example of the influence of the nature of the narrative theory of personality on the researcher's development of research questions can be drawn from self-defining memories (Singer & Salovey, 1993). A self-defining memory is an autobiographical memory that is linked to the individual's most self-relevant and important long-term goals. These self-defining memories are distinguished from other types of memories based on the five criteria of vividness, emotional intensity, repetition, linkage to similar memories, and these memories' relationship to a person's enduring concerns or unresolved conflicts (Singer, 2005). A researcher interested in studying self-defining memories would ask the following type of research question: What is the relationship of the meaning and content of self-defining memories and self-restraint, distress, and defensiveness? (Blagov & Singer, 2004).

In sum, there are several important considerations that researchers must address when designing a study of lives. They must account for their worldview, select an appropriate theory about lives, and decide what important research questions they need to answer in their study. All of these design decisions will guide the researchers in selecting the data collection instruments and approaches to analyze the biography and life story data.