Table Of ContentEDITED BY
L.
Ardra Cole &
J.
Gary Knowles
Lives in Context
THEARTOF
LIFE' HISTORY RESEARCH
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Lives in Context
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We are mindful of the paths we have taken to get to this place
in our lives. To those who have helped us find
this place we dedicate this book.
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Many new and emerging researchers (past graduate students
and others) have contributed to our thinking about
researching lives in context. Many participants in our studies
also have extended our understandings of what it means to be a
life history researcher. To those scholars and participants we
also dedicate this book. This text, after all, also represents
elements of our lives in context.
Lives in Context
The Art of Life History Research
Ardra L. Cole
J. Gary Knowles
AKUAMm
PRESS
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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Copyright © 2001 by AltaMira Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cole, Ardra L.
Lives in context: the art of life history research / Ardra L. Cole [and] J. Gary Knowles
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7591-0143-4 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7591-0144-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Sociology—Biographical methods. 2. Biography—Research—Methodology. 3.
Interviewing. I. Knowles, J. Gary, 1947-
HM511 .C657 2001
301'01—dc21
2001016066
Printed in the United States of America
© The,paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Contents
Preface vn
Beginnings: Researching the Professor: Thomas
by J. Gary Knowles 1
PART 1: Exploring Method
1. What Is Life History Research? 9
2. Principles Guiding Life History Researching 25
3. Beginning a Life History Research Project 45
4. "Doing" Life History Research 70
5. Preparing to Make Sense of Gathered Life History
Information 93
6. Making Sense of and Representing Lives in Context 112
PART 2: Experiencing Method
7. Lessons from Nurses' Lives by Renee Sarchuk Will 131
8. Responsibilities to Community: Relationality and Mutuality
with Home-Educating Families by ]. Gary Knowles 137
9. Research as Relationship by Jacquie Aston 145
v
vi Contents
10. Fidelity and Ethical Ideals by Kathleen Gates, Kathryn Church,
and Cathy Crowe 152
11. Telling "Inside" Stories: The Paradox of Researcher Privilege
by Ardra L. Cole 164
12. Going Deep: Intersecting the Self as Researcher and
Researched by Avi Rose 170
13. A Life History as Artistic Interpretation
by James A. Muchmore 177
14. Reflections on "Our Stories": Women in Cardiac
Rehabilitation by Lori Ebbesen ' 184
15. Researching First Nations Educators through Presence,
Collaboration, and Advocacy by Jeff On 192
16. Compelled to Honor Privacy: Reflections from Researching
in a Nursing Home by Elizabeth Oates Schuster 202
17. Insights and Inspiration from an Artist's Work, Envisioning
and Portraying Lives in Context by J. Gary Knowles and
Suzanne Thomas 208
18. Rereading "Anne": Using Images in an Artful Inquiry
by Maura McIntyre 215
19. Moments in Time by Ilze Arielle Matiss 223
Endings: Writing the Professor: Thomas by J. Gary Knowles 230
References 233
Author Index 249
Subject Index 253
About the Contributors 259
+
Preface
I
ntroductions are crucial steps in life history research. They are the be¬
ginning points that often make or break the power of a researching
relationship to bring forth illuminating understandings of the life and
phenomenon being explored. When two or more lives come together in
readiness for research conversations, the onus of responsibility for devel¬
oping the relationship rests on the researcher or researchers. More often
than not, "the researched"—the person who has agreed to be the focus of
a life history exploration—comes to the first moment of involvement with
particular expectations and is mindful of or curious about the purpose of
the spotlight's focus. He or she is anxious to know of the extent, direction,
and tone of the inquiry work, anxious to know what is expected. To know
the direction of conversations, or interviews as some might call them, is to
relax a little and not be caught unaware. After all, it is his or her life that
is about to be scrutinized.
We want to make known the way we plan to proceed, the way in which
the book unfolds. The tone of our writing and the heart of our epistemo¬
logical orientation will become clear as you read, as will the structure and
form. Understanding the basic structure at this point, though, may be
helpful.
The book is in two parts, each representing a different kind of text.
The two parts can stand alone almost as separate "texts," although our
intention is that they be read as complements to one another. Part 1 con¬
tains our words and ideas supplemented by voices of other scholars.
Vll
Preface
Vlll
We present, discuss, and illustrate a perspective on life history research
that is based on principles of reflexivity, relationality, and artistry. Here
we make known theoretical elements of our orientation, the basis of our
practice. Throughout we point readers to connections with elements of
chapters in part 2.
Part 2 contains chapters by a variety of life history researchers. Our in¬
tention is to present perspectives and ideas about life history research that
have application in a wide variety of inquiry contexts and academic dis¬
ciplines. To aid us in this we solicited the help of others who have recently
done life history work. Intentionally, most of these researchers are rela¬
tively new to life history work. Their accounts of researching, with atten¬
tion placed mostly on issues of process, make up the second part of the
book. They are stories of researching that illuminate the theoretical, prac¬
tical, professional, and personal qualities of doing sound life history re¬
search. They are intended to provide points of resonance for a wide vari¬
ety of readers. Our goal is to provide a number of views into the process
of life history inquiry so that newcomers and more experienced re¬
searchers alike may gain from reading about issues and processes that
were crucial to the work of these various researchers. Read together, our
texts are intended to be reciprocal and responsive, collaborative and com¬
plementary, focusing on the central elements and purposes of life history
work.
Researching lives is always a delicate affair, often highly intrusive. Life
history researchers step into lives only to retreat after a time; yet, those ex¬
amined lives live on both within and without the researcher's experience.
The business of doing life history work is complex and consuming, exhil¬
arating and elusive, demanding and defining, even tiring and tedious, but
with understanding the lives of others comes the possibility of under¬
standing oneself and one's location in the world.
To illustrate some of the complexities of life history research and to pro¬
vide an overview of the kinds of issues and processes we will illustrate
and discuss, we begin the book with an excerpt from an unpublished,
book-length manuscript written by Gary. It is from a larger account of the
experiences of a professor, Thomas, within the academy. The excerpt has
been edited for this purpose and does not contain all of the nuances of
form that appear in the original; nevertheless, it sets a tone for this book
on researching lives in context.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Over the past sixteen or so years, we have had the privilege of working
with many research participants who have taught us much. Our inten-
