Table Of ContentNARRATIVE PORTRAITS IN
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research offers an analytical approach to qualitative
data. Through narrative portraiture, research findings can be contextualised in
broader social narratives without losing sight of the unique personal qualities of the
research encounter.
Drawing a parallel between the artistic work of a portrait maker in depicting
a subject – sometimes an object – and the work of the researcher in exploring
people’s experiences, narrative portraiture invites a close-up into a person’s narrated
and embodied experience and argues that one of the main research findings in
qualitative research is the person themselves; their circumstances, and their life
story. The book proposes four approaches to narrative portraiture: (1) a systematic
approach to narrative analysis, (2) the use of phronesis in narrative portraiture,
(3) the concept of ‘imagined portraits’ as a collaborative approach between
visual arts and social sciences, and (4) the use of ‘performative portraits’ both as
an analytic tool and product for research communication. This book will help
qualitative researchers create first-person narratives that will give a glimpse into
the participants’ lives in a way that is simultaneously deep, concise, and evocative.
This book will be suitable for those interested in narrative methods and
qualitative research in health care, education, and the social sciences.
Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans is a qualitative researcher and mental health practitioner.
He studies identities, sexualities, the everyday lives of LGBTQIA+ people, and the
use of performing arts in research. He completed a PhD in Counselling Studies at
the University of Edinburgh and is a Lecturer in Counselling & Psychotherapy at
the University of Salford.
NARRATIVE PORTRAITS
IN QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans
Cover image: Cameron
Gouache and pencil colour on cardboard, 60X84 cm
Edinburgh, 2019
Imagined Portrait by Eleonora Scalise
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans
The right of Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-85587-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-85592-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01378-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003013785
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
In loving memory of Joule
CONTENTS
A foreword for Narrative Portraits in Qualitative Research x
Introduction 1
A narrative portrait of my best friend’s death 1
What is a narrative portrait? – an overview of this book 7
A note on the role of ‘the body’ in qualitative research 10
A note on linguistic capital 10
The complexity of life experience and the limits of
discursive representation 11
A narrative portrait is a depiction of an absence 13
Narrative portraits and their relationship with research into
disadvantaged populations 15
A note on decoloniality 17
References 18
1 A systematic approach to narrative portraiture 21
1.1 A nalytic proceedings – transforming Maurice’s story into a
narrative portrait 22
1.2 C haracters – he was treating me well 23
1.3 O rientation in time, space, and circumstances – the boy
who travelled 300 miles 25
1.4 C omplicating actions (and crisis of the Self) – ‘he was
kissing someone else’ 28
1.5 R esult and evaluation – ‘I was too young’ 28
viii Contents
1.6 S mall stories within the life story – ‘you aren’t going to
care about me anymore’ 31
1.7 I dentifying themes in narrative portraits – special narrative
features 31
1.8 T he intertwinement of phenomena in research projects – ‘I
still have feelings for him’ 36
1.9 T he abstract – ‘he is home’ 40
1.10 A rranging a narrative portrait 42
1.11 F irst narrative portrait – Maurice 43
1.12 Devising exercise 45
References 47
2 The use of phronesis in narrative portraiture 49
2.1 S econd narrative portrait – Cameron 52
2.2 R everberations of the participant’s voice – ‘what did I do in
all those 40 years?’ 55
2.3 P owerful phrases – ‘it was a bit like the expression
“Hobson’s choice”; you didn’t have any choice’ 58
2.4 U nspoken – important nonverbal moments 61
2.5 C rucial moments; on the verge of an insight, confusion,
uncertainty, suspicion while researching into participants’
lives – ‘in three occasions in life I’ve been infatuated with
people’ 62
2.6 R ecognising transpersonal experiences and narrating them
evocatively – ‘is that uncommon?’ 63
2.7 W hat can phronesis do for narrative portraiture? 66
2.8 Devising exercise 67
References 69
3 Imagined portraits 71
3.1 ‘ The absent presence’ in research – the young body, the
attractive body, the disabled body, the eroticised body, the
ageing body, the muscular body, the white body, the dark-
skinned body . . . tall, short, thin, natural, fully fleshed
bodies 71
3.2 T he ethical and political challenges of bringing the bodies
into research – ‘You linger to see his back, and the back of
his neck and shoulder side’ 76
3.3 A collaboration between visual arts and social sciences –
‘we also asked for love’ 79
3.4 A ffect theory in imagined portraits – Nick, the man who
sang an anthem in Hampstead Heath 81
Contents ix
3.5 Q ueer spaces – cars, roads, bridges, woods, secluded
areas 85
3.6 T hird narrative portrait – Nick 86
3.7 Devising exercise 88
References 89
4 Performative portraits 92
4.1 F ourth narrative portrait – Luca 92
4.2 W hat are performative portraits? 94
4.3 P erformative portraits as a medium for analysis – some
actions need to be seen and experienced 99
4.4 P erformative portraits as research communication 101
4.5 P erformance as a way to engage in the ethics and aesthetics
of qualitative research – the boy who was very hungry for
being loved 103
4.6 S patiality in narrative data analysis – ‘loving outdoors
because you can’t bring your boyfriend home’ 106
4.7 M ateriality in narrative data analysis – the red jumper and
the black ribbon 110
4.8 C onjuring life through body movement – their feminine
masculinity 111
4.9 Devising exercise 114
References 115
Conclusion 118
Fifth portrait – Malone 120
Conflicting narratives – the boy who prayed for God to make him
straight 123
A narrative portrait of an individual and his community 126
A double portrait – when the researcher makes themselves visible
in the text 128
Staying with the complexity – two narratives 133
A ubiquitous narrative – sex 134
A narrative of resistance – love 135
Limitations of narrative portraiture 136
Suggestions for future research 136
A sense of an ending 139
References 140
Index 142
