Analysis of short reflective narratives: a method for the study of knowledge in social workers’ actions

This article describes and discusses a method for analysing and working with short reflective narratives. The method is inspired by the interpretation theory of Paul Ricoeur, and applied to short written stories where social work students reflect on situations from their field studies - situations they experienced as critical or problematic. The article starts with a discussion about the need to develop complementary methods in narrative research. This is followed by an argument for written narratives as an alternative research approach. A pilot study of 14 narratives from social work students containing critical or problematic events is then presented with a focus on the analysing process. The analysis is evaluated as focused and manageable, easy to combine with quantitative analyses and it appears to generate findings in a form that is easy to publish. It provides a shortcut to a deeper understanding of both the narrative and the narrator. On the negative side, the method using written narratives has potential risks of ‘over-interpretation’, and the loss of the ‘midwife’ effect that can appear in an oral interview.