Introduction

Narrative analysis is an important element of understanding human behaviour, which is applied in different ways in commerce and personal services. Narrative analysis has a long tradition (Aristotle, Augustine) but more recently has developed separate traditions in the human sciences and arts. However, there are common elements that enhance each of these approaches.

Definition

Narrative 'tale, story, recital of facts, especially story told in first person; kind of composition or talk that confines itself to these' (OED) or discourse 'designed to represent a connected succession of happenings' (Websters)

A narrative is a presentation of a coherent series of actions which the narrator connects with each other. One or more linked stories are used to convey a point (Wilensky 1983). Temporally ordered accounts are not all narratives. Instructions in a car manual are sequential, but do not convey ' a relation ... beyond temporal order: for example such as casuality, implicativeness, or thematic coherence' (Mishler 1995 p.91). Narrative analysis is a representation of narrative/s - ie multiple accounts / perspectives on shared events and is such 'twice-told narrative' (Young 2001).

Different analytic approaches focus on the linguistic construction of the narrative; the presentation as a whole; or an interpretation of the intent (concious or unconcious) of the narrator. Stories told in conversations (stuctured on 'turn-taking') include elements which claim reassignment of turn back to the narrator for completion of the story (Sacks 1992).

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