Note to Readers: Narrative Representations of Narrative Inquiry Research

The foundation for narrative inquiry comes from Dewey's (1938) assertion that life and education are organically entwined. From this notion comes the concept of narrative inquiry as an interest in lived experience – that is, in lives and how they are lived (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. xxii). In addition to the work of Dewey, narrative inquiry has a long intellectual history both in and out of education (Clandinin & Connelly, 1990, p. 2). Contributions from other research fields include MacIntyre's (1981) ideas about narrative unity and Mitchell's (1981) comprehensive outline of the field of narratology. Several years later, Polkinghorne (1988) contributed an understanding of narrative analysis and Coles (1989) argued for the legitimacy of the literary ideas of narrative. Clandinin and Connelly (2000) built narrative inquiry as an educational research design from these notions. They specify that, as researchers, knowing about our experiences and knowing about the academic literature relevant to our own questions can be brought together to create new understandings.