Introduction

In his critique of modernist research, Putnam (2004) maintains that work which focuses on the particular and is based in Dewey's conception of experience represent the third enlightenment. In presenting this argument, Putnam provides evidence that work guided by a modernist epistemology has not provided research findings that offer generalizable findings that can be applied across contexts to resolve the intractable problems faced in modern life. In his book Narrative Knowing in the Human Sciences, Polkinghorne (1988) provides clear evidence that this is also true within the disciplines of the social sciences particularly psychology. Putnam (2004) argues that work based in Dewey's conception of experience and focused on providing richly constructed inquiries into particular responses to intractable problems (such as literacy, poverty, culture, progress, human striving, etc.) holds the most promise for practitioners addressing such problems and researchers studying them. By offering qualitative accounts that document the specific responses where the research accounts provide detailed evidence about the contexts of the offer the most important guidance for responding to these problems (even when such responses are unsuccessful). Such inquiry allows researchers to consider the particular in terms of their own settings, resources, and approaches and devise new and potentially more helpful approaches to these problems. One of the research methodologies that has produced such work is the methodology of Narrative Inquiry. The chapters in this section of the fourth volume of the ISATT yearbook, document evidence of the strength of this methodology in responding to the human and the particular in inquiries into intractable problems. The chapter from Xu et al. (2023) (in this volume) documents the growth, progress, and contribution of this work in China from its beginning in 2007 until the present time. Parker and Craig (2023) argue its usefulness in engaging critically within Narrative Inquiries to provide more complex and nuanced accounts. The chapter from Stavrou et al. (2023) (in this volume) articulates clear evidence for Narrative Inquiry as an important genre of educational research. The work from Lee and colleagues (2023) (in this volume) furthermore demonstrates the ways in which Narrative Inquiry can provide depth and nuance in revisiting published accounts. Collectively the chapters add weight to Putnam's (2004) assertions of the value of work that emerges from studies of experience based in Dewey's conception of experience.