Introducing the Staged Narrative Analysis: A Comprehensive Framework to Analyze Multi-Layered and Complex Narrative Data

Abstract

Building on multi-perspectival research on narratives and responsibility ascriptions in the context of (past) collective violence and repression, I have developed the staged narrative analysis (SNA) to guide the systematic examination of complex and multi-layered narrative data in various research contexts. To introduce SNA in this article, I first discuss its development and then present its two components: 1., a flexible analytical framework to consider the content, structure, and context of storytelling by breaking down the analysis of narratives into the following dimensions: narrator, moment of telling, structure, and stories; and 2., a five-stage analytical procedure to enable an in-depth analysis of individual narratives from different data sources as well as a structured comparison between and across different perspectives. When presenting each of the five stages, i.e., orientation, setting the scene, zooming in, evaluation, and contrasting, I outline the techniques used applying my own empirical data as an example. Finally, I discuss the potential applications and adaptations of the SNA in other studies.

Keywords

• narrative analysis
• analytical framework
• research strategy
• methodological guidance