METHODOLOGY
Methodology: 1) oral history methodology 2) narrative methodology and 3) historical methodology.
What is Oral History and why use it?
This study will mainly focus on oral history as a methodology. Oral
history relies on the power of the spoken word as a primary source. Through an
informal interview using a conversational approach, stories are collected from the
participant and are recorded. The researcher learns “about respondents’ lives from
their own perspective” (Hesse-Bieber, Naggy 2006). This provides a unique
opportunity for the researcher as they seek answers from the source. Often time,
oral history focuses on everyday people, instead of focusing on those in power,
which is the case for much found in history books. In the book The Practice of
Qualitative Research, Hesse-Bieber and Naggy point out that “moments of
realization, awareness, and, ideally, education and empowerment during the
narrative process” can take place (Hesse-Bieber, Naggy 2006). p150 In other words,
oral history as a process has the ability to uncover lost memories by giving the
participant a space to recollect. This happens often in everyday life; talking about
memories spurs other memories that we have forgotten.
Specific method of using oral history in the context of my research
The stories of many people in Joseph Dahlby’s life will be recorded to further
this research. Dahlby’s background, the events leading up to his choice to become a
teacher in Racine, Wisconsin, notable teaching experience, and his methods for
developing arts-integrated curriculum will be researched based on the oral history
of his wife, Ms. Dahlby. In addition to this, documents from Ms. Dahlby archive will
be used. This included a creative writing curriculum adapted by Racine Unified
School District for all 6th grade English classes as well as college report cards,
photos, as well as other writings by Dahlby.
An oral history of one of Dahlby’s colleague will be recorded in order to
explore Dahlby’s practice of arts integration from the perspective of a fellow
colleague.
An oral history of one of Dahlby’s principals will provide an administrators
perspective. This will result in a comparison of Dahlby’s practice in relation to other
6th grade teachers at the time and explore Dahlby’s practice of arts integration. This
principal can also provide a context for Dahlby’s use of arts integration in relation to
the trends in education from 1961-1990’s.
7-10 students of Joseph Dahlby students will give an oral history
History of Oral History
What is Narrative Methodology/ Visual Narrative Methodology?
After gathering information by means of oral history, it must be organized and
interpreted. Using a narrative methodology, a story is created out of oral histories.
Stories are used as ways to organize information. Richard Giovannoli quotes
Riessman’s suggestion that researches break the narrative method into three stages
“Telling,” “Transcribing,” and “Analyzing.”
http://www.sonic.net/~rgiovan/essay.2.PDF
Riessman (1993), the discussion that follows will divide the narrative method into
three stages: “Telling,” “Transcribing,” and “Analyzing.”
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative Analysis ( Vol. 30). Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Publications.
History of Narrative Methodology
How will I use Narrative Methodology?
What is historical methodology?
History of historical methodology.
How will I use a historical methodology?
“The study of life histories are instructive for both the new teachers making
sense of their world and for those who work with them” (Colley 1998) p246
“Their articulation of links between their biographies and the roots of their
teaching philosophy became threads in a colorful fabric which represented
the complexities of new teacher enculturation” (Colley 1998) p247
“Life history and teaching influence each other. Teaching is not only shaped
by life history, our revisitation offers new opportunities to make sense of those life
histories. From our stance in new roles, as teachers or researcher, we
recontextualized those events which led us to that point in our lives” (Colley 1998)
p253
I consider my research efforts to be an act of teaching and learning,
encouraging new teachers to reflect on events which have influenced their
practice” (Colley 1998) p253
Collay, M. (1998) RECHERCHE: TEACHING OUR LIFE HISTORIES. Teaching
and Teacher Education, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 245-255, 1998
The methodology for this project will include
Background research
Issues in education on the local level in Racine Unified School District, (ie budget
issues, teachers strikes etc). This information will be gathered from two interviews
with two of Joseph Dahlby’s colleagues during his teaching career.
Trends in education being taught at the time that Joseph Dahlby was completing his
college degree in Education will be studied. This will be researched by studying
journal articles dated from the time of Joseph’s studies as well as college education
curriculum based on the courses documented on Joseph’s college report card.
Data Collection
Data Collection will consist of a series of recorded interviews as well as compiling
primary and secondary sources documents. These documents include newspaper
articles featuring Joseph’s life and work In addition to this, curriculum as well as
personal documents and
Source: The practice of qualitative research By Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber, Patricia
Leavy. Chapter 5. Oral History
My research methodology is based on qualitative inquiry as described by Wolcott as
a “systematic process of describing, analyzing and interpreting insights discovered
in every day life.” As stated by Strauss and Corbin, my qualitative research will
include three stages: data collection, content analysis and comparative analysis
(Stokrocki p39).
Oral history
Grandmas historical archive. A collection of documents.
Why is history imporatnat.
From Tell Me a Story: The Power of Narrative in the Practice of Teaching Art
Mary Jane Zander
Narratives as Transforming Hall (1996) suggested that identity is "a narrative of the self.., the
story we tell about the self in order to know who we are" (p. 16). Linde (1993) wrote, "In order to exist in the
social world with a comfortable sense of being a good, socially proper, and stable person, an individual needs to
have a coherent, acceptable, and constantly revised life story' (p. 3). Because we are constantly telling and
revising stories, the stories we tell ourselves also reveal what we think of others, including our misconceptions
and our prejudices. Because stories involve personal experience, meaning-making, and emotion, they are
instrumental in synthesizing knowledge and human experience (Egan, 1986; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).
Stories do not merely communicate shared understandings; they can potentially transform our view of the
world. As stories touch us emotionally, they assist us in remembering and making sense of our own experiences
and the lives around us (Egan, 1986; McEwan & Egan,
1995; Noddings & Witherell, 1991; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). Poet Primus St. John said,
Through both written and oral narrative we can feel profoundly with another, imagining a larger world than
the one we inhabit. Such leaps of empathy and imagination can bind us in deeper and wider relationships,
provide bridges across cultures, and enable us to "look into the heart ofwisdom".... The telling, receiving, and
shaping of stories can be ... redemptive, healing, and transformative. (in Witherell, Tan Tran, & Othus, 1995,
p. 39)
The story becomes not just the experience of someone else, but our own experiences reflected through others.
Robert Coles (1989) claimed that it is only through stories that one can fully enter another's life. They
transform us by giving us new understandings about the experi- ences of others and by helping us think about
how we might feel in the same situation.
Stories also have the potential to assist in decision making and moral development. Tappan and Brown (1989)
explained that, because stories can "capture the 'lived experience' of an individual faced with a situation, conflict,
or dilemma that requires a moral decision and a moral action" (p. 175), the story offers a tripartite structure of
"cognition, emotion and action" (p. 176) that allows one to step back and analyze or make decisions about moral
behavior. By doing so, we encounter not just answers, but
Studies in Art Education
199
Tell Me a Story: The Power of Narrative200
Studies in Art Education
Mary Jane Zander
questions that are important to personal development and we encounter them in a format that is conducive to
reflection and change.
Add to Literature Review:
Tedlock, D. Learning to Listen: Oral History as Poetry
Boundary 2
Vol. 3, No. 3, The Oral Impulse in Contemporary American Poetry (Spring, 1975), pp. 707-728
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
Dennis Tedlock relates oral history to poetry. The entire article was written in poetic verse using line breaks and
different size fonts to inflect volume etc. Tedlock points out the failures of translating spoken narrative, like that
of oral history, into prose. Many things are lost in translation from word to text including, the range of volume of
words, emphasis, pauses, instrumentation (such as smoking a cigarette), and gesture (such as tapping on the table
for emphasis). Tedlock argues that oral narratives are dramatic poetry and cannot be understood in the same way
if read in prose transcripts.