Telling stories about yourself requires retelling personal and social events that can only be made possible by recall and retrospection. Both the personal and social are always present when we start to explore our life stories. Thus, a highly personal experience could not just be examined as purely personal. Instead, to better understand human experience, the inclusion of the social context of the event is also critical. The stories were not just exclusively about them but also about their families, participants’ people, events, community, and society that impacted them. As the researcher, I was aware that I was always in the midst of the research process, not just along the dimensions of time, place, the personal, and the social, but also in the middle of the stories—theirs and mine (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). The standpoint I convey as a female nurse and aspiring leader have a potential impact on my interactions with the participants. Clandinin and Connelly (2000) elucidated further: personal, private, and professional lives flow across the boundaries into the “Researchers’ research site; likewise, though often not with the same intensity, lives flow participants’ the other way (p. Being in the field when conducting interviews brought me close 115).” enough to my experiences to generate a familiarity that could potentially participants’ cause tensions; yet, I made all efforts to remain within the ethical boundaries of conducting research. Narrative inquiry is highly relational. Close rapport and continuous collaboration with my participants throughout the study were essentially vital to avoid misinterpretations and inconsistencies (Creswell, 2012). Through close partnership, I was able to elicit relevant and interesting stories as I tried to make sense of their lived experiences pertinent to this study. Temporality
Telling stories about yourself requires retelling personal and social events that can only be made possible by recall and retrospection. Both the personal and social are always present when we start to explore our life stories. Thus, a highly personal experience could not just be examined as purely personal. Instead, to better understand human experience, the inclusion of the social context of the event is also critical. The participants’ stories were not just exclusively about them but also about their families, people, events, community, and society that impacted them. As the researcher, I was aware that I was always in the midst of the research process, not just along the dimensions of time, place, the personal, and the social, but also in the middle of the stories—theirs and mine (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). The standpoint I convey as a female nurse and aspiring leader have a potential impact on my interactions with the participants. Clandinin and Connelly (2000) elucidated further: “Researchers’ personal, private, and professional lives flow across the boundaries into the research site; likewise, though often not with the same intensity, participants’ lives flow the other way (p. 115).” Being in the field when conducting interviews brought me close enough to my participants’ experiences to generate a familiarity that could potentially cause tensions; yet, I made all efforts to remain within the ethical boundaries of conducting research. Narrative inquiry is highly relational. Close rapport and continuous collaboration with my participants throughout the study were essentially vital to avoid misinterpretations and inconsistencies (Creswell, 2012). Through close partnership, I was able to elicit relevant and interesting stories as I tried to make sense of their lived experiences pertinent to this study. Temporality
Fernan-Dissertation-01-06-2016.docx