031 Directed Storytelling

Gathering rich stories of lived experiences using narrative conversational prompts

• This is rooted in narrative inquiry, whereby researchers understand people and document their experiences from personal stories.

• It starts with a prompt by the researcher to the storyteller: “Tell me a story about the last time you …”

• Additional guiding questions are posed in terms of who, what, when, where, and how, to keep the storyteller in a comfortable narrative flow.

• Ideas emerging from stories can be clustered using affinity diagramming, looking for consistent patterns and themes within and across experiences.

• Themes that characterize experiences can be modeled into a tangible framework, with maps or diagrams of what is most significant about participant experiences.

• The method may provide subtle reinforcement and validation of existing design directions or identify the need for additional research.

See also   Interviews • Critical Incident Technique • Picture Cards

Guiding questions for directed storytelling might include the following: When and with whom did you interact? What aspects of the environment affected your experience? How did you feel?