Resource

Narrative Methods Factsheet

Author/Contact:

Eszter Kelemen
Senior research fellow at ESSRG Ltd. and senior lecturer at Corvinus University of Budapest
kelemen.eszter@essrg.hu 
OPPLA username: ekelemen

Publication date:

Resource description:

Narrative methods aim to understand and describe the importance of nature and its benefits to people with their own words. By using narrative methods we allow the research participants (residents of a certain place, users of a certain resource, or stakeholders of an issue) to articulate the plural and heterogeneous values of ecosystem services through their own stories and direct actions (both verbally and visually). Narrative methods usually collect qualitative data from individuals, but they can be also suitable to measure some aspects of human-nature relations in quantitative or semi-quantitative terms.

Requirements:

  • Need to collect lots of new data - mainly qualitative
  • Ability to work with non-academic stakeholders is necessary
  • Social scientific and good communication skills are required, often the personal presence and participation of the researcher in local events is necessary to collect and interpret data

Advantages:

  • Help to include local, traditional knowledge in the process of valuation
  • The valuation process and its results are inclusive and accessible for a large variety of different stakeholders
  • Allow participants to articulate the values of ecosystem services in their own terms and worldviews

Constraints:

  • The process is often lengthy and may require the strong commitment of the scientist (which might also result that her presence influence the outcomes)
  • The topic of the research or some of the prompts can be difficult to conceptualize by local resource users, avoiding scientific jargon is therefore crucial
  • Uncertainty about the quality of answers exists, therefore triangulation of data sources and methods might be necessary

Licence:

  • Free, no licence

Development stage:

  • Full, working product
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