Process
Narrative analysis in 7 steps
From story-shaped data to findings that keep the story intact
A seven-step process for narrative analysis of interviews, diaries and open-ended answers. It starts with story-shaped questions and faithful transcription, then reads each account whole, finds its structure, interprets meaning in context and compares arcs across people. It is meant for researchers who want to keep each person's story intact instead of cutting it into coded fragments.
Where this appears
What's in this process
- Collect story-shaped data: Ask sequence prompts like "Walk me through the day you decided to switch."
- Transcribe faithfully: Keep pauses, repetitions and emphasis where they carry meaning.
- Read for the whole: Read each transcript end to end before you code anything.
- Identify the narrative structure: Find the orientation, the complicating action and the resolution.
- Interpret meaning in context: Ask why the story is told this way and what shapes it.
- Compare across narratives: Look for shared plot shapes without flattening each person's meaning.
- Present findings as stories: Show annotated narratives and verbatim arcs, not only bullet themes.
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/narrative-analysis-process-steps"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/narrative-analysis-process-steps/narrative-analysis-process-steps.png" alt="Process showing seven steps of narrative analysis, from collecting story-shaped data to presenting findings as annotated stories." width="1080" height="1080" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/narrative-analysis-process-steps">Narrative analysis in 7 steps</a>, Koji</p>
