Definition

It is the account of a life, completed or ongoing. Life history method is an approach in qualitative research which emphasises on the importance of presenting the individuals, subjective evaluation of his experiences and of giving information about his social experiences. This approach combines both written and oral evidence.

A life history is essentially telling or recounting of a string of events. The life history approach which works with personal narratives is “the unfolding history of one person’s  experiences”.

Approaches

Life history approach takes into consideration the realist and the constructionist  approaches.

1. The realist approach has been interested in historical processes such as social mobility, generations, and the experiences of social classes and professions.
2. The constructionist approach tends to focus on the presentations of ideas, identities and narrative configurations. An individual’s life history becomes an entry point into understanding the social and economic structures which shape the individual’s life.

Development

The method was first used when interviewing indigenous peoples of the Americas and specifically Native American leaders who were asked by an interviewer to describe their lives with an insight as to what it was like to be that particular person.

Life history method was developed in the 1920s  by W.I Thomas and Florian Znaniecki.The authors employed a Polish immigrant to write his own life story which they then interpreted and analyzed.

Daniel Bertaux and Paul Thompson focused on  bakers and fishermen life history. In the German, the life history method is  associated with the development of biographical research and biographical-narrative interviews. The narrative interview as a method for conducting open narrative interviews in empirical social research was developed in Germany around 1975. It borrowed concepts from phenomenology (Alfred Schütz), symbolic interactionism (George Herbert Mead), ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel), and sociology of knowledge (Karl Mannheim). The development and improvement of the method are closely connected to German sociolinguists Fritz Schütze,

Types

1. biographical research
2. biographical-narrative interviews

Technique

1. In “narrative” method, the subject is encoureged to tell “the story of his or her life”, in his or her own words.  It is common practice to begin the interview with the subject’s early childhood and to proceed chronologically to the present.
2. Another approach, dating from the Polish Peasant, is to ask participants to write their own life stories. This can be done either through competitions (as in Poland, Finland or Italy) or by collecting written life stories written spontaneously. In these countries, there are already large collections of life stories, which can be used by researchers.

Advantages

1. Gives first hand information
2. Provides real life data
3. Easy to access

Disadvantages

1. Reliability of information- due to human factor, the information gathered may not be reliable always. The problem of reliability of life history evidence can be approached in two ways. First, by checking for internal consistency and second, by checking against all other possible sources of related evidence.
2. Validity of information- there is need to validate the information once it is gathered.
   The question of validity arises when a discussion on the truth–quality of the data points to the existence of many truths. Tthere is a need for the researcher to be disciplined by data and also to be careful about the source of the data as well.
3. Interpretation of information- depends upon the researcher, technique , methods and methodology adopted.
4. The one doing the interview should be careful not to ask “yes or no”-questions,

Uses

1. The information gathered offer basic evidence about social interaction and process.
2. It offers data for studies of social change
3. Provides documentation on roles
4. Demonstrates the process of socialisation
5. It acts as as a mean towards understanding variation within a society.