Use of narrative interviewing in everyday information behavior research

With an increasing focus on developing a theoretical understanding of everyday life information behaviors, researchers need to consider the appropriateness of the methods and techniques utilized in empirical research in this area. Progressively, studies articulate the need for a person-centered approach to researching human information behavior, yet research methods can be adopted that do not encourage the study participants to express freely their views and experiences. This article proposes that narrative and episodic interviewing techniques are qualitative research methods that sustain a person-centered paradigm of human information behavior and that provide a particularly useful methodological framework for studies of everyday life information-seeking behavior. Furthermore, the author discusses her own work-in-progress that involves narrative interviews.