Prepared for Adapt Peacebuilding Colombia February 2021

Introduction 

Life story collection is the main method for gathering data in Systemic Action Research. Life stories provide the evidence base that informs participants’ analysis of their context, and the design of strategies to achieve their desired changes. Life story collection involves people telling stories of their lives or parts of their lives. It can in some cases involve telling the story of a specific incident. 

The people collecting the stories are not outside researchers, but people that are members of the community itself, which can be children, disabled people, social leaders, farmers, womens or youth groups, or any other type of people that are relevant to the places and issues that are being investigated. In some contexts we need to pay special attention to the needs of these participants, such as when we are working with vulnerable people or in insecure, conflict-affected environments.

Why collect life stories  ?

Understanding the issues

The aim of these stories is to build a comprehensive picture of how people perceive the experience of their lives, with respect to the causes, effects and opportunities associated with the issues that our inquiry is concerned with. The stories help researchers in systemic action research to understand how participants build resilience and find solutions to the problems that they face.  We want to understand these things from the perspective of the participants themselves.  

People across the world like to tell their stories; they like to feel that they are listened to; and they are interested in how their story connects and compares to others. Collecting stories allows participants to express what is most important to them in relation to a given context or set of issues, rather than respond to a set of questions that reflects to some extent the perspective or prioritisation of the researcher. Collecting data in the form of life stories also encourages an understanding of how things happen that is tethered to people’s recollection of actual events, rather than the opinions that people have about why things happen, which aren’t necessarily evidenced by real experience. 

When we analyse these stories in the collective story analysis process (which follows after the stories have been collected) we will be able to:

• see the repeated patterns that run across the different stories
• identify causalities which describe how change happens (how one thing leads to another)
• Identify the different ways in which the issues we are investigating impact upon different people 
• identify change that has occurred which has led to a more positive trajectory for some people, or suggestions that participants have for changes that could have been made
• understand what are the critical issues that we want to work on in the in action research groups that we will form
• develop an understand of where our actions could have the greatest impact, and what theories of change are relevant to the type of change that we want to see

How to frame our research

Systemic Action Research usually starts with a relatively open framing compared to traditional research processes. This is because as outsiders initiating a process we do not want to presume what issues are most important, or create the risk that factors related to the issues we are investigating would be excluded by too narrow an inquiry. 

Typically our inquiry starts quite open, and might be narrowed as participants identify the issues most important to them, and desire a more detailed understanding. So for example in a systemic action research process about labour rights, we might start by asking “ tell me about what it is like to be a labourer in this area” and then follow up asking for specific stories that illustrate the causes and consequences of the issues that they mention. The inquiry might be narrowed in later research steps after issues of interest have been identified, to ask for example “tell us about the experience of being a woman working without childcare in local agriculture projects”. 

Who we should talk to

In a more open inquiry, before the specific issues that we will focus on have been identified, we want to speak with as many ‘ordinary people’ as possible, rather than ask leaders or people in positions of authority first. This is because we are interested to get to know the issues that most people experience, in the ways in which they have been experienced, rather than the perceptions of a more limited set of people.

As we narrow in on the issues of interest (which sometimes is our starting point anyway), we try to collect life stories from people that have direct experience of the issues that we are investigating. So if we are investigating drug use, we will make sure to talk to current and ex drug users. 

We also want to talk to people that are involved in the ‘system’ related to this issue, who will experience it from a range of perspectives. In relation to drug use, these people might be drug dealers, prisoners, families of drug users, health workers, or public health officials. We try to avoid gathering too much information from ‘experts’ or people in official positions, who don’t have direct experience of the system that we are trying to understand. 

These considerations – how narrow our inquiry is and what the issues of interest are – influence how we select and approach participants. We will try and sample from a range of people that reflects the diversity of roles within the system we are interested in, and being sure to talk to people who are harder to access or risk being marginalised from the inquiry. For example, we would not collect life stories related to rural poverty in a city.

What does a good life story look like?

A good life story:

is personal. It tells us about the choices that a person has (or does not have), the decisions that they have made (or have had to make), and why. A good life story is emotion – it welcomes us in – and interests us because it is the experience of another human life.

shows how one thing leads to another. Good stories help us achieve a critical aspect of our later analysis – understanding the factors that cause the issues that participants care about, and promote or limit the kinds of change that participants want to experience.

has clear examples, focusing on specifics and describing actual incidents. For example if someone says that they were beaten up, we would want to have a story describing in detail what led to, occurred during, and happened as a consequence of them getting beaten up.

will ideally also have good factual information. Just like with stories, you can probe for this kind of information, such as dates, quantities, people or organisations involved.

will not have their or your opinions. If people offer their opinions, which they often will, we can record them but we are much more interested in the stories they can tell of when these things actually happened to them or someone that they know.

How to collect a good life story

There are a number of things that we need to pay attention to in order to collect a good life story. 

How to feel sure that people feel comfortable enough to tell their story

Ensure that people feel comfortable and safe.

• The physical space that the story is collected. If there are lots of people listening then people are less likely to feel confident. Try to find a private space.
• What you tell them before the conversation: if they trust you are being honest, you ask their consent, and you assure them that you will not use their name, they are more likely to be open
• Your ability to empathise: this can be aided by your willingness to share something of your own life (experience not opinions); to help out with their work, or to play with the children who are around
• Your ability to listen without judgement: the main aim of a story is to allow people to talk with as little interruption as possible. Make it clear that you are interested in what they say by encouraging them to talk about what they are interested in. Don’t say anything (or give facial expressions) which would make them feel judged

Ask the right type of questions

The types of questions posed determines if people speak of what they think is important and if the causes and consequences are visible.

When collecting life stories people often fall back on a traditional interview approach. They decide in advance what they need to know, and then they ask lots of questions about those things. The stories that we are collecting are NOT interviews, so you need a different approach. Direct questions like these should be avoided: 

Were you attacked in the past year? Who by?

Do you know anyone who has been displaced from their homes? 

Have you seen a doctor recently?

There are a number of problems with asking specific questions like this:

• People will give us the information that we want to know not what they think is important
• If we ask about the things we already think are important then we are unlikely to learn anything new
• If people’s answers are broken up into many questions it is very hard how to see how one thing in their life connects to other things
• People enjoy telling stories, they don’t usually enjoy asking lots of questions

For this reason what we are looking for is an account of the journey of their life and their perception of why things happened like, and an account of specific incidents in their lives.

So instead of preparing lots of questions on lots of themes, what we need to prepare is a good prompt question which allows people to talk about what is important to them. A prompt question is an invitation which is very open. Some examples would include:

• Can you tell me what your experience of living in this village has been like?
• Tell me a story about one or more of your children and what concerns you have about their life?
• Can you tell me about your day to day routine?
• Can you tell me about the most important things that have happened to you over the last ten years?
• Can you tell me how the conflict has affected your life?
• Can you tell me a tory about how that has affected you? Or others?

While the story is being told, it is often good keep it as uninterrupted as possible, but there are some types of questions that it is good to ask:

Questions of clarification:

• You said you worked long hours – how many hours is that?
• Was it the older son, or all of the children that joined the militia

Deepening questions:

• Why was that?
• You said you were beaten up. Can you tell me how that happened?
• What have been the impacts of that on your life?
• Can you give me an example?

Encouraging questions:

• Can you tell me more?
• Can you tell me what happened?
• What happened after that?

After these types of questions you should bring people back to the main story and encourage them to continue. 

So a good story is one that allows people to go where they want to go. Don’t be afraid of silence while people think and resist the urge to insert yourself too early. Allow people to go ‘off topic’. It might seem irrelevant (and sometimes it is), but at other times you will stumble upon information that is very important to the inquiry. 

Other things that you need to do

Each person should be asked to tell one main story about their life journey. Sometimes we ask for a second story which allows us to understand issues of interest in more detail. 

Prompts for the specific event story might be something like this:

• Can you tell me an example of when that happened to you or someone that you know
• Have there been any major events in your life or in the experience of your community related to this issue
• Tell me about something that you or your family was able to do that improved your life in relation to these issues

Only once the story is told can you probe, and you can ask about other things that are important that you think are missing from the account. But don’t ask these until after they have told their own story.

Length of the story

You will also want to be sure that your stories are long enough. A very short story will rarely give us the learning we will need. We would expect a typical story to be 2-6 pages of word processed text (pages of handwritten text – check local equivalent. It depends on the language!]. We would expect a typical story telling session to last on average around 60 minutes although some will be longer and others shorter

Writing up the story

Stories should be collected in teams of two. This is to ensure that you can witness consent and to make sure there is one recorder and one questioner.

All of the stories should be recorded at the time. If you judge that it will not be intrusive you can use a digital recorder to create a record which will allow you to check that your quotes are correct, but you must be aware that in some circumstances a digital recorder will make people less likely to be open and honest with you. Digital recorders also often fail because there is too much background noise, or people forget to turn them on, or the batteries run out etc. 

Recording before the story

Before you collect the story you should put a code number on the top of the paper you are recording on. Then put the same code number on another sheet of paper on which you should collect the following information. This allows the interviewee’s data to be anonymised for ethical and security purposes:

• Name of the people who are collecting the story
• Name and contact details of the person being interviews
• Any relevant information related to categories of people (based on any selection criteria being used in the inquiry)
• The name of the location
• Age, gender, ethnicity, religion if applicable

You must also collect their consent, with a signature, on video, or a thumb print. Where this is not possible, two people need to witness and sign that verbal consent has been given (i.e. the researcher and the recorder).

You should also add context notes so that we can see if there were factors that are relevant that might have affected what people say e.g. ‘hundreds of people were crowding round’ or ‘she seemed frightened’ or ‘her parents insisted on being present during the process’.

Recording during the story

Stories should be written in the voice of the person telling the story. A story can be about the person that you are talking to, about someone close to them whose story they know well, or about what has happened to the wider community. 

As far as possible stories should be collected verbatim. This means that there should be lots of quotes in it. Indicated when the exact words have been recorded by using quotation marks. If you can’t capture everything make sure you get the quotations and the key factual information. 

It is fine during the middle of a story collection session for the recorder to ask the person they are talking to, to slow down. You can say something like: What you were saying there was really important. I want to catch your exact words. would you mind saying that again?

Usually digital recording should be seen as a back up. Not as the primary recording mechanism: Digital recorders go wrong for many reasons:

• People forget to turn them on
• Batteries run out before or during the process
• There is too much background noise
• People are suspicious of digital recording and worried they could be identified 

Recording after the story

Once you have recorded the actual story, you should make some reflections and observations. These should not be your opinions or interpretations of why things have happened, but factual information that might influence what they said. For example:

What location was the discussion held in?

Was it private or were people looking in

Are there current political factors which might affect how a person has answered? Eg. there have just been a series of beatings by the land owners.

And anything else that you think is important. 

You will also want to reflect on what happened during the process. Did the person suddenly become agitated when you asked a particular question or when someone came in etc? Did what they said contradict other information that you have had from other stories or elsewhere. It is ok and also useful for you to note anything that you had that was surprising or contradictory. Or suggestions that people have had for possible actions. These can be useful later during the mapping process.

Ethical questions

You must always seek consent from the person you are collecting a story from. You must check that they agree to:

• telling their story
• having their story recorded
• using the information that they provide in the research, which could be made publicly available

Before giving you their consent, participants must know what the research is and why you are doing it. For example, you can say that you are a community researcher that is trying to understand issues related to employment and unemployment, and you are interested to talk to people with experience of these issues, so that you can help organise the community to develop locally-led solutions.

Participants must be reassured that:

• their name will never be used
• if what they say is used in any forum beyond the research process, we will ensure that their community is not endangered
• they can contact the research team at any time (provide contact details) and ask that information that they have been provided is no longer used

It is not necessary to take photographs for this exercise and this should probably be avoided to avoid people fearing that they might be identified. However if for any reasons photographs are taken then consent must be taken.

Life stories must be kept in a safe location. This means that access to data must be restricted to both paper and digital versions of this information. Cover pages with personal details and participant coding information must be kept in a separate place from the stories themselves. The codes are used to link the stories to participants when necessary (for example if follow up information is needed).

While we have found that storytelling is a universal language and people can benefit hugely from feeling that they have been heard, we must also be careful as it is possible that people who are telling difficult personal stories will be re-traumatised. It is important for story collection teams to be alert to signs of distress, to provide people with the option of discontinuing their stories, and to let people know that they can contact the research team if they continue to experience distress as a result of sharing their story. 

Process of story collection

Teams are assembled for story collection. This usually is an interviewer and a recorder. Attention is paid to the identities of the context and participants that we will be talking to. For example if it is mostly women working at a particular work site then the team should probably be made up of women. Where possible we should try to make sure that one person (collector) is a peer of the people they are collecting stories from (e.g. is from the same location; has the same religion etc). The documentor however could be an outsider who is literate and perhaps has more formal education than the story collector. 

Story collection can take between 30-60 minutes. This should lead to stories of around 2-7 pages long (preferably no more than 5 or 6 pages). Occasionally people tell stories in such a clear and way – that they can tell an important story in only a page, but normally if the write up is only a page of typed text it is too short. If the write up is longer than 7 pages it is probably too long to analyse, so it is important to keep stories within this range. Matching the interview time to the length of the written account can be achieved by practising storytelling and writing up within the team, and through the quality check process. 

Typically we have allowed around 2 months for the collection of 300 stories, but it can be done in two weeks or one month depending on how much time researchers can volunteer, or how many researchers are available. The stories must all then be typed up, either by volunteers or by members of the project team linked with the systemic action research process.

We then need a process for checking the quality of the stories. Typically we collect a small sample (this could be 10%) in advance of collecting the bulk of the stories to ensure that collectors are putting into practise what they have learned from their training, and or to identify any local factors which are affecting the quality of stories. This quality check is a crucial step in the story collection process.