NOVELLA (Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Analyses)
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Childhood, Families and Health
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- The British Library (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- University of Oslo (Collaboration)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
- Monash University (Collaboration)
Publications
Abigail Knight (Author)
(2013)
Tales from the archive
Andrews Molly (Author)
(2012)
What is Narrative Interviewing
Ann Phoenix
(2013)
Doing Narrative Research second edition
Ann Phoenix (Author)
(2013)
Novella Narrative Analysis training workshop resources
Boddy J
(2016)
Telling 'moral tales'? Family narratives of responsible privilege and environmental concern in India and the UK
in Families, Relationships and Societies
Boddy J
(2014)
Stories told in passing?: Disclosure in narratives of everyday lives in Andhra Pradesh
in Disclosure in Health and Illness
Boddy, J.
(2014)
Disclosure in Health and Illness
Boddy, J.
(2013)
Family lives and the environment: Narratives across countries
Brannen J
(2016)
Narratives of success among Irish and African Caribbean migrants
in Ethnic and Racial Studies
| Title | Novella film |
| Description | The Novella film is a professionally produced product that gives an overview of Novella methods and findings. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | This has been much used in teaching and viewed. |
| URL | http://www.novella.ac.uk/resources/1250.html |
| Description | This research node met its aim of providing conceptually and methodologically sophisticated knowledge of secondary narrative analysis of habitual, everyday practices in families. It demonstrated four ways of reusing data: conducting narrative analysis on material produced for other purposes (Family Lives and Environment study); re-using data from studies conducted by some, but not all, of the secondary analysts (Parenting Identities and Practices); analysing and bringing together different data sets of narrative and visual archival data (or 'fieldwork in the archives') to address food practices through a form of indirect observation (Families and Food) and linking and reusing qualitative and quantitative data sets (Parenting identities and Practices). An important finding is that asking new questions of already-collected data requires the creation of particular sub-samples for new analyses. The Family Lives and Environment study showed that influencing environmental practices requires engagement with families' everyday concerns (in India and the UK). The node aimed to advance knowledge about how to research the 'disconnect' between what people do and what they say they do by investigating family habitual practices. Together, the projects in the node provided three sets of answers to this issue. First, differences between solicited and unsolicited accounts and between contemporaneous accounts (as in diary entries) and accounts that rely on memory and retrospection (as in oral histories and autobiographical narratives) throw light on this. Second, the use of multiple materials from research participants helped to provide evidence of events and behaviour as well as participants' narratives of them. These materials included different sources produced by research participants themselves such as photographs and interview accounts or participants' accounts of different aspects of their lives. Third, the participants' accounts could be contextualised using secondary data sources such as cohort studies or the Young Lives longitudinal study. Other research findings included: the embeddedness of food and environmental practices in everyday life. For example, the diary studies in the Food and Families study showed that food practices patterned women's everyday lives. The demands of shopping, collecting rations, planning and preparing meals were taken-for-granted as the central everyday tasks, although they were newly established during the war. Similarly, environmental issues patterned families' everyday lives in India and the UK, in terms of where children were allowed to play; transport, heating, air conditioning and consciousness of environmental issues. For all the studies, narratives were more vivid around issues that disrupted everyday routines such as migration and/or during times of particular crisis or hardships like war, or environmental shocks such as flooding. The development of such narratives were linked with the development of identities. The node was highly successful in developing new cross-country and cross-institutional collaborations around everyday narratives and family practices and contributed to capacity building of a new generation of international researchers by developing their skills in conducting secondary narrative analyses across a range of studies and in the practical application of narrative methods. The legacy of this capacity building is its influence on awareness of, and skill in, narrative methods and publications and web resources. |
| Exploitation Route | A major way in which the outcomes of the Novella node will be taken forward is through the work of other researchers. The numerous national and international workshops, conferences, training events and talks presented have been reported to be highly influential. Part of Novella's legacy includes specialist doctoral training on narrative research. As a result of Novella, various researchers have spent time with Novella researchers in order to gain experience of secondary narrative analysis. The substantive findings of the node throw light on mundane family practices to do with food, environment and parenting identities and practices; areas of policy concern. By identifying the conditions in which changes happen, for whom, of what sort and how people feel about those changes, Novella can inform ideas about meaningful interventions in families. For example, Novella shows how engagement with issues of climate change is entangled with both family socioeconomic positioning and individual commitments. Apparently separate issues of everyday life and practices are thus indivisible from whether or not families feel that climate change is relevant to them and whether it is central to their habitual practices or narrated as tangential to the everyday. It thus illuminates the shortcomings of prescriptions about climate change. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://www.novella.ac.uk |
| Description | The Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Approaches research node (Novella) has generated societal impact for most of its life and it is anticipated that this will be enhanced over time. This results from six types of outputs: (i) Capacity building events Each project in Novella has organised numerous capacity-building events, in the UK and abroad (including Denmark; Finland; Germany; Norway; France; South Africa; Sweden; USA) These include workshops, conferences and joint analytic events as well as masterclasses. The UEL Novella partners have also organised masterclasses and keynote lectures with world leading narrative scholars and secondary qualitative analysts. The Novella conference and Research methods Festival symposia have contributed to this. In addition, Novella has also been capacity building for all the members of Novella, who have benefited from the sustained attention to the substantive through methodological engagement and from the many capacity building events provided. In addition, two early career members of staff were enabled to take high level narrative modules to enhance their skills. Many participants in the capacity-building events have filled in feedback form, allowing some insight into short-term impact. It is anticipated, however, that the nature and strength of this impact will become clearer over time. (ii) Written and visual outputs The projects in Novella have published, and written up ready for publication, substantive findings and methodological papers in a number of formats for a range of audiences, including: peer-reviewed high-impact journals; Working Papers; brief reports; a film and podcasts. These have received favourable feedback. Many social scientists interested in narrative analysis and secondary analysis of qualitative data have drawn on the published work and films to enhance their methodological skills. (iii) Collaborations with other researchers Novella itself is a collaboration of researchers from three universities and entailed collaboration with a fourth for a linked research project. Some of the Novella impacts have been generated through collaborations with a variety of disciplines and organisations (e.g. UKDA, community oral historians and archivists and other research groups and projects). The eprint 'Analysing qualitative research in groups' arose from a collaboration in a Training and Capacity Building event organised between the Parenting identities and Practices Novella project and Exeter University. It is a step-by-step account of doing secondary narrative analysis in multidisciplinary groups that aims to develop enduring impact by developing and documenting a methodology where researchers and students can work on their own data in groups. This has added value to the Novella investment in being used in later presentations and teaching sessions run by NOVELLA and by colleagues at Exeter University. It has also generated a journal article, currently in review. (iv) Generating other grants The Novella node generated two linked research projects. One of these was with Southampton University National Centre for Research Methods on narrative analyses of the paradata written on the Peter Townsend Poverty in the UK study (PinUK). The other was with the MODE research node on analysing mothers' food blogs. In addition, Novella has contributed to three further successful grants; a European Research Council Consolidator grant 'Families and Food in Hard Times' (PI Rebecca O'Connell); an ESRC cross-investment grant on 'Poverty in the UK: Advancing paradata analysis and open access' and a Higher Education Innovation Fund grant on digital mothering. (v) Making available data sets to the wider social science community The ESRC cross-investment grant on 'Poverty in the UK: Advancing paradata analysis and open access' has digitised and made available the original Peter Townsend Poverty in the UK completed questionnaires (on www.poverty.ac.uk) with the result that other researchers are already beginning to prepare publications on the paradata on these questionnaires. It has also made available videoed interviews with those researchers on the original PinUK study who were traceable and willing. The linked MODE/Novella collaboration has managed to archive corpora of maternal food blogs on the British Library website, something that has not previously been done. The new data collected in India and the UK for the Family Lives and the Environment study will be archived once the linked PhD student has completed her PhD. (vi) Reporting substantive findings Member of Novella have between them given over 50 keynote presentations on Novella work and continue to do so. Novella also has a strong web presence for capacity building events and visual resources, including the film. Feedback on these indicate that the substantive findings as well as the innovative methods developed have had important impacts. The four Family Lives and the Environment symposia held in New Delhi and Hyderabad (two to policy makes and two to academic researchers) reached organisations concerned with climate change and policy makers and, as evidenced in their feedback, generated new ways of thinking about family lives and environments for many. The Families and Food project has brought together archivists and oral historians to think about analyses of food practices and innovative methods of using archives for social scientific purposes. This, as evidenced by the feedback received, was highly valued and stimulating. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | ESRC Cross-Investment grant 'Poverty in the UK: Advancing paradata analysis and open access' (Ros Edwards PI) |
| Amount | £13,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2013 |
| End | 09/2014 |
| Description | European Research Council Starting Grant to Rebecca O'Connell (PI) |
| Amount | € 1,370,854 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 05/2014 |
| End | 04/2019 |
| Description | FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF - Marie-Curie Action: Intra-European fellowships for career development (Janet Boddy PI) |
| Amount | € 115,641 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 328010 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2013 |
| End | 08/2014 |
| Description | IOE/UCL Strategic Partnership Research Development Fund (Elliott (PI), Fleck, O'Connell) |
| Amount | £8,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2014 |
| End | 02/2015 |
| Description | International Visitor Exchange Scheme |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Department | ESRC National Centre for Research Methods |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2016 |
| End | 10/2017 |
| Description | Norwegian Research Council open Call |
| Amount | kr 12,853,000 (NOK) |
| Organisation | Research Council of Norway |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Norway |
| Start | 09/2014 |
| End | 08/2017 |
| Title | Photo elicitation of everyday live) combined with walking interviews and mapping |
| Description | Combination of visual methods, mapping and walking methods. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Several PhD students have now drawn on this method. |
| Title | Secondary narrative analysis |
| Description | Demonstrated possibilities for bringing together a range of methods to reuse qualitative and quantitative data for purposes of narrative analysis in groups and singly. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Many researchers and other research groups have used the methods and have asked members of Novella to train them in using the methods. |
| Title | Family Lives and Environments |
| Description | Narrative interviews, walking interviews, children's and family mapping with families with a 12 year old child in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, India and the UK |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2014 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | This has influenced members of the Novella team to use these methods in subsequent research and many other researchers to use them. |
| Description | British Library Archive |
| Organisation | The British Library |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Discussions on research. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Securing blogs analysed in the Recipes for Mothering small-scale project. |
| Impact | Stabilising of two food blogs for future access. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Joint research, analysis and writing |
| Organisation | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Teaching and workshop sessions, joint research interviews and preparation of a joint paper |
| Collaborator Contribution | Payment of fares and accommodation in Los Angeles |
| Impact | Journal article accepted subject to minor changes. Psychology and Education |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Narratives of intergenerational transmission |
| Organisation | University of Oslo |
| Department | Department of Psychology |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Writing collaboration |
| Collaborator Contribution | Expertise and intellectual input; access to data and funding cross-national meetings. |
| Impact | Conference talk BSA |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Research partner |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Joint planning and conducting of research, analysis and writing up. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Joint planning and conducting of research, analysis and writing up. |
| Impact | Paper on 'Illuminating 45 years of social research' currently in a journal review process. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Research partner |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Young Lives |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Joint analysis, writing and seminars. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provision of interview transcripts for secondary analysis and allowing access to researchers and gatekeepers in Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Impact | Multidisciplinary: Sociology, psychology, social policy Combining thematic and narrative analysis of qualitative interviews to understand children's spatialities in Andhra Pradesh, India (Shukla, Wilson & Boddy, 2014) The ethics of secondary data analysis: Learning from the experience of sharing qualitative data from young people and their families in an international study of childhood poverty (Morrow, Boddy & Lamb, 2014) |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Research partners |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Institute of Education (IOE) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Shared research project and writing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Shared research project and writing |
| Impact | Development of methodologies for researching online: the case of food blogs (Domingo et al., 2014) |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Training collaboration |
| Organisation | Monash University |
| Country | Australia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Joint training sessions on the Recipes for Mothering project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Joint training and research proposal development. |
| Impact | training courses and drafting of research proposal. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Writing partnership |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Department | Department of Sociology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Speaking at a conference organised at Leicester University and joint writing. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Joint writing |
| Impact | Edited book contracted to Edward Elgar Publishers will soon be delivered (March 2016) |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Assembling the vessel (Mike Ricketts) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The presentation of a filmed art wor that enabled postgraduate students to investigate the interface between art, stories and narrative analysis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38unSUsPzk&feature=youtu.be |
| Description | Collaborative Seeing Wendy Luttrell Workshop and public lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Workshop and lecture on visual methods with children from impoverished backgrounds. Helped to build capacity in the Novella research team and many other researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ31_v9MLQg |
| Description | Doing narrative research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Half-day symposium to engage with cutting-edge narrative research issues to mark the launch of the second edition of Doing Narrative research. This introduced several new approaches to, and perspectives on, narrative analysis that stimulated much interest. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0wF5ZeaAOw |
| Description | Gendering the memory of work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Novella lecture and workshop that generated much discussion and questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WYMQ2MERjNk |
| Description | Novella Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This conference showcased Novella work and generated much debate at the time and requests for further events afterwards. It was both enjoyed and reported to be thought provoking and to shift practices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qtO1AaXeRc |
| Description | On the one hand they did the best thing : on the other they did the worst thing : dealing with the emotions raised by transnational migration |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The discussion following this workshop sparked discussion, interest and, for many attendees, rethinking of ideas about 'non-normative' family lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008 |
| Description | POLITICAL NARRATIVES SYMPOSIUM |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Narrative methodology keynote (Molly Andrews) & workshops |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Secondary analysis in reflection (Joanna Bornat) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This lecture was designed to give insights into qualitative longitudinal research and it led to much interest in secondary narrative analysis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3RhJwK0Pk |
| Description | Short PhD course (Catherine Walker and Joe Winter) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Postgraduate students reported that they found it invaluable to explore the different ways in which transcription impacts on analysis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015 |
| Description | Short postdoctoral courses on narrative research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | An introduction to narrative UCL Institute of Education Doctoral School (4 wk course); May, 2014;Feb 2015; Feb 2016(Elliott, Knight, Phoenix and Brannen). Summer PhD course on Novella to Scandinavian PhD students at Aalborg University 2014 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Solveigh Goett on Memory fabrication & imagination: the textile |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk and methodological debate which introduced many people to the possibilities of narrative work using materials. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Daf3xXaqMk |
| Description | Stories and embodied memories in dementia (Lars-Christer Hydén, 2013) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was given by an eminent Swedish narrative research and was both substantively and methodologically generative. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Voices and archive 01 Abigail Knight Lord Clark Graham Smith (Knight, Abigail and Clark, David and Smith, Graham) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Conference central to the work of Novella that used audience-led discussion on the presentations to move forward issues discussed in Novella Families and Food archive work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrZl17f8EPw&feature=youtu.be |
| Description | What is narrative? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presented at 'What is Narrative? : a TCRU/CNR/NOVELLA special seminar' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.novella.ac.uk/resources/1214.html |