Biographical Research

Biographical research in curriculum studies constitutes the study of a life, focusing primarily upon an individual who in some way is affiliated with the professional field of education and specifically with the field of curriculum, broadly conceived. Many other research methodologies for examining a life exist in educational studieslife history writing, portraiture, oral history, memoir, autobiography, narrative inquiry, and teacher student loreand are situated primarily within social science research traditions of qualitative research. Biographical research, in contrast, is aligned more with fields in the humanities literature and cultural studieshowever, most biographical research in curriculum studies is still guided by traditional research conceptions from the field of educational history. Five basic types of educational biography exist in curriculum studies: scholarly chronicles, intellectual biography, life history writing, memoir biography, and narrative biography; these orientations may take the form of full-length books or vignettes. Yet, biographical inquiry has been slowly supplanted in the qualitative research literature in education. Its presence, although highly popular with the general reading public, has yet to be fully accepted in the field of curriculum studies.

The most fundamental type of biographical research in curriculum studies is described as scholarly chronicles, with a focus on the documentary, historical portrayal of an individual life. This traditional research orientation involves telling the subject's story in chronological order with emphasis upon developing a quest plot (life pattern-stage) and describing those life periods of recognition (or notoriety). Such biographical scholarship is commonly embraced by educational and curricular historians and remains popular in the field of education. The scholarly chronicle is often viewed as synonymous with biography; however, this research orientation is markedly different from another form of scholarship, intellectual biography with its focus on a conceptual analysis of the subject's motives and significance in the world of ideas. The intellectual biography, exemplified in the work of Leon Edel, defines human character and constructs an agreeable aesthetic shape to the writing. One need not draw fine distinctions between these areas; realms are crossed continually as the intent and purpose of the biographer become more clearly defined. Those writing intellectual biography have often overcome the interpretive angst displayed by many educational researchers who include pages of studentteacher transcripts in their articles, but who refuse to interpret motives and feelings.

A third form of biographical research is defined as life history writing (and the narrative study of lives) with an accompanying allegiance to social science research traditions. This research type has [Page 83]taken many forms, perhaps resonating most in the area of teacher education with the burgeoning first year teacher research and the study of teachers' lives scholarship. In recent years a fourth form, memoir biography (still distinct from autobiography) has begun to appear with a focus upon the researchers' motives in relation to the biographical subject. The analysis of the writer alongside the biographical subject becomes part of the research. A life story is being told, but in relation to the transactional experiences of the biographer that in turn influences and foreshadows similar experiences of the reader. The fifth type, narrative biography, represents a dynamic portrayal of a life without the need for absolute facticity or a comprehensive account from birth to grave. Neither is this style burdened by the definitive interpretation of the subject that must be accepted by the reader. Facts are recognized, and some interpretations prove more thoughtful than others, but the biographer, though consciously aware of his or her personal emotions and reactions to the subject, acknowledges that the telling of the story is primarily defined by the subject in relation to the reader. Narrative educational biography insists that the significance of the biographical subject is constructed in relation to the anticipated needs and interests of the reader. Interpretive biography is not recognized as a distinct type of scholarship because all biography should be viewed as interpretive.

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