Documentary Method and Biographical Narrative Interview for Understanding Participation in Adult Education

Abstract

In this article, it is asserted that researches in the field of adult education need a more comprehensive understanding of participation which goes beyond the dominant psychological theoretical framework in which the motives toward participation as internal/subjective factors on one side, and the deterrents toward nonparticipation as external/objective factors on the other, are examined. A more holistic approach to participation in adult education should consider that the decision and the act of participation do not happen arbitrarily, but as an outcome of the biographical experiences of the individual, which are accumulated through a lifelong path within a particular social field. Accordingly, it requires a better methodology which helps the researcher overcome the epistemological limits of the question-answer scheme in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Documentary Method and biographical narrative interview as discussed in this article provide the opportunity to understand participation in its contextual and relational dimensions.