ERIC Number: EJ1250912
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1364-5579
EISSN: N/A
Back from the Future: A Narrative Approach to Study the Imagination of Personal Futures
Sools, Anneke
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, v23 n4 p451-465 2020
This article responds to the call for prospective methodologies in the social sciences by developing a narrative approach to study the imagination of personal futures. The approach encompasses an analytical framework regarding dimensions of projectivity and an elicitation method ("Letters from the Future"). Using an example letter from a study about post-Referendum futures in Greece, the article draws on psychological, sociological, and futures studies research to elucidate key issues in projectivity research. The article clarifies potentials and challenges in three thematic clusters: (1) "Balancing clarity and reach" concerns the quality of narrative accounts of the future and proposes techniques for eliciting personally meaningful accounts; (2) "The experience and meaning of time" foregrounds narrative sense-making involved in imagining the future, thereby highlighting futures thinking as cultural capacity; (3) "Engaging spaces of the possible" foregrounds imagination in (co-)constructing narratives of and from the future. Finally, the article reviews strengths and limitations.
Descriptors: Imagination, Futures (of Society), Research Methodology, Social Science Research, Story Telling, Foreign Countries
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Greece
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A