Narrative analysis: New methods in narrative data analysis

The script writer and narrator metaphor for individuals is a key concept in narrative psychology; this is so important that narrative identity is a fundamental concept in the domain of narrative and identity. Narrative theory and approach has found its way through various aspects of psychology and a plethora of research has been conducted in this regard. This paper aims to introduce different qualitative and quantitative methods in analyzing narrative data in addition to review stages of quantitative analysis and establishing reliability in narrative research. To reach this goal, first we review general necessary concepts of narrative; then we discuss methodology of narrative research in detail. In doing so, we differentiate qualitative versus quantitative analysis methods and highlight different quantitative analysis approaches for coding narrative data. Establishing reliability is a foundational process in quantitative data analysis hence we discuss steps of this process and introduce statistical coefficients of interrater reliability and their especial applications.