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The Reading By Atkinson Provides Information On Using Life Stories

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The reading by Atkinson provides information on using life stories approach in various disciplines. By using life stories the researcher noted that we gain context and recognize meaning about individuals experiences. There are four classic functions of stories including psychological, social, mystical-religious and cosmological. The reading also highlighted some benefits of telling one’s life story. For instance, sharing one’s story is a way of releasing certain burden and gives us a better sense of how we want our story to end. The last part of the reading explained guidelines that will prepare or get one ready to do an interview. The guidelines includes finding out who you want to interview and learn more about. The last step is encouraging the individual to share their story by being a good listener and asking open ended questions. The reading by Silverman discussed in-depth information about open-ended interviews. There are several problems the interviewer must resolve when doing open-ended questions such as deciding how to present yourself, gaining and maintaining trust to ask sensitive question and establishing rapport with the respondents. The reading also expressed many interactional practices when conducting qualitative interviewing. These practices involves trying to interact with the person by understanding their experience and that interviewers are active participants. The reading by Bernard also provided detailed information on interviewing

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