Biography as a Spatial Frame of Meanings: A Proxemic Analysis in Pedagogical Narrative Analysis

Abstract

This article presents a method for qualitative data analysis, which is called proxemic analysis. This method was based on a didactic method of structural analysis of narratives (Knecht & Knecht, 1992; Zirker, 1991). A proxemic analysis consists in working with data and indicating five categories in the text – actors, places, time, values, and expectations – and building them using elements, called entities. During the next stage, the researcher discovers the understanding of these categories by defining the relationships between entities. This analysis can be used on narrative texts regardless of the way in which they were obtained (unstructured interviews, diaries, memoirs, autobiographies, etc.). Interpreting the relationships between entities allows the researcher to formulate pedagogical implications, which they may use as a premise for constructing theories and/or activities. The example of the technique presented in this paper, from andragogical research, refers to the study of a life story obtained from a narrative interview.