German social interpretive research: the methods of biographical narrative interview and biographical case reconstruction

Abstract

German interpretive social research has improved and used qualitative research methods more commonly since the 1970s. The main aim of this article is to introduce and discuss the biographical narrative interview and the biographical case reconstruction methods systematized by German sociologist Gabriele Rosenthal in her book Interpretative Sozialforschung (Interpretive Social Research). These methods apply principles of an interpretive social research, which have been increasingly used by Brazilian scholars in the last years. In the first part of the article, we present theoretical and methodological assumptions of an interpretive social research. Then, we describe and discuss the phases of a biographical case reconstruction based on data generated during a biographical narrative interview. At last, we present a Brazilian and a German study to demonstrate how the methods of biographical narrative interview and biographical case reconstruction allow for the reconstruction of the genesis of social phenomena and the explanation of their current manifestation. Thus, they advance in relation to methods that focus on a synchronic and descriptive analysis of phenomena and contribute for the development of a historical sociology of knowledge and the establishment of a socio-genetic typology of social phenomena.