Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Community Narration (Cn) Approach: Understanding A Group’S Identity And Cognitive Constructs Through Personal And Community Narratives, Brad Olson, Leonard A. Jason

Faculty Publications

Community program evaluations, visioning and assessments must always endeavor to attain useful information in the most sensitive way. Most community-based organizations form, grow and continue on their own without the help of outside experts. Participatory approaches should respect the historical evolution of these groups and understand the positive factors that underlie their organizational beliefs. A group’s mission, values and identity should inform any community program evaluation, consulting project, and the design of any research study. Narrative methods have been used with mutual-help groups and many other organizations to good effect (Harré, Bullen, & Olson, 2006; Rappaport, 2000). Such methods have …